By Obinna Ezugwu
With the frequent and massive attacks on innocent Nigerians by the blood thirsty Boko Haram terrorists, it is dawning on us all that Nigeria is, indeed, becoming another Somalia, Iraq and Syria. Nigeria currently ranks second behind Iraq in the list of countries with the highest number of deaths due to terrorism. But even worse, the weekly, if not daily massacre of Nigerians by these terrorists attract no more sympathy than even mere fowls would when slaughtered in such numbers so often. In fact, the news of Boko Haram attacks and the resultant casualties comes around simply as just everyday news. Normally, when there is an incident of fresh bombast, it only provides an opportunity for the youths of this nation to exchange insults on social media. Thus, attention almost instantly, shifts away from sympathizing with the unfortunate victims of these horrendous attacks to political war of words based on ethnic, religious and party affiliations. Such is the terrible state of the present Nigerian State.
The more appalling part of it all is the tendency for our politicians- the so called leaders- to use every bomb that goes off to score political points. Hence, the value of a Nigerian life is now relative to a political point it would help to score. In a sane society, it is ideal for all parties to work together when faced with a disaster of this magnitude with a view to finding a lasting solution. But Nigeria has proven time and again, that it is not a sane society. Indeed, a nation whose leaders are so power drunk that even the massive deaths of its citizens are simply seen as avenues to lay claims to power is in every sense of the word, a cursed nation. A bomb goes off in Adamawa, 45 individuals are dead, mostly young men and women, APC’s Lai Mohammed slams President Jonathan and makes a case for APC’s quest for power. PDP’s Olisa Metuh replies Lai Mohammed and makes a case for PDP. President Jonathan condemns the attacks and the cycle continues. Sadly, even the Nigerian youths who are mostly the victims of this carnage, and of the perpetual failure of leadership in the country, shamefully take to social network to pour verbal venom on one another. Normally, most northern youths want Jonathan out and the southern youths, with the exception of a good number of South Westerners, want Jonathan in power. Then a war of words is unleashed, each group blaming the other for being behind Boko Haram. In all these, however, not many youths have had cause to ask themselves what they have benefitted from the successive governments in the country. Those in the north who wish to deny the fact that the region’s 38 years of leadership if anything; only brought poverty and mass illiteracy to them are only displaying extreme myopia and crass ignorance. Evidently, the region remains the most backward in terms of human development. The past leaders from the region obviously never considered providing education for its teeming populace a priority. Hence, the high rate of illiteracy. Former vice president Atiku Abubakar recently stated that 70 percent of northerners are illiterates. Perhaps, he, like many others would love to blame it on President Jonathan.
The average southern youth, on the other hand who is most likely unemployed even years after graduation, has not asked himself what he has gained or will gain with Jonathan in power. Unemployment continues to hit everybody hard, east, west, north and south. Yet, we have thought it wise to dissipate energy fighting for those who are busy looting the nation dry and storing enough wealth for their generations unborn. The tendency for some to believe that their favourite candidate would bring change is laughable. We have seen all of them before. People should not deceive themselves. The question is, why are the youths of this nation so little minded and blinded ethnic sentiments not to see that politicians, at best, only care about their families and friends? Why does the death of fellow Nigerian youths not matter more than a tirade trigger? What I witnessed at Oyingbo in Lagos State after the APC house of assembly primaries left me traumatized for a very long time. A group of very young boys, armed with guns machetes and other ammunitions stormed the streets, looting shops and shooting sporadically into the air. In the wake of the madness, three people were killed. Shot by these irate, utterly stupid young boys. One of the victims was a nursing mother who had gone to buy things at Kano Street. It was a day after that her little child whom she was still carrying when she was shot and killed was rescued. Another of the victims was a young man in his prime who had come out to have a hair cut at a barbing salon. They are now gone forever, killed by some riff raffs simply because their candidate did not win a primary election. And these are the leaders of tomorrow.
Many are now singing war songs, threatening to start war and spill blood if their favoured candidate doesn’t win the presidential election in 2015. For what? If you have had the ‘privilege’ of having any of our current or past leaders come from your region – or even your community and lets now assume its a privilege- Can you tell specifically what you have gained for the simple reason of that leader coming from the same community as you? Now that Jonathan is president, have all the families in his Otuoke community of Bayelsa State become rich? These leaders you’re willing to die for, can you tell how many of their children are in Nigeria? Not many. They all have houses in Europe and America where their children live and attend the best universities. And in case of any unrest, they would conveniently board the next flight out of the country. Then, when we must have butchered ourselves and got tired, they would continue from where they stopped.
Not less painful in this whole affair is the rather divisive role that religion is playing. Adherents of the two major religions in the world, Christianity and Islam, I have to admit, have not always been the best of friends world over. But the issue of religion has not played such a huge role in creating rift and dividing Nigerians until recently. Religion has become the most portent tool in the hands of politicians in creating division and advancing their political ambitions. Those who ordinarily, by their history, would have stood little or no chance of winning elections if competence had remained the criteria for choosing leaders, are very conveniently tossing up religious sentiments as a way of attracting support from those who are of the same faith with them. Hardly does performance play a role in the polity today. It is now a question of which religion you belong, and whether you belong to the religion that has a divine sanction to rule, or quite simply, whether you are among the born to rule. If you’re not, then you must not rule or hell is let loose. This is why I consider humanism as the most important religion on earth. Before you become a Muslim or Christian, be a humanist first. Let the affair of your fellow beings matter above all else. This way, you see me as human, and I see you as human and we won’t have a need to hurt each other no matter what faith we subscribe to.
How did we get here? It is a saying ”If you cannot tell when rain started beating you, you almost certainly cannot tell when it stopped”. The tendency for the north to put the blame of Boko Haram squarely on President Jonathan is not only embarrassing, but also shows that they are unserious about bringing an end to it. To start with, Boko Haram started its campaign of bloodshed even before Jonathan became vice president. Of course, they were always going to expand because the leaders of the north were mutely shielding them. The important thing to note is that Boko Haram matured into the beast it is today due to negligence and outright indifference by those who should have known better. When Boko Haram attacks were mostly targeting churches, not many northern leaders saw it as a real problem. Thus, there were claims by notable leaders from the region who were strongly opposed to the use of force against the insurgents that the they were simply angry youths who don’t have jobs. A notable political figure once said in 2013 that the use of military force against Boko Haram was anti north. He was uncooperative and overtly sympathetic with Boko Haram. Thus, they grew fast and strong like a plantain tree. This truth has largely become a lie, and anyone who tells it must be a member of PDP.
While I concede that president Jonathan has not done enough to bring an end to Boko Haram, I believe that the barrage of insults he gets each time Boko Haram stikes is totally unwarranted. Security, as we know, is everyone’s business. The blame for Boko Haram goes to every single father or mother who not only failed to bring his child up into a responsible adult, but also failed to follow up any strange movement of the child, to every community leader or local government chairman who failed to track down these miscreants and provide the necessary information to the law enforcers before they grew wings. Even to religious leaders who failed to teach them right. All the way to the governors who are the chief security officers in their states and ultimately to the president. Everyone has a role to play, everyone should share the blame. Insurgency would not have thrived this way if the local authorities had swung into action early enough. Today, they are a threat to the country’s very existence, taking territories, massacring Nigerians and gradually winning the support of the local population. Almost the same as other dreaded terrorist organizations such as ISIS, Al-Nasura, Taliban and so on.
But even as dangerous as these terrorists are, our leaders are very much like men who are busy chasing rats while their house is on fire for their insatiable love of meat, without realizing that they might not have a house to live, a pot to cook the meat when and if it is eventually caught. While they are busy struggling for power instead of fighting a common enemy, it would sooner or later, dawn on whoever manages to grab the power that he cannot exercise that power over a large territory that might have been taken over by Boko Haram. I am not being pessimistic, but I believe that anyone who thinks he can simply make Boko Haram go away when he takes over Aso Rock, is not only lying to himself but also telling a bad joke. As much as it has become convenient for the opposition APC to sit back, fold its arms and use every attack to condemn Jonathan, it would dawn on them, if they manage to grab power that terrorism is not what you wave away with your left arm. No nation has successfully defeated terrorism alone. Not even the almighty United States with all its resources. Presently, Iraq and Syria are on the brink of falling to ISIS. But even as these nations are heavily backed by a US led NATO, ISIS continues to pose a huge global threat. It is therefore inconceivable how Boko Haram with almost the same ideology, would be used to score political points.
There have been reports, unfortunately, of men of the Nigerian armed forces collaborating with Boko Haram. Information is allegedly being leaked to the insurgents. The case of 12 soldiers who were sentenced to death for mutinying against their GOC whom they accused of exposing his men to Boko Haram attacks is still raising eye brows. I do not know how the military operates, but the sentence seem bizarre in ordinary eyes. That does not however, take away the fact that there are gallant men on uniform who continue to fight and sometimes lay down their lives in defence of this nation. It is heartbreaking that what these men get in return is criticism from Nigerians who indict them for every advance made by Boko Haram. Their own deaths and the lot of the families they leave behind appear to be of little concern to many.
A regrettable dimension in this Boko Haram crisis is its apparent target on Shia Muslims. Anyone who is familiar with the Sunni and Shia problems in the Middle East has a good reason to see a bleak future in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria no matter who is in power. It is not a war you can win with weapons, it is an ideological war. And your enemy could be your very close neighbour. Yet again, we appear to ignore the Fulani crisis which has equally cut a lot of lives short. These are not the kind of issues that will just go away, and it is certainly not one you can end with guns. There is a need for community and religious leaders to get to work in order to reorientate these restive youths. It is unbelievable that those who should be leading the fight against these crisis are simply folding their arms, using them as platforms for political campaign. As 2015 draws near, one can only hope that no matter who wins, there would be no bloodshed. And any youth who would want to lose or take a life for any politician should have a rethink. In an event of crisis, the politicians you fight for would very conveniently fly themselves and their families to Europe and America, only to come back and feed on the carcass of the poor masses.
The youths should awake, Nigerians should rise up. Dont allow yourself to be used by any politician. Avoid taking sides with politicians to fight ethnic, religious and political wars that wont benefit you in the end. As the 2015 general election approaches, take time to go out and vote candidates of your choice. But dont start a war if your choice candidates didnt win. In any political contest, there must winners and losers. The fight against Boko Haram is everyones fight, not only President Jonathans. Contribute information when you can, be steadfast and pray for Nigeria.
Patrick Obinna Ezugwu (ezugupatricko@gmail.com)
