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Keeping mute in the face of tyranny or maintaining passivity when actions are
required is not ordinarily an act of cowardice, it is inhuman, it is deplorable and it
is unpatriotic. The world is peopled with different individuals: the good and the
bad. The good make life interesting and their society habitable. The bad unleash
venom, inflict pain, and create an unpleasant state of hopelessness. Nigeria is
not immune from this category of people. Good citizens look for the interest of
others and their country. Bad citizens are corrupt, careless and carefree. To
them, as long as they are comfortable, wealthy and influential, the commoners
can go to hell, or die if they so desire. This circumstance has further stratified
our already polarized society and has created a dysfunctional nation that is
characterized by extreme inequality and injustice.
Post independent Nigeria’s birth- mark is corruption, favoritism and nepotism. It
breeds a system that promotes mediocrity over excellence. The head and the tail
are corrupt to the fullest. Political leaders and government officials are corrupt to
the core. Both have imbibed the ignominious culture of dishonesty and have
kicked integrity to the curb. Recklessness of the political elites has further
sustained this indecorum. As if this is not enough problem that requires
immediate critical intervention, selfish political leaders, in a do or die desire to
occupy or retain political office take advantage of some ignorant and illiterate
religious leaders, mostly of the northern descent; to spur religious genocide and
ethnic cleansing. This despicable phenomenon marks a new dawn that threatens
the fragility of Nigerian national unity.
While the magnitude of the nation’s problems continues to increase in intensity,
the country’s leadership is becoming more lackadaisical: Some for lack of vision
and mission, others for deficit in courage. According to Dorothy Thompson, an
American freelance writer: courage is nothing less than the power to overcome
danger, misfortune, fear and injustice. Nigerian leadership evidently lacks
courage. Their perception of good governance is antithetical to the values
expressed by Dorothy Thompson; they could not comprehend the fact that for a
government to be effective it must be functional. It must provide the greatest
goods to the greatest number of people. It must defend and uphold the sanctity
of office and the trust vested in it. It must provide relief and succor from injustice
and avert the danger of fear and misfortune. Nigerians are denied these fruits of
good governance; the consequence of which has made life worthless and dashed
the hope for a better tomorrow. It has turned Nigeria to a state of Armageddon.
Nigerian’s Armageddon status will remain as long as the forces of evil continue
to rave in the nation, so long as a section of the country believes that it is their
birth right to rule Nigeria perpetually. The status will continue in as much as
Islamic radicals continue to delude themselves with the idea of planting the
Quran in Lagos beach, planning to introduce and enforce sharia law throughout
Nigeria and eradicate western education. The alliance of patriotic individuals and
democratic organizations will not relent in their collaborative efforts to confront
this barbaric gesture until it is subjugated in its entirety.
I believe in one Nigeria, but if a united Nigeria will not promote and sustain peace
and tranquility, if the strength in unity means nothing to the disoriented Islamic
jihadists and terrorists, I therefore suggest a return to regionalism; where each
region can grow in its own pace and operates a system that is congruent to its
culture. There is no need to continue with a false claim of unity in diversity.
Possibly this will prevent or at least reduce unnecessary shedding of innocent
people’s blood.
One undisputable advantage of regional government is that each region will look
inward and develop its natural and human resources to its fullest, and to the
benefit of its people. It will prevent wastages that are encouraged under the
present dispensation. The quota system, federal character, questionable and
crisis prone federal allocation formula can be excused from our politics and
political dictum for good. After all, the purpose and application of the policy has
been abused and bastardized by its executors. If the multi-tribe nation decides
to go apart, so be it. Separation to independent nation state should be a
welcome development and the people’s decision should be respected. There is
no sense in pretending to be one Nigeria when in actual fact; there are at least
three nation states that are presently dependent and divisible.
The people of Nigeria have had enough hostility and harassment from their
insatiable brothers. Political corruption has condoned senseless killing under the
disguise of religion. The federal government past and present has been
indifferent. The leaders of government have repeatedly demonstrated insensitivity
and improper judgment on various issues of sectional and national conflict. Their
understanding of peace is superficial and shallow. Whereas, “peace is not the
absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to
conflict – alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternative to violence.”
– Dorothy Thompson
The federal government of Nigeria appears not to have any credible crisis
intervention strategy in place to deescalate either tension or friction in the
country. Therefore it is easy for religious extremists to take advantage of this
loop hole and successfully strike at will. They kill and destroy properties without
consequence. These incessant strikes that often went unchecked have
contagious effect on other interest groups in the country and have spurred them
into similar behavior.
These actions have not only revealed this government as the weaker link, it has
exposed its incapability and forced it to its knees. Mohammed Marwa - a.k.a.
Maitatsine wasted several lives before he was killed in 1980; Jama’atu Ahlis
Sunna Lidda’awatti wal-Jihad -a.k.a. Boko Haram has declared jihad on the
nation and has threatened to bomb continually, yet the government could not be
decisive. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has
joined the band wagon of killers that sends shivers down the spine of the
government with no end in sight. The aggregate of the terrorist’s activities in the
country has regressed the government into paranoia behavior and create a state
of psychological paralysis.
In a civilized nation with credible leadership, government would stand to defend
the sanctity of office and safety of the citizens. Chaos from any and all quarters
would be confronted and liquidated. Chains of the axis of evil would neither be
tolerated nor engaged in negotiation. They would be pursued within and outside
the country, smoked out of their hiding hills or cave and gunned or bombed out of
existence. That is what a government that pledges to defend the security of its
citizens does and needs to do. Citizens must not be coerced or forced to live in
perpetual fear or repression. Their liberty should not be compromised for
security.
In 51 years of Nigerian political independence, if President Jonathan’s
“reinvigorated national security strategy to combat the threat to our safety” is his
decision to run away from Eagle Square as a result of MEND and Boko Haram’s
threats, I think we are doomed as a nation. It is pitiful if a government with
history of police brutality and a record of killing innocent students who are
demonstrating for a legitimate cause are incapable of quelling illegitimate crisis
of an obnoxious group. If the government of Nigeria with its military and security
muscles as well as the avalanche of human resources and international
connection bow and kiss the ground before the devilish terrorist groups, the
sovereignty of our statehood is at stake.
President Jonathan Goodluck should learn a lesson from his United States
counterpart – President Barrack “Omobowale” Obama. During the 2007
presidential campaign, candidate Obama declared: “...if we have actionable
intelligence about high-value terrorist target… we will act”. President Obama did
not allow the influence and pressure of office to defocus him about his safety
promise to the Americans. Barely 4 years into the promise, Osama bin Laden
(the head planner of the 911 attack) was killed by an authorized U.S special
squad in his Pakistan hideout. Many other terrorists and their networks within
and outside including the home grown had been pursed, arrested and sometimes
killed. By this action, many of the terrorist plans were thwarted, and America
became more secure.
President Jonathan has the responsibility to make Nigeria secure as opposed to
being a terrorist sanctuary. He should brainstorm with his federal executive
council, council of states, security councils, etc. on how Nigeria could be safer.
Nigeria needs a courageous leader, not just a figure head that is remotely
controlled by the nefarious powerful few. In the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu,
“we need a figure of peace in a world shattered and torn by the disillusionment of
hatred and violence”. If President Jonathan cannot be this “figure”, then he needs
to be excused out of the Aso-Rock. Nigerians can no longer tolerate the killing of
innocent citizens by this sect of notorious terrorists. It is the right time for the
government to stand tall and make tough decisions to secure life and properties
in Nigeria. Terrorists hate freedom and progress, therefore, President Jonathan
should not avail it to them. They are murderers who gladiate in the shedding of
innocent blood, therefore, their blood should not be spared in watering the tree of
our collective liberty. No negotiation; no compromise; justice must prevail.
Tunde Ali is the President of Citizens for Good Government & Accountability –
(CIGGAC).
required is not ordinarily an act of cowardice, it is inhuman, it is deplorable and it
is unpatriotic. The world is peopled with different individuals: the good and the
bad. The good make life interesting and their society habitable. The bad unleash
venom, inflict pain, and create an unpleasant state of hopelessness. Nigeria is
not immune from this category of people. Good citizens look for the interest of
others and their country. Bad citizens are corrupt, careless and carefree. To
them, as long as they are comfortable, wealthy and influential, the commoners
can go to hell, or die if they so desire. This circumstance has further stratified
our already polarized society and has created a dysfunctional nation that is
characterized by extreme inequality and injustice.
Post independent Nigeria’s birth- mark is corruption, favoritism and nepotism. It
breeds a system that promotes mediocrity over excellence. The head and the tail
are corrupt to the fullest. Political leaders and government officials are corrupt to
the core. Both have imbibed the ignominious culture of dishonesty and have
kicked integrity to the curb. Recklessness of the political elites has further
sustained this indecorum. As if this is not enough problem that requires
immediate critical intervention, selfish political leaders, in a do or die desire to
occupy or retain political office take advantage of some ignorant and illiterate
religious leaders, mostly of the northern descent; to spur religious genocide and
ethnic cleansing. This despicable phenomenon marks a new dawn that threatens
the fragility of Nigerian national unity.
While the magnitude of the nation’s problems continues to increase in intensity,
the country’s leadership is becoming more lackadaisical: Some for lack of vision
and mission, others for deficit in courage. According to Dorothy Thompson, an
American freelance writer: courage is nothing less than the power to overcome
danger, misfortune, fear and injustice. Nigerian leadership evidently lacks
courage. Their perception of good governance is antithetical to the values
expressed by Dorothy Thompson; they could not comprehend the fact that for a
government to be effective it must be functional. It must provide the greatest
goods to the greatest number of people. It must defend and uphold the sanctity
of office and the trust vested in it. It must provide relief and succor from injustice
and avert the danger of fear and misfortune. Nigerians are denied these fruits of
good governance; the consequence of which has made life worthless and dashed
the hope for a better tomorrow. It has turned Nigeria to a state of Armageddon.
Nigerian’s Armageddon status will remain as long as the forces of evil continue
to rave in the nation, so long as a section of the country believes that it is their
birth right to rule Nigeria perpetually. The status will continue in as much as
Islamic radicals continue to delude themselves with the idea of planting the
Quran in Lagos beach, planning to introduce and enforce sharia law throughout
Nigeria and eradicate western education. The alliance of patriotic individuals and
democratic organizations will not relent in their collaborative efforts to confront
this barbaric gesture until it is subjugated in its entirety.
I believe in one Nigeria, but if a united Nigeria will not promote and sustain peace
and tranquility, if the strength in unity means nothing to the disoriented Islamic
jihadists and terrorists, I therefore suggest a return to regionalism; where each
region can grow in its own pace and operates a system that is congruent to its
culture. There is no need to continue with a false claim of unity in diversity.
Possibly this will prevent or at least reduce unnecessary shedding of innocent
people’s blood.
One undisputable advantage of regional government is that each region will look
inward and develop its natural and human resources to its fullest, and to the
benefit of its people. It will prevent wastages that are encouraged under the
present dispensation. The quota system, federal character, questionable and
crisis prone federal allocation formula can be excused from our politics and
political dictum for good. After all, the purpose and application of the policy has
been abused and bastardized by its executors. If the multi-tribe nation decides
to go apart, so be it. Separation to independent nation state should be a
welcome development and the people’s decision should be respected. There is
no sense in pretending to be one Nigeria when in actual fact; there are at least
three nation states that are presently dependent and divisible.
The people of Nigeria have had enough hostility and harassment from their
insatiable brothers. Political corruption has condoned senseless killing under the
disguise of religion. The federal government past and present has been
indifferent. The leaders of government have repeatedly demonstrated insensitivity
and improper judgment on various issues of sectional and national conflict. Their
understanding of peace is superficial and shallow. Whereas, “peace is not the
absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to
conflict – alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternative to violence.”
– Dorothy Thompson
The federal government of Nigeria appears not to have any credible crisis
intervention strategy in place to deescalate either tension or friction in the
country. Therefore it is easy for religious extremists to take advantage of this
loop hole and successfully strike at will. They kill and destroy properties without
consequence. These incessant strikes that often went unchecked have
contagious effect on other interest groups in the country and have spurred them
into similar behavior.
These actions have not only revealed this government as the weaker link, it has
exposed its incapability and forced it to its knees. Mohammed Marwa - a.k.a.
Maitatsine wasted several lives before he was killed in 1980; Jama’atu Ahlis
Sunna Lidda’awatti wal-Jihad -a.k.a. Boko Haram has declared jihad on the
nation and has threatened to bomb continually, yet the government could not be
decisive. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has
joined the band wagon of killers that sends shivers down the spine of the
government with no end in sight. The aggregate of the terrorist’s activities in the
country has regressed the government into paranoia behavior and create a state
of psychological paralysis.
In a civilized nation with credible leadership, government would stand to defend
the sanctity of office and safety of the citizens. Chaos from any and all quarters
would be confronted and liquidated. Chains of the axis of evil would neither be
tolerated nor engaged in negotiation. They would be pursued within and outside
the country, smoked out of their hiding hills or cave and gunned or bombed out of
existence. That is what a government that pledges to defend the security of its
citizens does and needs to do. Citizens must not be coerced or forced to live in
perpetual fear or repression. Their liberty should not be compromised for
security.
In 51 years of Nigerian political independence, if President Jonathan’s
“reinvigorated national security strategy to combat the threat to our safety” is his
decision to run away from Eagle Square as a result of MEND and Boko Haram’s
threats, I think we are doomed as a nation. It is pitiful if a government with
history of police brutality and a record of killing innocent students who are
demonstrating for a legitimate cause are incapable of quelling illegitimate crisis
of an obnoxious group. If the government of Nigeria with its military and security
muscles as well as the avalanche of human resources and international
connection bow and kiss the ground before the devilish terrorist groups, the
sovereignty of our statehood is at stake.
President Jonathan Goodluck should learn a lesson from his United States
counterpart – President Barrack “Omobowale” Obama. During the 2007
presidential campaign, candidate Obama declared: “...if we have actionable
intelligence about high-value terrorist target… we will act”. President Obama did
not allow the influence and pressure of office to defocus him about his safety
promise to the Americans. Barely 4 years into the promise, Osama bin Laden
(the head planner of the 911 attack) was killed by an authorized U.S special
squad in his Pakistan hideout. Many other terrorists and their networks within
and outside including the home grown had been pursed, arrested and sometimes
killed. By this action, many of the terrorist plans were thwarted, and America
became more secure.
President Jonathan has the responsibility to make Nigeria secure as opposed to
being a terrorist sanctuary. He should brainstorm with his federal executive
council, council of states, security councils, etc. on how Nigeria could be safer.
Nigeria needs a courageous leader, not just a figure head that is remotely
controlled by the nefarious powerful few. In the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu,
“we need a figure of peace in a world shattered and torn by the disillusionment of
hatred and violence”. If President Jonathan cannot be this “figure”, then he needs
to be excused out of the Aso-Rock. Nigerians can no longer tolerate the killing of
innocent citizens by this sect of notorious terrorists. It is the right time for the
government to stand tall and make tough decisions to secure life and properties
in Nigeria. Terrorists hate freedom and progress, therefore, President Jonathan
should not avail it to them. They are murderers who gladiate in the shedding of
innocent blood, therefore, their blood should not be spared in watering the tree of
our collective liberty. No negotiation; no compromise; justice must prevail.
Tunde Ali is the President of Citizens for Good Government & Accountability –
(CIGGAC).
By Tunde Ali
African Examiner , Thursday October 06, 2011
African Examiner , Thursday October 06, 2011
The Sovereign Nigeria versus the Home Grown
Terrorists
Terrorists
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