"The Ugly Sides of a bad Coin" was written by Mahmoon Baba Ahmed, the brother to Hakeem...Is it unfair that one family would have such talents? Mouftah is brilliant too, while Nafiu's integrity is beyond reproach....Please enjoy and share widely.....Nasir

The Ugly Sides of a Bad Coin" - By Mahmoon Baba-Ahmed

Nigerian leaders have a weird sense of history which has a peculiar way of repeating itself. They are always inclined to overlook the precedents of their predecessors and are consequently doomed to follow their footsteps. Presidents Umar ‘Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan have been wedged in that predicament, occasioned by a controversial visit to Brazil apparently to attend a multi-national convention whose outcome was inconsequential to Nigeria’s aspirations.

The journeys were contentious as they were controvertible, undertaken when circumstances at home did not warrant them. They were largely perceived by the taxpayers as wasteful jamboree involving unwieldy number of redundant public officers that will further stress the ailing economy. On the other hand the leaders always contented that the trip would subsequently attract foreign investments to revamp our moribund economy. However, since then a lot of water has passed under the bridge and no promised profits of the contentious trips were seen afloat.

In June 2009, President ‘Yar’adua was at the airport, about to embark on that extravagant excursion, when news of arson and murder, triggered by the uprising of late Muhammad Yusuf’s followers reached him. Yusuf was the leader of fanatical Islamists group known as Boko Haram. ‘Yar’adua was fully briefed on the sect’s frightening and spiteful disposition and how its members dispensed terror and caused unwarranted anxiety, with hundreds of people maimed or killed in Borno and Bauchi states. Despite that startling disclosure ‘Yar’adua remained adamant, becoming even more resolute to take his flight. He shrugged his shoulders in an apologetic manner, an indication of his apparent hopelessness to help. He then callously ordered that they be dealt with accordingly. That was how Muhammad Yusuf was summarily executed before his return, though extra judiciously. That situation galvanized his rabid supporters into irrepressible insurgency in search of revenge.
It still rages on unabatedly in some northern states. President Jonathan was a witness to his boss’s pitiless indifference by flying out when his country was ablaze. He had now either forgotten its unhealthy consequences or is simply trying to be heedless about its devastation.

The worm ‘Yar’adua scorched, but failed to kill, has in the interim bred into venomous viper which posed a dangerous threat to peace and security of the country. It has become more menacing and unassailable, even threatening to devour his successor. Three years after President Jonathan was again at the Abuja airport retracing ‘Yar’adua footsteps in the Brazil trip imbroglio. He became more unyielding to entreaties not to set out on that imprudent journey, but was vehemently impervious to sound reasoning.
Instead he chose to emulate Nero, the Emperor who played the fiddle when Rome was burning. President Jonathan also dramatically flew off to Brazil when Kaduna and Yobe states were overwhelmed supposedly by bombs of the adherents of the cleric ‘Yar’adua left at the mercy of ferocious security personnel when jetting out of the country.

Like ‘Yar’adua Jonathan was undisturbed by a battery of criticisms from incensed Nigerians against his rash trip to Brazil which he dismissed on reaching his destination as blatant lies. The criticisms could be tissues of lies but President Jonathan has never taken his time to debunk them while in his country. He preferred the solitude of a foreign clime to open up as he transformed into an e-president who could rule Nigeria from any part of the globe. If Nigerian President could rule from any part of the world, why did Jonathan’s political cohorts have to insist he took over from President ‘Yar’adua when he was fatally vegetating in a Saudi hospital? And if President Jonathan can truly rule from anywhere then let him relocate to either Bulunkutu ward in Maiduguri or Gonin Gora in Kaduna so as to foster the peace that had continued to elude the peoples of the areas. In that case the President will prove he is worth his salt, while incessant criticisms about his incompetent leadership will subside.

However, every disappointment has its corresponding gain. If Nigerian leaders fly into Brazil leaving their people in anguish, the sojourn in that country sharpens their perception about the seriousness of the social upheavals at home, giving them liberal opportunity to postulate appropriate measures for resolving them. When ‘Yar’adua flew back home he unfolded amnesty package to Niger Delta activists which had helped in curbing their nuisance in the area. On his part President Jonathan returned with sacked letters for his incompetent security chiefs who were made the scapegoats of his evident inability to rein in the fledgling insurgents his predecessor’s unwise decision to fly to Brazil molded into hardened felons now threatening to bring the country down. Surely history will record ‘Yar’adua and Jonathan as the ugly faces of a bad coin for promoting security vulnerability in Nigeria.

Conversely, the ouster of Defence Minister Bello Haliru and the National Security Adviser, Lt-General Andrew Awoye Azazi, who incidentally is Jonathan’s kinsman, was roundly applauded in some quarters as a right step in the right direction, yet others dismissed it as an inglorious attempt to chase the shadow while ignoring the substance. The solution to Nigeri’as insoluble security challenges is not the change of leadership but a determined effort to confront and remove forces that disallow effective functioning.

Who was more responsible for the reasons adduced to justify the dismissals? Was it the government that facilitated the grounds on which terrorism was breeding, or the security chiefs for their unconcerned and self-righteousness in discharging their responsibilities? Both were to blame, but the government was more culpable. Its prejudiced style of leadership made it possible for corruption to thrive under an atmosphere of social injustice and moral decadence of leaders and the lead. That was the condition necessary for the germination of terrorism. While it horrifyingly raged on, it lavishly appropriated money in the fight against terrorism and other allied offences, believing that it was a means to an end. The more it spent the more the terrifying monsters rear their ugly heads.

General Azazi may have his shortcomings, but his greatest undoing was the lack of caution in criticising the style of leadership of the ruling party. He was also unfortunate to work with dissolute and lustful officials, overindulged in the sins of ravaging corruption which the government woefully failed to control. With tonnes of banknote wads at their disposal, under apathetic and careless supervision, the officials found it convenient to evade their responsibility and to misappropriate funds entrusted to them. Soon the police and men of the State Security Services SSS, burdened with the onerous task of routing terrorism, engaged in unhealthy rivalry, jostling for the favour of the government, with each fabricating an incredible falsehood about terrorists and their tactics, sketching elaborate plans on how to trounce them in order to extract money from the government. That unbecoming attitude of the security personnel has gravely negated concerted efforts to fight terrorism, as it promoted gross disobedience and individualism. In that way General Azazi was betrayed, thus becoming unsuccessful and therefore superfluous. That was exactly how the former Inspector General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim was rendered feeble and subsequently laid off.

The changes in the security system were for hastening the restoration of peace and normalcy by defeating all forms of terrorism. However that commendable effort would amount to naught if the various security personnel are not effectively subordinated to the incoming chiefs, with the government becoming more practical and proactive, taking adequate precautionary measures to secure the country. In that way the lesson from the needless trips to Brazil will not be lost on us.

Enjoy "FULL CLOSURE" - By Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. I am always proud of my brother Hakeem....are you not?.....

FULL CLOSURE
“If you don’t like my opinion of you, you can always improve.” Ashleigh Brilliant.

Among the many vital requirements for good governance, the existence of openness and transparency in the manner Nigerian leaders manage our affairs is the most visible by its absence. An accountable leadership with a capacity to submit to the highest moral standards is absolutely essential as a requirement for the growth and development of our democratic system. In the last two weeks, those among us who had hoped that the massive shocks from revelations of the existence of unprecedented levels of corruption will nudge our leaders towards improving the manner they manage our affairs will be bitterly disappointed by insistence from both the legislature and the President that what they earn or own is none of our business as citizens.

President Jonathan stepped up first, and told a national audience that it is no one’s business what he owns or owes, since he has satisfied the law in declaring his assets. He was responding to questions over why he has not declared his assets publicly, as he did when he was deputy to President Musa Yar’Adua. Using un-presidential words, he said even when he made a public declaration as Vice President, his reason was that Yar’Adua himself had done it. Even then, he said, it was not proper, because it is not public declaration of assets by the President that will change the country. After all, he can always be investigated when he leaves office.

Really, Mr President? Should we assume then that you operate on two different moral standards? One, when you publicly declared your assets because Yar’Adua did so, even though it was improper and not a legal requirement. And the other, when you are fully in charge of the affairs of the nation, and choose not to declare publicly. Were you wrong then, or wrong now?

The issue has little to do with the law, and everything to do with the moral standards by which our President chooses to be judged. The inconsistency between his position as Vice President and now as President is damaging to his standing, and the President should have realized that backtracking from his earlier declaration will do him serious damage. Even if he could have gotten away with this damaging inconsistency, his corruption-ravaged watch should have been a major motive for sustaining a largely symbolic but profoundly moral gesture of making his assets declaration public.

And he is wrong in assuming that the public declaration of his assets will not change the country. Everything Presidents do, or fail to do, or refuse to do can and do change the country. Nigerians do not want to wait until President Jonathan leaves office before he is investigated. Nor are they particularly concerned with his wealth, unless he has something to hide. But they do want to know that he is insulated from some of the earth-shaking scandals around the fuel-subsidy scam, the pension scam, the Malabu Oil scandal, and the serious damage which the absence of openness and transparency can cause to the integrity of leaders. Simply put, President Jonathan, under the circumstances, can only be accountable to Nigerians if he makes his assets public. If does not give a damn over their feelings over the matter, he needs to know that they give a damn.

But even before President Jonathan assesses the full impact of his unfortunate outing on national television, a Federal High Court in Abuja dealt another serious blow to efforts to keep a sealed lid on the income of our legislators. Justice Bilkisu Bello Aliyu ordered the Clerk of the National Assembly to disclose details of the salary, emoluments and allowances collected by members of the Senate and House of Representatives between 2007 and last year. A non-governmental organization, Legal Defence and Assistance Project had gone to court, using provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to demand the details of the fabulous take home pay of our legislators, saying that the issue affects public interest, since payments to the legislators are made from public funds.

The national assembly had objected to an earlier request for the details from the NGO. The law makers who passed the F.O.I Act after massive pressure had, even more amazingly, hired a Senior Advocate to argue before the judge that the NGO had no locus standi to make such a request. The technicality involved in the matter is not the issue. The real issue is that people elected to represent our interests do not want us to know how much we pay them or if they pay themselves more than they should.

The assault on open government which President Jonathan and the national assembly are leading will encourage the damaging perception that our leaders are dipping their hands in the till. This resistance against openness and accountability will fail, because more and more Nigerians will demand that our leaders live above board, and that we see them do so. Perhaps it is time to amend the law, and compel presidents and at least governors and legislators to declare their assets and liabilities publicly. All good friends of our legislature should also advise it to resist the temptation to appeal the ruling of the Abuja High Court on their emoluments. Its image right now can do without further damage.

Oops!
Last week I referred to N. Machiavelli as a Greek Philosopher. A few readers such as Ayo and Vita drew my attention to my error. He was Italian.
- Hakeem.....

Jonathan Jets Out Of Nigeria To Belgium, Abandons Crucial ECOWAS Meeting

President Goodluck Jonathan departed Abuja for Brussels today after the Federal Executive Council meeting, to deliver a speech at a Customs conference in Belgium.
Mr. Jonathan’s trip is basically a jamboree organized by the Director of Customs, who reportedly bribed Jonathan’s wife and his Chief of Staff, Mike Oghiadome, to ensure the President’s appearance at the event.
Last week, Mr. Jonathan was severely criticized by civil society activists and opposition groups, for leading a vast delegation of 116 officials and hangers-on to the Rio+20 conference in Brazil.
During his third presidential media chat last Sunday, Mr. Jonathan tried to rebut the criticisms, claiming that the widespread attacks in two States in which militants killed over 70 people was not enough reason to prevent him from that trip.
Sources told Saharareporters that this week’s Belgium jamboree will cost Nigeria its prime spot at the Economic Commission for West Africa (ECOWAS) table in Yamassoukro, Cote d’Ivoire.  Mr. Jonathan was expected to be there to represent Nigeria to intervene in the political instability in Mali, where rebels have carved out a den for themselves in the north, and Guinea Bissau, where military bandits upstaged civilian power.
Nigeria, which has lost a lot of political respect in Africa, is leading a 9-nation committee to resolve the conflicts in those two countries.  Instead, Mr. Jonathan opted to go to Brussels with no clear agenda. His large delegation includes Senators, governors, and sundry officials.
The Nigerian Customs Service is footing the bill of several attendees, including paying the first lady special estacodes for the nights she will be in Brussels.
Mrs. Jonathan will leave Brussels for the United States with 36 aides to attend to another jamboree: the First Lady’s “Youth Infusion” Summit in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Summit is organized by a group in Maryland that is apparently outside the purview of UNESCO, although it is supported by a non-governmental organization called the UNESCO Center for Peace.  The group’s website shows that only African first ladies from Ghana, Senegal, Liberia, Nigeria, Benin, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone have been invited.
Curiously, the organizers website -firstladysummit.org was registered and created only six months ago, in January 2012, and has largely pixelated photos of advisors that clearly have nothing to do with UNESCO.
-SaharaReporters

David Mark, Boko Haram Sponsorship and the Parable of the Ostrich...

http://newsdiaryonline.com/name-those-behind-boko-haram-northern-groups-challenge-david-mark/?utm_source=NewsdiaryOnline+Newsletter&utm_campaign=edbea2c30a-Newsdiaryonline_Newsletter6_26_2012&utm_medium=email
Name Those Behind Boko Haram-Northern Groups Challenge David Mark

Posted by: Newsdiaryonline Posted date: June 27, 2012 In: News | comment : 0
Recent comments by Senate President , David Mark urging northern leaders to check the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect have drawn the ire of Northerners who accuse him of speaking as if he is not from the region.In particular,two northern groups have issued a statement slamming the views expressed by Mark during the 2012 Senate Retreat in Uyo Akwa Ibo State.
The groups, Arewa Youth Development Foundation And The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum said in a joint press statement that they “ find it regrettable that David Mark, himself a northerner and occupying his present office by the grace of the North should turn round to accuse the region’s elders of being behind the crisis”
They also challenged the senate president to name those he claimed are behind the sect. “We hereby categorically challenge him to name those he claimed in his statement to be behind the terror group and to tell the world the action Mark has ever led the Senate to take towards arresting the security threat.”
The groups accused Mark of doing nothing towards resolving the Boko Haram crisis. “It is even embarrassing for Mark, who has not for once attempted to meet with any of the elders, political leaders; religious or cultural leaders on how to resolve the situation, to now find the courage to point accusing fingers particularly at the elders”, the groups said.
Read the full text of the joint press statement below:
JOINT PRESS STATEMENT BY THE AREWA YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION AND THE AREWA YOUTH CONSULTATIVE FORUM ON SENATE PRESIDENT DAVID MARK’S STATEMENT ON NORTHERN ELDERS
1.We read with great concern reports attributed to the Senate President David Mark tending to blame the elders of the North for the perpetration and escalation of violence in the region.
2.We find it regrettable that David Mark, himself a northerner and occupying his present office by the grace of the North should turn round to accuse the region’s elders of being behind the crisis.
3.It is unfortunate that Mark, supposedly a public figure and people’s representative should publicly admit not being aware of the concerted efforts by the Northern Elders Forum that has cut across religious and tribal boundaries; the various meetings held by the Northern Governors Forum the northern traditional rulers and various coalitions of religious leaders.
4. It is discouraging for Mark to have publicly admitted or pretended not to know that the northern elders he now accuses, have in their effort recently visited and presented a comprehensive document advising President Jonathan on how to handle the security situation.
5. It is even embarrassing for Mark, who has not for once attempted to meet with any of the elders, political leaders; religious or cultural leaders on how to resolve the situation, to now find the courage to point accusing fingers particularly at the elders.
6. We hereby categorically challenge him to name those he claimed in his statement to be behind the terror group and to tell the world the action Mark has ever led the Senate to take towards arresting the security threat.
7. Let Mark tell the world why his Senate deliberately ignored the various written calls made to it for intervention by calling for a public hearing on the matter particularly by youth groups.
8.Rather than heeding those calls, Mark’s Senate chose to pursue issues that involve money.
9. Let Mark tell the world if the northern elders have that power to restore peace beyond offering advice and calling for caution which they have been doing diligently though he pretends not to be aware of that.
10. And let Mark explain why his Senate could not initiate the steps that led to the present moves by the presidency towards changing the security arrangement while the House of Representatives did summon the President and security chiefs.
11. Indeed it is disrespectful for a son of the region in his position who has never visited any of the cities to console with victims of the violence to now attempt to blame its persistence on his own elders.
12.It is on record that Mark has never visited Maiduguri, Kano or Potiskum to console with families of the thousands of people slaughtered in the course of this violence but now finds the voice to criticise respected elders of the North.
13.More worrying is the part of Mark’s statement that tended to suggest that non-Muslims are the main target and primary victims of the attacks even after the Muslim community which has openly distanced itself from the actions, also happen to have recorded greater loss in terms of human and material casualty.
14.Even more insensitive is the manner in which Mark closed his eyes to universal fact that almost all those so far arrested in possession of explosives and dangerous arms; those arrested with the actual bombing or attempts to blow up the places of worship referred to by Mark, happen to be non-Muslims.
15.More dangerously divisive is that Mark, rather than making statements expected from leaders that could enhance religious harmony and understanding, chose to single out a certain religious group for pacification.
16.Finally, while we join other well-meaning Nigerians in condemning the violence and its perpetrators, we welcome the recent bold moves by President Jonathan to reposition the nation’s security structure, we caution the presidency to beware of the utterances of people like Mark who have clearly disconnected with the situation on ground.
17.We call on Mark to concentrate on cleaning the embarrassing scandals engulfing the Senate and stop diverting the nation with unintelligent accusations.
18.No diversionary tactic from Mark or anybody else can take the nation’s attention from the inadequacies of the Nigerian Senate with regards to sensitive national issues.
19. The nation knows that the Senate did not for instance take any action with regards to the vexed issue of fuel subsidy and that it was the Reps that even as much as showed concern.
20.We are convinced that most Senators are only using the Senate as a refuge to acquire immunity from investigations into their past commissions or omissions while in various positions of power.
21.Consequently we have resolved to launch an agitation for the scraping of the Nigerian Senate from the nation’s democratic structure as it only serves as a gateway for huge financial wastage while not performing its constitutional expectations.
SIGNED:
1.NASTURA ASHIR SHERIFF for Arewa Youth Development Foundation
2.SHETTIMA YERIMA for Arewa Youth Consultative Forum

Short Essay 32 The Fall of Azazi, the Return of Gusau

SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012

Short Essay 32 The Fall of Azazi, the Return of Gusau

Short Essay 32
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

The Fall of Azazi, the Return of Gusau

Boko Haram has claimed its most important victim yet last weekend: The National Security Adviser, A. O. Azazi. For an avowed enemy of the nation’s security apparatus and political system, only the ultimate the target remains: the President. If it can manufacture his downfall or the end of his regime, the group would boast that it has proved its mettle.

The fall of Azazi must have surprised many Nigerians. Ah, so the ‘clueless’ and ‘weak’ Jonathan can also bite, they would exclaim. Beyond that, biting his Ijaw brother was least expected. Many people think Azazi did not expect his sudden fall. He has since his resumption as NSA walked firmly on the presidential turf with a mien that was informed by the confidence of an insider and the assurance of a kinsman.

As the weakness in the President became clearer, the arrogance of Azazi as his untouchable protector and indispensable ally was increasing by the day. His display of power reached its peak last week when his contempt for the president was reported online. Somewhere the idea of declaring the state of emergency in Kaduna State was discussed and it was agreed that it was a good idea. To seal its fate however, the former NSA employed a sarcasm that portrayed his level of disdain for his boss, the President. “Where is the president to declare it”, was his reported remark, as if Jonathan was missing in Bermuda Triangle or he has abandoned the hot seat for a mere trivial summit in Brazil.

Azazi left office with the same demeaning impression for the President. After receiving the news of his sacking, his spokesman issued some statements that did not hide his long-standing poor rating of Jonathan’s courage to face challenges squarely. The spokesman said when Azazi suggested that Buhari and some top northerners be invited for ‘questioning’, Jonathan refused and accused the NSA of trying to “scuttle his government.”

As a tribute, I feel compelled to attest that Azazi was different from former NSAs in his relationship with the Nigerian public. Two months ago, he declared the ruling party and the northern presidential aspirants guilty of precipitating the present security crisis in the country. Right or wrong, the public felt that such statements should not have come from a person so close to the President and his NSA for that matter - a Freudian slip, you can say.

The tradition of the NSA in Nigeria as cut by his predecessors is complete silence. They understood that the strength of any security apparatus lies in its secrecy, through leaving the public guessing about its opinion and what it onows about any security issue. Even if Azazi shared that philosophy, the politician in him was not comfortable with it. He preferred activism to mystery. Under him, even the secretive SSS went public, appointing a spokesperson, issuing press statements, parading suspects and holding press conferences. The public could easily discern from these development that there was a competition for its recognition between the SSS and the police in any success, no matter how small, which was recorded in the fight against Boko Haram.

Azazi might have usurped the functions of the police and demystified the office of the NSA. But if it were not for his approach, we would not have been able to read the mind of the administration regarding crucial issues like its perception of the causes of the Boko Haram insurgency. To the delight of journalists, commentators and the opposition, Azazi was always there to let the cat out of the bag.

Well he is gone, for whatever reason and for whatever sin he committed. He is the latest victim of Boko Haram. He is familiar with sackings though, having suffered one as the Chief of Defence Staff under Yar’adua when he was indicted by an army security report on the theft of weapons from his 1 DIV by a Niger Delta militant syndicate. Perhaps, that was the first time he established relationship with Jonathan, who the report fell short of naming as one of the financiers of the gun running activities of the syndicate.

Azazi's return as NSA might be a reward for his ethnic chauvinism. Our own, an Ijaw, possibly, my partner in the illegal arms deal is now the President, Azazi must have calculated rightly when Jonathan became the President. Jonathan too might have wondered if he could trust anyone better than the devil he knows. And on the NSA seat, we saw all sorts of sumptuous security contracts awarded to Niger Deta militants, the latest being the concession of our maritime security to them by the Jonathan administration. We also witnessed the largest allocation of our budget to national security in our history.

Azazi may now be bitter for losing the top security job but he can still keep himself busy by paying full attention to the execution of those security contracts that were fronted for him by Tampolo and other Niger Delta militants. With his departure, the dream of Niger Delta republic has suffered a serious setback. It is clear that Nigeria is bigger than his dream. Safe journey, sir.

At his heels comes Sambo Dasuki, a lesser known person from the Sokoto royal family. Compared to General Azazi, Sambo is a dwarf: a junior officer who retired almost two decades ago as a colonel. Politically, the highest position he held in the army was the ADC to President Babangida. He was nowhere close to commanding a division or becoming Nigeria’s chief of defence staff. Likewise, I doubt if he ever dreamt of becoming the NSA.

Now, if the NSA job has put his predecessor general to shame during these trying times, how did the President got convinced that Sambo would succeed in disabling the bombs of Boko Haram and silencing their guns? Look at the gamble: apart from his political appointment as the Managing Director of Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Corporation, the new NSA has nothing in hand to prove that he is competent in heading the security apparatus of country as it is today. At its face value, one is tempted to think that the appointment of Sambo is one of the most stupid things that Jonathan ever did as the President. So are we heading for the rocks, again?

Hold your breath. we are not. The President is not stupid. Come with me.

The reason is simple. Some things we get by birth. Many others we get by hard work. Few we get by association. Sambo Dasuki, I am tempted to believe, got this appointment by his marital link to the longest serving NSA, General Aliyu Gusau (rtd). Gusau is married to Sambo’s sister, the wife of late Aliyu Dasuki, may God have mercy on him.

In the past few months, there have been reports that Gusau was resisting the pressure to return to the NSA office. Gusau might have calculated the cool reception that Nigerians would accord him if he were to return for the simple fact that he has been there three times before. Man is hardly excited with the familiar. Also, he might have been hindered morally by his contest for the PDP presidential ticket against Jonathan under whom he last served as NSA. The idea of a proxy is therefore apt. Sambo would sit in as the figurehead NSA, definitely, while Gusau would ably determine the security operations of the country.

From his position at the top, Jonathan must have perceived that Boko Haram is inching closer and closer to him. It has caused the sacking of all categories of police and security chiefs. With some clerics warning him of an impending war, the President must have realized that he could be the next victim. The nation has, with distinctions, fulfilled all the requirements for a coup d’etat. The condition is so critical that he will not hesitate to call for the assistance of anyone perceived to be capable of making a difference between democracy and military rule.

It is easy to see the idea of involving Gusau as based purely on the merit of the former NSA. However, it surely goes beyond that. I do not also believe that it is a gesture made to appeal Northerners to dismiss the notion that the inability of the government to handle the situation is not a conspiracy to destroy the North.

In my humble opinion that the return of Gusau was due to two reasons. One, from what Azazi said two months ago – that violating the principle of zoning in PDP was responsible for the present security challenges in the country and that no one expects that those aggrieved would fail to respond by creating difficulties for the Jonathan administration – it is clear that he meant that Boko Haram is recruited by those who lost the ticket to Jonathan. So they must know the secret behind it.

Nobody expects that Azazi will make such serious accusations without any support from the hundreds of files he has treated on the matter. Jonathan, according Azazi’s spokesman yesterday, has resisted the fomer NSA’s advice that such people be called for questioning. Gusau, being one of those aspirants, must have made it to Azazi’s list conspirators.

Jonathan here took a directly opposite route. If he cannot invite Gusau for questioning, it would not be a bad idea to saddle him with the challenge of restoring security to the country.

The second reason is that possibly few people, if any, in our security domain would know about Boko Haram than Gusau. It was under the tenure of Obasanjo that Boko Haram was conceived, hatched and nourished to full growth. The first we heard about the group was when it called itself the “Nigerian Taliban” after it clashed with the police in Yobe in the early 2000s. Many of the arrests made then turned out to be sons of influential people in the old Borno State. The suspects were eventually released. From there, the group moved its headquarters to Maiduguri and enjoyed the support of people like Governor Sheriff. Perhaps few people knew that it would turn so dangerous. But the SSS director then, Gadzama, has raised sufficient alarms which, for unknown reasons, were not heeded to. It took the vacation of Obasanjo from that office, along with NSA Gusau, before the authorities could provoke a violent engagement with the group resulting in the present crisis.

Why was the group not stopped from blooming and fruition during Obasanjo still remains a mystery to many of us. But it will not be a mistake to assume that the person at the helm of our security structure during the formative years of the group clearly knows its dynamics and the forces behind it. Who else is then best qualified for the job than him?

So from whichever angle one looks at it, appointing a proxy to Gusau would make a lot of sense for a scared Jonathan who is presently confined by the terror to the Villa. By appointing Sambo Dasuki, Jonathan might have bought some time, but only a little. How far he can run before the monster that caught up with those immediately below him also catches up with him is a distance known only to his destiny.

Finally, I would like to put this question to my readers. Should the new NSA fail to meet the expectations of Jonathan and Nigeria precariously attains a tipping point, would the country be ready to sacrifice Jonathan in order to avert the impending disaster or would it prefer to go into an indefinable civil war and dismemberment simply to maintain him as the President of a democratic Nigeria?

Jonathan would be keen to know your answers. But he must be under no illusions as to what they would be. Nigerians have answered such questions each time the country reaches the brink in the past. And consistently, the answers have never been in favour of the presidents. This one too will not be different, I suppose.


Bauchi
24 June 2012

Why Are Igbos Kidnapping Other Igbos for Ransom Money? By Dr. Ozodi Osuji, A Response

 Why Are Igbos Kidnapping Other Igbos for Ransom Money? By Dr. Ozodi Osuji, A Response

Written by Paul I. Adujie
Rising antisocial behaviors in Nigeria? It is desperation, stupid! Economic desperation!

I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist, but, I will be quick to tell you that there is nothing peculiarly pathological about the antisocial behaviors which are now common in Igboland as all of Nigerian nooks and crannies. Antisocial behaviors driven by poverty and economic desperation

Were it not the fact that Dr. Oz Osuji is of the Igbo ethnic stock in Nigeria, I would have rapidly labeled him as a bigot and man of biased and prejudiced thinking. We he not such a prolific writer and public intellectual, I would have called him a self loathing Igboman. Dr. Osuji seems to think that as an Igboman that he has poetic license to write critically of Igboland and even savage Ndiigbo in the process and doing so have subjected him to the appearance of being traitorous and treacherous regarding Ndiigbo at first glance

It quite difficult to be measured after reading Dr. Osuji’s most scandalous attack piece against Ndiigbo with the title above which implies or suggests something peculiar and unique about the Igbo character which makes us predisposed to negative individualism with genetic predisposition to antisocial behaviors, when in fact the average Igbo person is his brothers’ and sisters’ keeper

Dr. Osuji is probably unaware of the self-help culture of Igboland, where families, villages, age-grades and churches and sundry community unions and associations join together to ensure the education of Igbo youth up to highest education levels. Dr. Osuji fixation on individualism in Igboland, completely neglected to mention the collectivism and communal efforts in Igboland which have perennially ensured the success of projects in Igboland, large and small.

I think that in Dr. Osuji’s article we find the invaluable caveat to medical doctors which warns thus, “first, do no harm” kidnapping and other antisocial behaviors are on the rise in Igboland as in other parts of Nigeria. In discussing or writing about these social scourges, we have to be mindful not to do harm to our people with sweeping generalizations and painting Igboland with broad brushes of negative labels, there are already enough of these on our people

Additionally, Dr. Osuji also gives credence to the advice to surgeons and lawyers. Surgeons may not perform surgeries on family members or selves because of the familial emotions invested which may impact outcomes negatively, similarly, it is often said, that a lawyer engaged in representing self, has a fool for a client, again, because of the undetached emotions as in the surgeon trying to save a family member, say, mother or child, father etc

Dr. Osuji allowed his personal disappointed as a direct and indirect victim of a kidnapping crime to moderate and emotionally impact his writing or what ought to be an objective if dispassionate commentary on a national affliction, desperation driven by abject poverty! Why, we must ask, do some of our women, known to be usually morally and culturally upright and outstanding, now resort to prostitution in abroad, sometimes with winks and nods of approvals from husbands and other family members? Why, must ask, there is so much desperation in our homeland in the midst of abundance?

Dr. Osuji permitted his immediate and personal emotion to cloud what ought to be a public discourse of the state of human condition now permeating and pervasive in our homeland, Nigeria. He seem to have put pen to paper, as soon as he received the disturbing and disappointing news of the kidnappings and ransom demand, hence his very emotive rendition as conveyed in his scatological piece attacking, in which, he an Igbo person himself, has unwittingly put Ndiigbo under unfair scrutiny and microscopic examination as having some character trait, quite unlike other Nigerians or for that matter, as if Igbos are unlike other humans, and Igbos isolated from the rest of the world in individualism as a human foible

Upon reading a recent story in The Punch Newspaper in which one Dayo Modupe recounted an encounter with Nigerian Customs Service, I commented that it was actually a pleasant surprise that Nigerians are not more violent and going postal, despite the regularity in which some Nigerians seem to want to needlessly subject fellow Nigerians to miseries. The abject human conditions in Nigeria are liable to push sane persons to the outer limits of sanity. Good people change and may engage in anti social behavior due to poverty and the desperation which have become all too common. Symptoms of the extent of desperation are common all over Nigeria, whether in so-called ethno religious violence in Jos, Maiduguri and Bauchi or the MEND demand for resource control or the restive Boko Haram or the kidnappings in Igboland, these are all testaments to our abject condition, poverty of ideas, poverty of creative political solutions and bankruptcy of leadership.

Economic depression anywhere in the world is often followed by increased spate of higher incidents of crime or crime waves, anti social behavior etc. And it is almost irrelevant whether it is America, Jamaica, Haiti or Nigeria. Anyone who pays adequate, sufficient and enough attention to cyclical economic spirals would know should know. There is, in the majority of cases, a direct correlation between high crime rates or upsurge in antisocial behavior with economic downturns or downward spirals worldwide, this is not peculiar to Igboland, Nigeria or Africa!

No Igbo person and No Nigerian should internalize any anti social behavior or the negative effects of economic depression, abject poverty, capitalist individualism as peculiar to us. Self-preservation is a human trait, which in the extreme, can be perverse and twisted. Warped and perverse human reactions to circumstances are not peculiar to Igbos or Nigerians.

Nigerians have been told to believe that Nigerians invented fraudulence, until it was discovered that Bernie Madoff is not a Nigerian, neither is Jeff Skilling or Ken Lay of Enron. Igbos and Nigerians in general should cease and desist from internalizing, pretending to own, hold patent, trademarks and copyrights to perversities! Human conditions, development and circumstances are what motivates human responses to such, positive or negative responses, as such.





Dr. Osuji, with all due respect, you should stop poo-pooing Igboland... Dr. Osuji seems to see something for which Igbos should apologize, what he termed Igbo nationalism and Igbo nationalists! What exactly is wrong with being an Igbo nationalist? Should the Igbo race not take interest in self-preservation? Is it not even more particularly so, given the checkered history to which Igbos have been subjected in Nigeria from pogroms to civil war to marginalization and relegation? Dr. unnecessarily badgered Igbos in his feeble and woefully unsuccessful attempt to discuss kidnappings in Nigeria. We should discuss the cause and effect of the current human condition in Nigeria. All Nigerians ought to do a better business of putting the collective feet of our current crop of political leadership feet to the fire. And how about making Nigeria’s current parlous economic conditions and the upsurge of incidents of high crimes, including kidnappings, ethno-religious violence and resources mismanagement on the front burner as election issues? Why blame the abject human conditions on Ndiigbo, in fact, Dr. Osuji, why dump on Ndiibo?


Could Dr. Osuji show me or point to me, what other ethnic group, language group or region of Nigeria which has through self-help built an airport as was done in Owerri? Could Dr. Osuji show me other groups in Nigeria which more than exemplifies resilience? I will show Dr. Osuji Ndiigbo as survivors and triumphal and persistent strivers, despite the civil and despite efforts at arresting developments in Igboland, and despite utter neglect by our federal government, Igboland has not fared badly, in self-resuscitation in the aftermath of the civil war... Igboland is filled with indefatigable Nigerian citizens bar none!

Dr. Osuji ignores the plights and predicaments to which Igbos and Igbland have been subjected and he should know better! Too many Nigerians across the spectrum are willingly and blissfully, including Dr. Osuji, are ignorant or suffer voluntary self-imposed amnesia regarding Igbos and Igboland. Th writer and novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says it best, when she stated that Nigerians need to discuss our national history, with particular reference to the Nigerian Civil War and lasting consequences upon all of us, Igbos and non-Igbos ... our people need healing and true reconciliations ...

I write here, to inform Dr. Osui that I am tired of folks using Ndiigbo as scapegoat and Nigeria's whipping boy! I am so outraged by Dr. Osuji's article, hence the need to write this response or rejoinder in a hurry, such hurry! Dr. Osuji, I feel a sense of national duty to disagree with him as stridently and as vehemently, as I am personally affronted by his generalizations which does not take into account the desperation driven behaviors he so succinctly describes. A Nigerian at Nigeriavillagequare, only known as Abraxas assessments which I agree with, as he pointed out that there is nothing unique in the antisocial behaviors in Igboland different from other parts of Nigeria, and in fact, the entire world given the circumstances and human condition, and human nature.


Igbos and Igboland have had it rough. There is glaring disparities and discrimination in citing of projects. And for instance, Onitsha and Aba have been big commercial hubs since I was a child, and any reasonable government should know these salient facts; If I were president of Nigeria Aba and Onitsha would have had LARGEST international airports outside of Lagos and Kano, only and solely determined by the volume of business and traffic and profit and not some other ancillaries and extraneous expediencies! But Dr. Osuji and other Nigerians know that this has not happened in Nigeria!

Dr. Osuji and others who may erroneous deceive themselves into believing that antisocial behaviors are peculiar to Igbos and Igboland, may be told that, only recently, there was news of a man, a Nigerian man, whose mother lived abroad, (in Britain)? The man arranged for his MOTHER to be robbed, she was robbed and murdered while visiting Nigeria... the man and his mother are not from Nnewi or Olololo! I condemned the guy and his friends for the heinous murder of anyone for money, particularly, his own mother, BUT, we should all inquire into what drives such desperation; Neither the man or his mother was of the Igbo race/stock... but I do understand, at least in a psychiatric sense, what drove the desperation to rob his own mother!


We should endeavor mightily, to look for CAUSE and EFFECT in evaluating our human conditions, even as I express my disapproval of Dr. Osuji’s generalizations, I will have to assume that he intended no harm to our people, nevertheless, I worry about this idea of giving Ndiigbo another, additional negative label. I worry about generalizations; sweeping generalizations with such a broad brush

Ndiigbo have been marginalized and relegated in various ways during the past 41 years... economically, politically and structurally. Anti social behaviors in Nigeria and worldwide, are not peculiar to Igbos ... It is beyond dispute that anti social behaviors increases in spate and degree during economic stresses/recessions/depressions. It is incontrovertible that the Eastern part of Nigeria has suffered unmitigated neglect from our central governments for so long.

The following is excerpted and in quotes, from WHY ARE IGBOS KIDNAPPING OTHER IGBOS FOR RANSOM MONEY? Ozodi Thomas Osuji

“This paper traces the current spate of kidnapping and other anti-social behaviors in Igbo land to what it calls warped Igbo character and pathological Igbo society; it says that Igbos have wild individualism that seeks individual achievement without caring for the larger society, leaving all to fend for themselves and the ignored youth resorting to criminal behaviors. It says that Igbo land is approaching Somalia where law and order broke down and that unless something is done and done soon that Igbo land will become Somalia, with no law and order, with chaos and pillage the order of the day and Igbo life become nasty, brutish and short” Oh my goodness!


We should not blame one segment or one demographic in the Nigeria for symptoms of decadence in Nigeria; But if we must blame Ndiigbo selectively and with particularity, how about putting the social, political and economic conditions/circumstances in Nigeria/nationwide in perspectives?


Why must we pick on Ndiigbo? There are antisocial behaviors throughout Nigeria and throughout the world. In Nigeria for instance, if we must point fingers, particularize, or generalize, How about the ever recurring violence, intractable and internecine violence in Jos, Bauuchi, Maiduguri etc? Why must we pick on Ndiigbo? How about the political violence in Edo, and South Western states of Nigeria


We should leave Igbos and Igboland alone! Why kick a guy who is down or why blame the victims of marginalization and relegation? There is nothing peculiarly Igbo in the suffering, hardships and DESPERATION in Nigeria, which motivates self-preservation and survival of the fittest instincts... if anything, we may find rationale, additional rationale in Igboland as it has been under more SEVERE stresses than the rest of Nigeria which is under economic and political stress as it is, and have been for years! We should lend our names to and we should not give credence false accusations and negative labeling of Ndiigbos or other Nigerians.


In order words, whatever is wrong with Igboland is equally wrong with other parts of Nigeria... all of us who are patriots and well wishers of Nigeria.... must fathom lasting solutions to our national challenges, malaise, and general state of national funk!

. We should be careful not to assist those who would make victims of us or help to repeat our checkered history and beleaguered state of affairs; such is not good for Ndiigbo or Nigeria or for that matter, any human collective. Generalization is for the intellectually incurious and intellectually lazy.

Igbo Kwenu! Nigeria Kwenu!

Malabu oil block presidential scam: How Jonathan funnelled N155billion to phony companies

Malabu oil block presidential scam: How Jonathan funnelled N155billion to phony companies: The Nigerian Government transferred N120billion ($801million) to a company, Malabu Oil and Gas, with a fake address and which has been involved ...

Please read Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed's PROGRESS OF THE WELL-DIGGER and share widely.....Nasir

“An ugly life is still preferable to a beautiful funeral”
Kathrine Hepburn
A well-digger makes progress only by digging himself further into the ground, until he reaches water. Sometimes, he goes so deep into the earth that by the time he strikes water, he is too deep. Climbing up, or being pulled up and out of the well becomes a very hazardous affair and by the time he is out it seems as if it really wasn’t worth all the trouble. It is even worse when he digs to dangerous depths, only to find that there is no water at the bottom. Watching the House of Representatives’ outing last week Friday over the fuel subsidy saga and scandal, Nigerians must feel like the well digger who dug deep into the earth, but is unsure over the quality of water he struck, or even if it is water. To abandon the digging will amount to wasted effort. To dig deeper may yield more impure water, and jeopardize his life.
The grand dreams that the fire President Jonathan lit when he said removing subsidy on petroleum products will liberate the economy from the grip of waste and corruption which is the subsidy policy went up in flames when allegations of corrupt practices by chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Farouk Lawal began to filter. It is reasonable to assume that even President Jonathan himself had no inkling over the effect which his insistence to remove subsidy and “free” trillions of Naira being wasted around it will generate. Nigerians demanded evidence that the subsidy was wasted. Ministers reeled out statistics and figures that contradicted each other and shocked the nation. CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi rolled out figures that suggested that the subsidy policy and regime was costing the nation far much more than it was worth. Subtle hints at the absence of transparency and waste became loud howls against unprecedented plunder of our resources around the subsidy policy.
Having cried wolf, the President could not retreat and protect the interests involved in the subsidy regime. He got half of what he wanted, which was a lower subsidy level, even though no one was sure exactly what was the actual level of subsidy we paid for. But the President and the powerful interests involved in the subsidy policy were left dangerously exposed to the intense scrutiny of organized labour, a mobilized and articulate civil society and an enraged citizenry which wanted to know much more than was healthy for an administration with intimate relationship with many of the key players in the saga. The penalty for higher pump price was that the clamour for an investigation over the embarrassing exposés and improvements in the levels of transparency in the oil and gas sector had to be addressed.
Enter the national assembly, with its well-honed instinct for opportunity. The House of Representatives’ initiative had much promise. Its hearings had all the ingredients of serious business: a legislator with a carefully-cultivated image for uprightness; openness, television cameras and carefully choreographed media engagements that hinted at attempts to compromise the probe. It was vintage national assembly: strong muscle; an eye to public acclaim; trial by television and massive activity away from television cameras. Within a few weeks, the nation was told that findings, (arrived at after incredible pressure were resisted) show that a few companies have swindled us of trillions of Naira; that they are known; and that the President will be asked to commence prosecution. Nigerians thought they had their pound of flesh from multi billionaires who have been exposed by a few brave men and women.
But the cartel also knew the terrain well, and had an intimate knowledge of the legislature and its weaknesses. It was not going to roll over and submit to a public relations exercise which had the potential to cause them massive inconvenience. Since the Presidency appeared powerless to protect the major players in the subsidy saga, they would adopt their own do-it-yourself strategy. They would have known, as key players in a political system where huge resources from the private sector are mobilized to fund electoral campaigns and weaken regulatory mechanisms of government, that the legislature was vulnerable and available. The committee system of the legislature creates pockets of massive influence, and weak points in a system which is difficult to penetrate from outside. A deal struck at the committee level, or a decision or recommendation is hardly questioned or overruled. Chairmen of committees are extremely powerful people, and members yield them much ground to negotiate or relate to objects of probes or targets of oversight. On the whole, the public sees very little of what is actually done by committees, even in televised events. Many public officials or other persons who relate with committees of the legislature prefer to keep sealed lips over the experience, but in private, they do not hold up the institution as the beacon of integrity. With stakes sky high, either the desperation of the subsidy cartel or the greed and assured confidence of the legislators was to threaten to compromise the outcome of the probe. They did, and we still do not know how badly.
The report of Farouk Lawal’s committee is now not worth the paper it is written on. In spite of all the efforts being made to distance the report itself from Farouk, the bitter truth is that the report is tainted beyond redemption. Far from redressing the damage by the House through the public relations stunt of re-listing Otedola’s companies, the act merely calls into question the credibility of all other findings and recommendations in the report. The infamy of instructing the House to de-list the two companies in the first place by Farouk has exposed other members of the committee (which for some curious reason is still there, intact, even though its report has been presented and accepted) will not be obliterated by the bravado and seeming defiance of the House’s decision to re-list. Why should anyone believe that Otedola was the only one asked to give bribes, or who actually gave? Why should anyone believe that subsequent work on the report will be conducted with higher levels of integrity with everyone else in place except Farouk? Why should President Jonathan take the national assembly serious when it demands that he forwards its report to law enforcement agencies for action? Why should we have faith that law enforcement agencies which collaborated with Otedola to ensnare Farouk will be fair and dispassionate in investigating and possibly prosecuting cases? If ten or more importers come forward to claim that bribes were demanded, will that torpedo the entire report or would it still retain some value?
As matters stand, Nigerians need to demand that President Jonathan sets up a Judicial Panel of Enquiry on Fuel Subsidy, which should investigate the entire policy, its practice, the Farouk Lawal report and the bribery saga. Many Nigerians will scoff at this idea, given the deep distrust – much of it justified – over all institutions of state. But whatever reservations we have over having a judicial investigation, it is better than having a severely compromised report moving back and forth between the executive and legislature, which may be precisely what those who subverted it want. Whatever happens, we must not end up like the well digger who digs himself into the bowels of the earth and finds no water, and then is unable to come up. The President may not set up a judicial panel on his own volition. The national assembly will not abandon the Farouk Lawal report (as amended) on its own volition. So Nigerians should demand for what can be done with some credibility, because this scam must be paid for, and not with bribes.

Nigeria´s president arrived at Brazil´s Rio de Janeiro along with 116 aides; ministers, governors and wife, representing the largest national delegation to Rio+20. They are supposedly here to attend the earth summit, where nothing will actually be achieved. Indeed most of them will be shopping and having fun in Copacabana. Meanwhile, those who stole our 6 billion USD back in Nigeria a free and terrorists and criminals are busy maiming and bombing innocent Nigerians even as you read this.

HTTP://FRIDAYDISCOURSE.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK/2012/06/DISCOURSE-346-CHRISTIAN-ANSWER-TO-BOKO.HTML

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2012 

Discourse 346: The Christian Answer to Boko Haram

Discourse 346
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

The Christian Answer to Boko Haram

Last Sunday, the attention of the nation was drawn to the killings of innocent Nigerian Muslims, including unsuspecting travellers on the Kaduna-Abuja Highway, by Christians as a reprisal attack to Boko Haram bombings of churches in Kaduna and Zaria. A number of Mosques and shops were also burnt that Sunday in Christian-dominated neighbourhoods in the southern part of the city. In all the attacks, as at the last offical count, has killed 21 Christians, while the reprisals killed 29 Muslims and hundreds werreinsured. As a result, I will pause my series on Kano to say a word about the matter.

Before we continue, however, I have a confession to make. Writing on matters of religion in Nigeria and especially where lives and places of worship are involved is very difficult for commentators that would like to remain impartial. So many times, as we try it, a writer finds it difficult to walk the tight rope of objectivity, balance and reason. Yet, the mettle of a writer is not tested by his treatment of populist topics or points of view but by how delicately he handles tough issues with equanimiyt and fearlessness. In the midst of high tension and soaring tempers, a voice of reason, even if faint, is most welcome.

The fact that a group of Muslims in the name of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnati Lil Da’awati wal Jihad – popularly known as Boko Haram - has been attacking churches in Northern Nigeria is a settled one. Its leader, Malam Abubakar Shekau, has twice featured on YouTube claiming its responsibility, and so does his spokesperson, Abu Qaqa, in the aftermath of many such attacks. The fact that there are Christians found involved in church bombing activities – and there are many reported and unreported cases – or in supporting Boko Haram as I once wrote on this page does not renounce the confession of Boko Haram; it only complicates our analytical equation by introducing more variables and, thus, making it less linear than most of us would wish.

Targeting churches and Christians with bombings by Boko Haram is a matter that has saddened every well meaning Muslim and Christian in this country. Attacking worshipers is not only un-Islamic but also cheap. The command of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to his companions on this is clear. A Muslim must not have a better model on religion than him. Demolition a place of worship is an act of fasad – or corruption of the world, as clearly stated in Suratul Hajj, ironically in the very verse that the leader of the group quoted in his first video to justify its resort to arms, though he did not complete it.

A worshipper is a guest of God. When a delegation of Christians once paid a visit to the Prophet in Medina, he not only camped them in his mosque but also asked them to use it for their worship. That is how the sanctity of worshippers and their place of worship became a settled issue among Muslims of various sects. That is why destruction of churches are hard to find in Muslim history. Muslims have left churches and even idols in Jerusalem, Syria, Europe, Egypt and Asia intact to date. The Taliban that destroyed the idol of Buddha in Afghanistan a decade and half ago was widely condemned by Muslim scholars across the world.

I am yet to come across a Nigerian Muslim – a scholar or a layman like me - that approves of the demolition of churches and attack on worshippers. That was how the first claim by Boko Haram came to the Muslim community as a great shockand shame. Of course, Muslim rioters have burnt churches before and they continue to do so, just as Christians also burn mosques when there are unrests. The difference is in organization. Those are acts of mobs. The ones of Boko Haram are organized operations of a sect that claims to be waging a holy warfor Islam, for God. But what is its justification, if we may ask?

Fortunately, the group is unequivocal on its reasons. It seeks to legitimise such operations based on the principle of retaliation. It is true, as it says repeatedly, that Muslims in the past twenty years became targets of barbarous attacks by some Christians in areas where the latter dominates. The examples of Kafanchan, Tafawa Balewa, Zangon Kataf, Kaduna, Plateau and Zonkwa cannot be denied. It is not the barbarity of such attacks that worries Muslims most, however but how Christians get away with the crimes so easily. Many accuse the Christian dominated security and law enforcement agencies of complicity.

It is difficult to recall any substantial prosecution or even arrests of Christians in all these despite the presence of hardcore evidence, including videos, in the hands of security agencies and the general public. The most recent of them are the attack on Muslims on Eid ground in Jos and the cannibalization of their bodies in the presence of law enforcement personnel and that of how Muslim villagers were massacred in Southern Kaduna during the post election violence, both in 2011. On the other hand, the violent reactions of Muslims to these atrocities are greeted by severe punishments by tribunals, courts and law enforcement agents that play the prosecution and the judge at the same time. From Karibi-whyte tribunal of 1987 to the latest arrests on the Plateau, it is Muslims who consistently receive the butt.

It is this selective justice and indifference of Nigerian authorities to Muslim blood, property and dignity that gives Boko Haram the pretext to retaliate on Christians. But here too, the group is wrong. No doubt, God has permitted the Prophet to retaliate against the polytheists of Arabia who transgressed against Muslims for over a dcade. In issuing that permit, however, God was specific about the target and the proportion of the retaliation:

“Whoever transgresses against you, transgress (in return) against him in proportion to his transgression against you, and know that God is with those who fear Him (i.e. those who follow his command without retaliating beyond the proportion of the offence they received). (Chapter Baqarah)

In another verse He said,

“And fight those who fight you and do not transgress (beyond the proportion that you were attacked with). God doesn’t like those who transgress.” (Chapter Baqarah again)

This is equal to the principle of proportionality in international law.

The interpretation of Boko Haram that every Nigerian Christian bears the burden of the crime that another Christian committed is absolutely untenable Islam:

“And no soul would bear the burden of another soul…” (Chapter Fatir)

Therefore, the actions of Boko Haram on these matters do not conform with the provisions of the Qur’an. Throughout his life, the Prophet of Islam was specific in punishing those who wronged Muslims on the few occasions he could not forgive them. For example, he never generalized punishment on the polytheists of Arabia then. When he was fighting those of Mecca, he was fighting those of Mecca alone. Neither did he treat the different tribes of Jews and Christians then in Arabia as one. He treated each on its own merit, befriending them except those who proved hostile to Islam. This is the provision against collective punishment in international law, again.

In the same manner, even if we were to accord amargin for retaliation, which I will discount later in the discussion, we must accept that Nigerian Christians cannot be treated as one organic collection of murderers that deserve a carpet treatment of bombs and bullets. In this case, the task is even made easier because the communities where these atrocities are perpetrated are known; so are the names and pictures of people who committed the crimes.

Why would Boko Haram then target innocent worshippers for God’s sake? Why not go for the criminals specifically? If it would avenge the cannibalization of Muslims on the Eid grounds of Rukuba for example, let the it obtain the video, take the pain of identifying the attackers and go after them with a surgical precision. Why then attack a cheap target of Christian worshippers in Gombe or Kaduna and leave those in Zonkwa or Rukuba? Come on. This is not Islam.

I remember the fatwa once given by Sheikh Salisu Abubakar Suntalma of Ahmadu Bello University during the Kafanchan crisis of 1987. He said, agreed that innocent Muslims were killed in Kafanchan, it does not warrant any Muslim to attack any church or Christian in Kaduna or Zaria. If you can find the culprits in Kafanchan and attack them, you may have a point, he said. Islam does not sanction attacking an innocent person, he concluded. During the same episode, Ibrahim Zakzaky expressed the same view. (Ironically, the Karibi-Whyte tribunal that was set up on the crisis jailed Zakzaky for five years, despite his opposition.) It is difficult to come across any scholar, leader or informed person in Islam that holds a contrary view.

So, though Boko Haram is in every sense right to become worried about the impunity with which some Christians commit barbaric actions against Muslims and go unpunished by the Nigerian authorities, the group misfired in its answer to situation even from the perspective of Islam. The Muslim community in Nigeria has repeated this objection times without number. This is not to mention the group’s lack of locus standi even from the Islamic perspective since in Islam only the judge can order the killing of a criminal if so ordained by the law.

By way of summary, if I were to grade the script of Boko Haram here, I would give it minus one (-1).

Now let us turn to our Christian brothers. The answer of some Christians in some Northern communities is, sad to note, a mirror reflection of that of Boko Haram. They too have collectivised Nigerian Muslims, as Boko Haram generalized Nigerian Christians, and made their blood and property targets of their retaliation. If Boko Haram has attacked a church, what stops the Christians from identifying Boko Haram, if they need to, and deal with them?

I question the need because the Christians have the mighty Nigerian security, law enforcement and military apparatus behind them, at their disposal, if we go by the sacred-cow treatment they enjoy from them. Why then resort to killing innocent travellers, burning mosques and shops? So if Boko Haram is wrong in attacking innocent worshippers and churches, what makes the attack by Christian fanatics on innocent Muslim travellers and burning their mosques legitimate? This is the wrong answer to the challenge of Boko Haram.

It is also wrong from the point of view of practicality. In how many communities are such Christians fanatics ready to barricade the highway and cowardly kill innocent Muslims? In how many states or communities in the North can they do it? Honestly, I see that possibility only in Plateau and Kaduna, in the very communities where those atrocities against Muslims have been repeatedly committed due to ethnic reasons and where there are state governors who would mastermind their protection from the law. (I was told Yakowa is married to Jang’s sister!)

Man is a rational animal though he sometimes behaves stupidly at sub-human level especially when propelled by the spur of religion. Normally, he calculates his degree of safety before taking any risk on his life. Few are the fools that would dare start a fire that would consume them. Even in Kaduna State, why did not the Christian reprisal attack take place in Kaduna North or Zaria?

So, I grade the Christian answer script as minus one (-1), too.

When we add up the two, we end up with -2, two failures in the two negative quadrants of the Nigerian security equation. This is worse than where we were without either or both of them. That is where we are today. The fact is that retaliation could only serve as a deterrent for a short while. It often produces a vicious cycle of violence. Christians in some communities carry out war crimes against Muslims. Boko Haram says it retaliates but under the hidden tactic of bombings. Then Christians retaliate in areas they too think Muslims are weak. Both do it against innocent citizens, against places of worship, against God, though purportedly in the name of God.

This cycle of cowardice can continue forever except we find a way to cancel the negatives and arrive at a positive digit. And to this we turn in the remaining part of the essay.

Christian leaders and opinion shapers have appealed to Muslim leaders to use their weight to restrain Boko Haram. But sincerely, which citizen would restrain any Nigerian that carries arms today? There is none. In the same vein, I have heard many Berom leaders saying that their youths are beyond their control. When some chiefs of Niger Delta tried to stop its militants from terrorist activities in the mid-nineties, the youths accused them of complicity and murdered them. Righ now, Nigeria has a high deficit of willing martyrs among its leaders.

The truth is that when it comes to violence, the answer lies with the law and nothing else. The law it is that can cancel those negatives. It is the instrument that stripped all citizens of the right to possess firearms. If people had the right to protect themselves adequately, some of these atrocities would not be committed. (Though think about it honestly: if all of us would possess arms, it will be 160million guns and billions of ammunitions. How would there be peace? We would be facing another form of instability.) However, in most contemporary states, the law has entrusted the security of lives and property to the state. In Nigeria, keeping that trust has been in the decline for decades now. Unless we are interested in replacing the state with anarchy, we must rise to strengthen the law.

Strengthening the law means using it appropriately as an arbiter when injustice is perpetrated and getting the right people to enforce it, whenever possible. Muslims, as I have maintained, should, in the absence of any interest to bring the criminals that have been perpetrating crimes against them to justice locally, refer the matter to the International Court of Justice. They must be prepared to walk the ladder to its top. Armed with hard evidence like the ones we mentioned earlier, it is inconceivable that they will not be offered justice there. So the question of their retaliation is cancelled, ab initio.

Christians on their part must also resort to the law and support it. They must ensure that the law enforcement agencies that they control have risen to the challenge. They must also be patient with them until they succeed without complicating matters through retaliation. The current President is their making. They boasted of supporting him to victory during the last elections. In his hands lie the keys to our peace. He is the commander-in-chief. They must get him to act appropriately. Making a President is the beginning, not the end, of his service.

I will be dishonest to say that the government is doing nothing about Boko Haram. Achievements are recorded daily, albeit not enough to see us through completely yet. But when the President’s primary constituency dismisses him and resorts to taking the law into its hands by killing innocent travellers, I would think he has a problem at hand. He should not claim to be helpless, as he has often expressed in church services. He is not Moses. And we are not the Children of Israel on the bank of the Red Sea. Appealing to God without working hard maximally will only embolden the agents of destabilization. He must yield the stick as well as the carrot to both Boko Haram and his Christian counterparts in Plateau and Kaduna. Only this democratic distribution of justice would finally bring peace to our nation.

Ordinary citizens like me who have a voice must come out and speak boldly. The Christians have often emphasized that there is not enough voice of condemnation heard among Muslims. True. But that has to do more with the lack of protection from the government for those who would dare to do so. Man is a rational animal. Again, our dear Goodluck comes into the equation.

The Christians, on their part, often forget that they have been most economical with their voice against acts of sectarian violence. It is very hard, very rare, and very unusual to hear a Christian voice – a leader or opinion shaper – condemning the atrocities committed by his fellow Christians against Muslims, except Sam Nda-Isaiah of course, which mbay Christian fanatics say he is with Muslims. I cannot remember even a few, specifically directed at Christians. The best I would hear, if I am lucky on those rare occasions, are general statements condemning violence and calling for peace.

Has any Christian leader called for the prosecution of the massacres in Zonkwa or other villages of southern Kaduna of recent, for example? No. Have Nigerians heard the voice of any pastor on his pulpit condemning the Christians that attacked Muslims in Eid ground, roasted their bodies on vehicle bonnets and ate them in the presence of security agents? No. And so was it with every occasion of violence, including the latest killings on the Kaduna – Abuja Highway. What we only hear is the expression of shock, but not a single call for arrest. As usual, none is arrested and none will be arrested, anyway. There was never a time when any Christian cleric or traditional ruler even admitted that his people were at fault. The closest we heard was the recent statements by our Rev. Hassan Mathew Kukah. The videos are there. Let them join us in calling for the prosecution of the culprits. The truth, I must tell my Christian brothers, is that Nigeria cannot clap with one hand.

There are many other ways we can express our voice to garner support for peace though. For example, someone online has suggested mass rallies for peace across Northern Nigeria. Yes. I have seen the federal government and politicians rent crowds to show their solidarity for a cause or a candidate. Why cannot the president go beyond the pulpit and march across the road to the Eagle Square for the sake of peace? Why would not state governments summon all their ulama and priests and their followers to a peace rally in the largest public square of their states? These guys enjoy free largesse to Hajj, Umra Jerusalem and Rome. This is the time to ask for a pay back. Ehe now! Let us reassure the world with the pictures of oceans of peace loving Nigerians on international television screen. It will refute the notion that majority of Nigerians are murderers. It will also tell the agents of destabilization how insignificant they are in our midst.

As for the other forces that are interested for various reasons in aggravating the conflict in Northern Nigeria – those within the region and beyond – I wI'll say that it is our negligence that has given the allowance for the expression of their nefarious interests, using Boko Haram and Christian groups. The people of Northern Nigeria, and those of other regions, will continue to remain where they are, each in his own domain. In the North particularly, God has enriched us with diversity. It is a blessing, not a curse. And so shall we remain together long after the guns of Boko Haram and those of Christian fanatics are put to silence.

Bauchi,
19 June 2012