The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • When terror strikes

    When terror strikes

    As had been feared, Boko Haram was behind last week terror attack at Nyanya Motor Park in Abuja killing no fewer than 75 with many more wounded. The terror group confirmed this in a 25 minutes video message at the weekend by its leader Abubakar Shekau with a further threat of more attacks in the nation’s capital.

    The readiness or lack of it of our security agencies to confront the growing trend of insurgency and most importantly, terrorism in the country and the tardy nature of the political response to this threat to Nigeria’s unity and her territorial integrity are beginning to cause concern among the rest of the populace.

    While the bereaved in the Nyanya attack bury their dead and scores of school girls abducted in Borno State by the terrorists are being held captives, most probably as sex slaves in the forest, our political leaders have been busy passing the buck with the leadership of the two main parties engaged in blame game. What a shame!

    Meanwhile the security agencies have been trying without success to convince us that they are doing their best to contain the terrible situation. We wish them luck.

    In the last couple of weeks the politicians have behaved most irresponsibly in their response to the Boko Haram attacks. Playing politics with the lives and security of Nigerians is a betrayal of trust and utterly condemnable. I do not know what the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) stand to gain from the verbal assault on each other’s position on this national crisis.

    Most irresponsible was the claim by Olisa Metuh, spokesman for PDP that the opposition, meaning APC knows a thing or two about what Boko Haram is doing and most probably in support. Equally annoying is the seeming grandstanding of the APC on the matter at hand. Both parties seem not to understand the enormity of the security challenge facing the nation and are looking for avenues to make cheap political gains from the deplorable security situation in the cautery, particularly in the north east region, all in readiness for the 2015 elections.

    Yes, it is in the nature of political parties to try to maximize every opportunity to their political advantage but as it is done elsewhere in well established democracies, when national interest is at stake, all the parties rally round and queue behind the Commander-In-Chief. It is in the light of this that the decision of the leadership of the APC to postpone its states’ congress to enable its governors attend a meeting called by President Goodluck Jonathan on the security situation in the country is commendable. But the party must do more than this. It must not only proffer or suggest credible solutions to the crisis, it must show its commitment to it and also rally its governors, especially in the north to bond together and fight this terror.

    To whom much is given, much is expected. The Commander-In-Chief to borrow the words of former Information Minister Professor Jerry Gana must also chiefly command well. If everybody is behind you then you must lead from the front, lead well and responsibly too. Dancing ‘Owambe’ in Ibadan and cutting birthday cake (no matter whose birthday it was) while the Nyanya attack was still fresh (following day) and frolicking away while our girls are still held captive by terrorists in the forest is to say the least irresponsible of President Jonathan. No apologies here. It would also be good if some of our state governors and also presidential spokesmen guard their utterances in the course of this crisis because we are in a delicate period that calls for sober reflection and all hands being put on deck.

    Now that all our political leaders from both sides seem to have come to their senses, it is hoped that the President’s meeting with the state governors would be fruitful and chart a way out of this Boko Haram problem and restore peace and security to the north east and all other trouble spots in the country. One meeting certainly cannot achieve this but a good beginning will send the right signal to the terrorists that our leaders are ready and serious to confront them. There have been instances of the federal government hampering the efforts of some states to combat insecurity in the area, just for political gains, especially in states not controlled by the PDP. And not surprisingly, most of the states in the north east are not. The president must behave and act presidential in the interest of Nigeria, no room for sentiments. As the Yoruba would say, the name of the king during whose reign the town was peaceful would never be forgotten or erased, same for the king under whose reign there was chaos. A word is enough for the wise.

    Much has been said and written on this page about what the security agencies have done or failed to do in arresting the security situation in the country that it might be pointless repeating them again. But the point has to be made that Nigerians are not happy with them and they should rise up to expectation. Whatever has to be done must be done to defeat terror, defeat Boko Haram, drive the terrorists out of our country and restore peace and security to the north east and other areas under threat of terrorism and, most importantly, restore the trust Nigerians have in one another to leave anywhere in the country peacefully.

    But then security is not the business of the security agencies alone, we are all involved. It would be foolish of a man to leave his doors or gates open and go to sleep just because there is a police patrol around. Security of lives and properties starts from the home. Not just locking the gates and doors but also being security conscious and instilling the right security consciousness in our kids. At work, school, play and anywhere there is or going to be a large gathering, security measures must be put in place by those concerned to protect lives and properties.

    In the aftermath of the Nyanya bombing, I had a lengthy telephone discussion with someone who claim to be a member of one of the security agencies and he was quite disturbed at the amount of criticism directed at the security agents for their inability to bring Boko Haram and similar organisations to their knees. He claimed that they are doing a lot to arrest the situation and urged Nigerians to be patient both with the government and the security agencies. There is no debating the fact that they are doing a lot, but whether they are doing enough is where the debate is. Be that as it may, suffice to say that you cannot fight a 21st century problem using a 20th century method, it won’t work.  To defeat terror in Nigeria, we must outgun, outspend, outsmart, outmaneuver, (out whatever) and overwhelm Boko Haram and their sponsors with all our military might. No amount spent would be too much if at the end of the day Boko Haram is routed and Nigeria gets back to business.

    The guy from the security service said operators of Motor Parks, including the leadership of the various transport workers unions should share in the blame of this seeming lack of security at the bus stations.

    “What are those union leaders doing at the Parks”, he queried. “ They just sit there collecting money, drinking beer and ‘carrying’ women without any consideration for the security of not just their members but also the traveling populace. Instead of organising themselves and providing security at the Parks, all they do is to ‘enjoy’ themselves. Not even basic security measures are put in place. You find all manner of people at the Motor Parks. Can anybody just go to the airport anyhow?”

    He went on and on and on and I could see he was very angry. I share some of his sentiments and concerns and believe that these transport sector unions, the likes of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) et al need to organise themselves better, they need to be security conscious and re-orientate their members accordingly. The traveling public and indeed the general public need to key in to this project as well.

    The business of security is everybody’s business. Nobody is immune to terror strike. When the terrorists strike, all of us are touched one way or another. May GOD safe Nigeria and deliver us from BOKO HARAM.

    Did I hear someone shout Allelujah there?

     

  • What is Boko Haram?

    What is Boko Haram?

    This is not a good time to be an expatriate Nigerian.

    No, I take that back; this is a particularly bad time to be an expatriate Nigerian, given the steady flow of bad news, bad news and more bad news out of the country. Even the rebasing that has catapulted Nigeria from the doldrums to the world’s 26th largest economy overnight has not translated into equanimity for the expatriate Nigerian.

    Our political and diplomatic strategists will have to take a cue from the economic strategists to rebase the national image.

    The latter drew on Nigeria’s burgeoning home video industry Nollywood to boost the Gross Domestic Product by a full percentage point and some. The former will have to factor in Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, JP Clarke, Christopher Okigbo, Niyi Osundare, Femi Osofisan, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Super Eagles, Ben Nwabueze, Kenneth Dike, JF Ade Ajayi, Claude Ake, Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Demas Nwoko. Simeon Adebo, Jerome Udoji, Peter Lassa, Ali Akilu, Afigbo Adiele, Bala Usman, Gani Fawehinmi, Ben Enwonwu, the Brothers Ransome-Kuti, Abubakar Imam, Ayodele Awojobi, DO Fagunwa,Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cyprian Ekwensi, Mokwugo Okoye, Jelani Aliyu, and others too numerous to list, in rebasing the national image.

    Surely, the country that produced these luminaries and others too numerous to name here deserves a better appellation than the land of Boko Haram and rampaging “Fulani herdsmen.” “Rebranding” was the name Dr Dora Akunyili’s gave this heroic but ultimately futile undertaking when she was Minister of Information. That was then.

    Now, in keeping with the times, the effort will have to be re-launched, the goal being to rebase Nigeria’s foreign image, the image that follows them wherever they go, defines them and often haunts them, an image they can never shed nor escape from.

    Their green passports or the line in their foreign passports naming Nigeria as their country of birth literally proclaims that image at foreign ports, assuming they survive the indignities that come with applying for a travel visa. From then on, the passport holder is put through the formidable challenge of proving that he or she is not guilty of the crimes and misdemeanours now associated with being a Nigerian.

    To this discomfiting experience we must now add the prospect of being regarded as a national of a country infested by terrorism, and of quite possibly being perceived as a covert sympathiser or enabler of bomb-throwing Islamists and throat-cutting “Fulani herdsmen” or a close relation of theirs.

    Each time I enter the coffee room or a class, I hold my breath, hoping fervently that my faculty colleagues and students will not bring up the latest bulletin on Boko Haram’s and Fulani herdsmen’s running orgy of bestial violence, however obliquely.

    Even the most basic question on the matter would stump me, namely, what is Boko Haram?

    More than three years after Boko Haram hit the front pages and the headlines, I still cannot claim with confidence that I know what it is. If pressed on the matter, I can only say that it is a malignant, nihilistic affliction on the body politic. But that is describing the manifestation rather than defining the essence.

    Only its masterminds and its denizens know what Boko Haram is. The security agencies do not know, and neither does President Goodluck Jonathan. He is on record as having admitted that much and adding, as if to deepen the mystery, that for all he knew, some members of his cabinet and advisers who met and dined and wined with him every day could well be members of Boko Haram.

    Whatever Boko Haram may be, it is not a monolith as is generally supposed, according to a source I cannot identify. There is the political Boko Haram, which carries out large-scale operations like blowing up churches and motor parks and police stations and prisons and other public facilities – the one whose masked operatives toting Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades race in Hillux vans through desert shrubbery to distant outposts, their grisly errands to perform.

    Then there is the mafia-like Boko Haram, which specialises in criminal extortion and is not above being hired by aggrieved persons to settle scores. If the twain are related, it is not clear what the relationship consists in, my source tells me.

    In the North, nobody talks about the one or the other, for fear of murderous reprisal. It is as if the subject is haram, forbidden. The fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom – and survival.

    If I don’t know what Boko Haram is, I can hardly be expected to know what it wants. I don’t. Nobody knows for sure what Boko Haram wants. Is their goal the islamisation of Nigeria through terror, as some commentators have claimed? If that is the case, why is it that they do not spare fellow Muslims in their murderous rampage?

    Is it to make Nigeria ungovernable? They certainly have made a swathe of North-eastern Nigeria ungovernable, but reducing the entire country to that condition seems a goal too far. Even if that goal is attainable, what purpose would it serve?

    To provoke the military into taking over, perhaps, and thus terminate Dr Jonathan’s effete administration?

    Which military? The one that can’t even protect its own facilities and personnel against the insurgents? The one that claimed to have rescued more than 100 girls abducted by Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, only to declare without fear and without shame when it was challenged that it had been “misled”?

    “Misled” by whom? On how many other crucial issues has it been “misled,” and with what consequences?

    The military in which a unit can be suborned by a junior cabinet minister, a minor politician with no following, to halt by force of arms a housing construction project being lawfully undertaken by the government of his state, and in which the same minister can deploy soldiers to subvert the electoral process in another state?

    Again, if pressed by those seeking to learn more about the phenomenon known as Boko Haram, I cannot explain why none of its stalwarts has been brought to justice. At the scene of every Boko Haram outrage, President Jonathan vows solemnly that the perpetrators would not go unpunished. The next week brings another outrage, which draws another solemn vow from the President. And then the next.

    Nor can I explain why President Jonathan, the nation’s comforter-in-chief, headed to Kano while the public was still trying to grasp the full measure of the carnage at Nyanya Motor Park in Abuja for a ceremony to welcome a defector back to the PDP.

    Since this was a party affair, could it not have been postponed as a mark of respect to those who were still counting the dead? If the rally must hold, could the PDP national chair not have been dispatched as the featured guest?

    Did he have to trade abuse on the occasion with Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso who belongs in the political opposition? Such pusillanimity, it is necessary to insist, ill becomes the person and the office of the President. Entertaining the party faithful to a jig while Nyanya was still smouldering made Dr Jonathan come across as unfeeling.

    Even his trip to Ibadan the same day to attend ceremonies marking the Olubadan’s 100th birthday was at bottom a re-election ploy inexcusable under the circumstances.

    If Dr Jonathan cannot rise to the high office of President of the Republic, must he cut it down to fit his own modest profile?

  • Boko Haram and the National Confab

    Boko Haram and the National Confab

    The resort to maximum terror by the Boko Haram insurgents in the run-up to the National Conference, starting on March 17, may be a political message to the Nigerian elite. If so, I hope they take note. With over 400 children, youths, adults, old men and women slaughtered or burnt to death, within five weeks to the start of the conference by the incendiary elements, the biggest issue for the national confab will no doubt be: ‘what can be done to secure lives and property in Nigeria’. The old national scarecrow, resource control, can only come second, now. Even the conferees will no doubt be wary of any suspicious movement, stampede or a carelessly lying suspicious object; as they wheel and deal in the cozy environment of Abuja.

    This column supported the convocation of the national confab, even before it became agreeable to the majority of Nigerians. The reason is simple. Nigeria as presently governed can not survive a few more decades, regardless of all the optimism by those temporary benefiting. And the reason is because there is perverse corruption, particularly the carefree massive stealing of our common resources, by public officials across the land. This gross mis-governance is possible because of the structural defects in our country, which our political office holders exploit to divide the people and avoid any form of accountability. But to my chagrin, and I guess most Nigerians, the 492 potential conferees, who I thought would change the paradigm, appear already ensnared into the gang of national treasury looters.

    Forgive my impudence, but there is no other way to describe the humongous allowances that the federal government has promised the delegates. That may explain, why retired and tired old men and women are struggling to get a share of the gravy. One source said the delegates will be paid 4 million naira per month, with other comforts. If that is true, each delegate will ‘earn’ 12 million naira for the three months they will sit. This ridiculous waste of scarce national resources will be shared from the mind boggling budget of a whooping 7 billion naira budget, for the conference. Now, if we rail at the audacious impunity of our law makers and executive officials, who appropriate unconstitutional allowances to themselves, what moral authority will the potentially conniving conferees have to propose an equitable protection and re-distribution of our national resources.

    Indeed, if truly the National conferees who will soon assemble to proffer the solutions to our current crisis, will be comfortable with such an anomalous earning for what should at best be a part-time patriotic engagement, then we wont be surprised if their time at the conference will be spent hankering over allowances, comforts and similar distractions. It does appear to me, now, that what the President has opted for, by agreeing to a national conference, is an opportunity to assemble the crème de la crème of our socio-political and economic elites, and summarily bribe them to shut-up and allow him a secound term in office, in 2015.

    For it is unthinkable that after grabbing, just in the same manner as our current political office holders are doing, 12 million naira and other sundry entitlements for a mere three months ‘work’; the participants will have the mindset or the temerity to thoroughly appreciate and proffer solutions to the dire economic and political crises starring our dear country in the face. Their case may not be different from the leaders of the Niger-Delta militants, who have been ensnared by the Abuja glitterati, that they have completely forgotten their recent past. If in doubt, compare the ‘rag tag generals and war lords’ that came out of the creeks to shake the hands of former President Yar’Adua on being offered an amnesty program and the suave and sharp looking ‘billionaire business men and philanthropist pretenders’ parading the corridors of power after having handsomely been settled because of who they were. The magic is the massive infusion of luxury and unearned income, which has compromised them.

    Such cycle is the tragedy of the Nigerian elite. When he/she is outside the corridors of power, the mind is uncluttered and he/she appreciates what needs to be done to have a functional nation, in the true sense of it. Unfortunately, when the elite gets into power or a position to influence a change, he/she is overwhelmed by the unearned easy life, and soon becomes so encumbered that he/she turns into a clog in the wheel of any measure of national progress. Regrettably, President Jonathan and the rest of them are, whether they know it or not, in that quandary. Our country, as is, is a nightmare, regardless of the amount of resources you may have accumulated. If for no other reason, for the simple one that you can not say with any measure of certainty, that you and your wealth are safe and secure.

    So as the conferees engage in their task, with all the temptations of excessive comfort, they should spare a thought as to the audacious impunity of the Boko Haram. What inspires and sustains it? What needs to be done to contain and resolve it – militarily or politically? They should also spare a thought as to why our national resource is like an unmanned bazaar, such that our public officials freely steal to their hearts’ desire. They should question the legitimacy of the sources and the security of national resource, both human and material. Here they should ask themselves, whether what is in place is fair, reasonable and sustainable. Luckily, nobody is expecting them to re-invent the wheel. Precedents, systems and process abound. What is needed is for them to spare a thought for the possibilities.

    This piece was first published on March 11.

  • Jonathan, governors and Boko Haram

    Jonathan, governors and Boko Haram

    With the deployment of more bomber jets, equipment and troops to the stronghold of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states mid last year, it was expected that the deadly attackers would have been eradicated by now.

    Also the news last year that the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau sustained fatal gunshot injuries during gun battle with the Nigerian troops and later died gave Nigerians a false hope that Boko Haram and other terrorists’ acts will soon be a thing of the past.

    Even after changing the Service Chiefs early this year, President Goodluck Jonathan had insistently promised that the tempo against terror will change and the menace would be brought to an end.

    When Air Marshal Alex Badeh took over from Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim in January as the new Chief of Defence Staff, he initially declared that the issue of Boko Haram and other acts of terrorism will come to an end before April this year. He later denied the statement.

    But now, we are more than half way into the month of April and it seems as if the insurgency is on the rise.

    Boko Haram and other terrorist groups that appeared to have been restricted to the Northeast of the country for several months, struck Monday last week at a bus park in Nyanya in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    While official deaths from the attack alone have been put at 75, many eye-witnesses and early arrivals at the scene of the bomb blast maintained that over 300 persons must have died from the attack.

    Just as Nigerians and the international community were still mourning over the latest bomb attack in Abuja, news filtered on the same day in the night that over 100 secondary school girls have been abducted by the insurgents in Borno State.

    With the latest attacks, some Nigerians have observed that the insurgency is on the rise because the government is not adopting the right approaches to the issues and that past recommendations, including those of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, headed by Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Kabiru Turaki, were not implemented.

    Other observers have also faulted the government for its inability to unmask the sponsors and financiers of the insurgency over the years despite making arrests of key members of Boko Haram and other groups.

    Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, who has majorly been at the receiving end of the attacks, had recently declared that the insurgents are better equipped and well-motivated to carry out the evil attacks than the Nigerian troops. But the Federal Government refuted his claims.

    A more worrisome development was the initial statement last week by the Defence Headquarters that only eight out of the 129 reportedly abducted school girls have not been rescued. The statement was later countered by the same Defence Headquarters.

    The school community in Borno State had, at the weekend, claimed that only about 14 of the school girls escaped from their abductors and those others are still missing.

    This calls to question the quality of information being passed to the President by the security agencies.

    Another grave allegation with a tendency to work against Nigeria’s success over the insurgents is the claim that some key military men in the Nigerian troop are working hand-in-hand with the insurgents.

    Worried by the upsurge of the insurgency, not only was the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last week mainly devoted to the attacks last week, President Jonathan also summoned state governors and the National Security Council for a meeting in Abuja over the security challenges.

    The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, at the end of FEC meeting last week, maintained that Nigeria is currently faced with one of the worst forms of terrorism across the globe.

    Also speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the security meeting between Jonathan, governors and service chiefs, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum and Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio said: “Mr. President graciously listened to us and he said since it is a national issue, we must have all the 36 governors in attendance.

    “So, I believe strongly notice will be going out and all governors will be meeting with Mr. President and service chiefs Wednesday next week so we can sit and discuss and proffer solutions to the current insecurity in the country. I believe it will come to an end.

    “We must face the situation and it is not something we can politicise, you don’t politicise security. All hands must be on deck. The entire country, every single Nigerian must contribute his or her quota towards bringing the current situation to an end.

    “I believe that if you are not a soldier, you can also be an informant. And, of course, you know that this thing is becoming like an HIV. If you are not infected, you are affected. Your children are also involved, your grand children and relations. If people are now attacking schools to disrupt the lives of children, how will you not be concerned? A market woman is affected when motor parks are being bombed. So, there is no way any governor in Nigeria will not be concerned and will not show interest.

    “In bringing this situation to an end, all Nigerians must know that we must be our brother’s keepers as far as security is concern,” he said.

    With Jonathan’s next security meeting with state governors fixed for tomorrow and other new strategies to be adopted, it is hoped that the ongoing killings will be stopped and total peace and harmony restored to the country.

  • Arewa to FG: Investigate Nyako’s claim

    The northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has asked the Federal Government to immediately investigate the allegations made by Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, about genocide against the north as well as external and third party support to the Boko Haram insurgents.

    The Forum, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the government should also investigate the source of funds, arms and ammunitions the insurgents have been using to carry out their deadly acts of terrorism against the people without much resistance from security forces deployed in the affected states.

    The statement reads: “Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state in a letter dated 16th April. 2014 sent to the Governors of Northern States accused the “Federal Government of genocide against the people of the north. He alleged that the FG has failed to arrest the mindless slaughter and indiscriminate bloodletting by the Boko Haram insurgents and other terrorist groups which is a clear and systematic effort to destroy the Northern population for partisan political advantage.”

    “ACF had in the last six years expressed serious concern on the spate of killings and destruction of property by the Boko Haram insurgents and other criminals in the north especially in the North east region. It had also appealed to government at various levels on the need to adequately equip and fund its military and other security personnel to tackle the insecurity challenges bedevilling the region.

    “Unfortunately the measures employed by government including a state of emergency have not yielded the desired result, hence the incessant attacks and kidnapping of innocent people by the insurgents and unknown gunmen.

    “The scale and sophistication of the attacks being waged by the insurgents against armless people who do not even know or understand their grievance is beyond the capacity of the semi-illiterate almajiri (Boko Haram) that we know.

    “It would be recalled that not long ago, our military command informed the world that it had found and destroyed over 700 vehicles belonging to the insurgents in one of their camps, so as to wither the fighting being waged by the Boko Haram insurgents. How come the killings and kidnappings have continued to be on the increase especially in the North east region?

    “ACF had earlier called on the government to thoroughly investigate the source of funds, arms and ammunitions the insurgents have used in carrying on with their deadly acts of terrorism against the people without much resistance from our security forces deployed in the affected states.”

     

  • Jonathan: we’re changing approach to Boko Haram

    Jonathan: we’re changing approach to Boko Haram

    President Goodluck Jonathan promised yesterday that Nigerians will witness a new approach to the battle against Boko Haram.

    He said activities of the Islamic sect or other international terrorists “cannot disintegrate Nigeria”.

    Dr. Jonathan spoke while receiving a delegation on Easter homage at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Suicide bombers killed no fewer than 75 people last week in Nyanya, near Abuja. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the attack.

    Noting that the nation is going through some challenges, the President said there is hope and that the country would overcome them.

    The President also promised that his administration would do everything possible to continue to bring development to every part of the country.

    But he harped on the need for the three tiers of government to work collectively to solve the problems.

    He said: “Easter is the most important ceremony in Christian faith. Without His resurrection, our faith would have been in vain. His resurrection gives us hope. You will have tribulations but there is hope for you. Today we are marking that resurrection.

    “Yes, as a nation, we are having tribulations but surely, Nigeria has hope. Surely, we will overcome these tribulations. Even those who think that this country will divide, those who think the country will be divided into North, South, East and West, no way. Boko Haram will not disintegrate this country.

    “Most of you are aware that when Nyanya was bombed, Nigerians from all religions and tribes participated in the evacuation of people who were injured even before the security arrived. People donated more blood than required.

    “That shows that no criminal group, funded within or outside this country, can separate us. No criminal group will disintegrate this country. Boko Haram will come and go. We are working very hard, we are changing our approach, God willing, we will end Boko Haram.

    “To you my brethren, I thank all of you for your prayers and I promise that we will work to do our best to bring development to this country. We have challenges. We have the issue of unemployment. Not too long ago, there was this ugly development at the Immigration Service, because of the level of unemployment and partial employment.

    “Some are doing jobs that do not meet their qualifications; they are partially employed. So when you talk of employment in Customs or Immigration, you will see everybody rushing there.”

    On the need for cooperation among the tiers of government, he said: “States are semi autonomous. The President does not control states or local governments’ resources. Governors and local government chairmen control their resources. If all of us work in concert, we will solve most of our problems instead of trading blames. Government is one. God willing, we will get to where we want to be.”

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed, who led the delegation, presented an Easter card to President Jonathan.

    Senator Smart Adeyemi, chairman of the Senate committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said: “We are happy to have a President who trusts in God. Nigeria will triumph over its challenges. Mr. President, you will succeed.”

    In the delegation were: the Primate of Anglican Church, Dr. Nicholas Okoh, Senator Phillip Aduda, officials of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Chief Imam of Central Mosque, Abuja.

    First Lady Patience Jonathan was not at the homage visit.

    She also was not at the church service where the President recited the 2014 memory verse of the chapel from 1st Peter 5: 6 to 7.

    The first lesson was taken by the wife of the Aso Villa Chaplain, Mrs. Onwuzurumba, from the book of Leviticus 23: 9 to 14. Mr. John Kennedy Okpara took the second lesson from 1st Corinthians 15: 9 to 14.

    There was a prayer session for the first family, the congregation and Nigeria as a whole.

    The Chaplain, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba maintained that only God can make somebody president.

    In his Easter Sunday sermon he said it was not a position anyone could just wake up and desire to fill.

    In his message titled: “Let’s celebrate”, Ven. Onwuzurumba said there was every reason to celebrate despite the bad and sad stories in the media.

    He said: “It takes a lot to become a President. It is not easy. It is not something you desire; it is what God gives.”

    He took the congregation through Romans 5: 12, 1st Corinthians 15: 19 to 29 and Ephisians 2: 12.

    Continuing, Ven. Onwuzurumba said: “When we celebrate, it is a way of showing appreciation of what God has done. We are celebrating Jesus today because he is the hope of the world.

    “This world does not offer us any hope. It is only Jesus Christ that brought hope to the world.”

  • Boko Haram: NIA urges Fed Govt on compulsory insurance

    Boko Haram: NIA urges Fed Govt on compulsory insurance

    Director-General, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Sunday Thomas, has advised the Federal Government to implement the compulsory insurance policy owing to the recent insecurity in the country arising from the Boko Haram menace.

    He said the government must also work on law enforcement to prevent waste of resources belonging to the state and the citizens.

    He also said there could be collaboration between insurance companies and the government in which case, a fund will be provided for insurers noting that when it is catastrophic in nature, then the government takes over.

    Referring to the Iyanya Motor Park in Abuja bomb blast that killed about 100 people with vehicles burnt and damaged among others that have been carried out by the Boko Haram sect, he urged Nigerians to take advantage of insurance.

    He said though insurance companies do not provide cover for terrorism, riot or wars as standard policy because it is excluded, the industry however made provision, adding the insured had to pay extra premium on an existing policy on life and property.

    He said if the victims of acts of terrorism have an insurance policy that has an extension, their insurers could review their policy and compensate them.

    He lamented that majority of Nigerians do not have any form of insurance cover

    He said: “The insurance policy is in packages and if you pay some extra premium to cover some of the things that are excluded under the standard policy, the insurance company will oblige.

    “These are trying times and whatever we need to do as a group to secure our future, we should not consider it too much. We live as if there is no tomorrow and as such there’s no provision in case the unexpected happens. This is not good for us as a country. The government cannot meet every need.

    “Usually in most policies, civil commotion, war and riots are not covered but it is an area insurance companies are exploring. But as it is today, there is nothing like that. “There is not likely to be any insurance liability that has accrued from such.

    “Terrorism is new in this part of the world and we didn’t think we will have it in this magnitude. So, I don’t think there is any company that is offering terrorism insurance. “But I am aware that at a point in time, the platform of the association, working with some foreign reinsurance brokers tried to sell the idea to the industry but the process is not concluded.

    “But the fact is that people still don’t think they need to set something aside to protect themselves against losses arising.’’

  • Boko Haram, terrorists cannot disintegrate Nigeria, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that the activities of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram or any other international terrorists cannot disintegrate Nigeria.

    He spoke on Sunday when Christian faithfuls in Abuja paid him Easter homage at the Presidential Villa.

    Noting that the nation is going through some challenges, he said that there is hope and that Nigeria will overcome every one of them.

    The President also promised that his administration will do everything possible to continue to bring development to every part of the country.

    But he harped on the need for the three tiers of government to work collectively in order to solve every problem in the country.

    He said: “Easter is the most important ceremony in Christian faith. Without his resurrection, our faith would have been in vain. His resurrection gives us hope. You will have tribulations but there is hope for you. Today we are marking that resurrection.”

    “Yes, as nation, we are having tribulations but surely, Nigeria has hope. Surely, we will overcome these tribulations. Even those who think that this country will divide, those who think the country will be divided into North, South, East and West, no way. Boko Haram will not disintegrate this country.

    “Most of you are aware that when Nyanya was bombed, Nigerians from all religions and tribes participated in the evacuation of people who were injured even before security arrived. People donated more blood than is required.

    “That shows that no criminal group funded within or outside this country that can separate us. No criminal group will disintegrate this country. Boko Haram will come and go. We are working very hard, we are changing our approaches, God’s willing we will end Boko Haram,” Jonathan said.

    “To you my brethren, I thank all of you for your prayers and I promise that myself and those working with me will do our best to bring development to this country. We have challenges. We have issue of unemployment, not too long ago, there was this ugly development at the Immigration Service, because of the level of unemployment and partial employment.”

    “Some are doing jobs that do not meet their qualifications, they are partially employed. So when you talk of employment in Customs or Immigration, you will see everybody rushing there.”

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Mohammed, who led the delegation, presented an Easter card to President Jonathan.

    Speaking at the occasion, Senator Smart Adeyemi said: “We are happy to have a President who trusts in God. Nigeria will triumph over its challenges. Mr. President, you will succeed.”

    Among the delegation are the Primate of Anglican Church, Nicholas Okoh, Senator Phillip Aduda, Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria, and the Chief Imam of Central Mosque, Abuja.

    The first Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was not at the church service or at the homage visit.

  • Boko Haram, sex slaves and counterinsurgency

    Boko Haram, sex slaves and counterinsurgency

    All those who ever secretly or openly supported Boko Haram either as a social, political, economic or sectarian revolt should feel deeply mortified by the sect’s atrocious and nihilistic transformations. The sect always had it in them, especially judging from the circumstances surrounding its founding and initial operations, to engage in very appalling and destructive anti-social behaviour. But it fooled many who were hoodwinked by its sectarian appeal, many who thought that in some quaint way it represented an uprising against political and economic corruption, many who were beguiled by its regional proclivities. Given its second major abduction of schoolgirls this year, it has become abundantly clear that the sect is irredeemably evil and that it represents the twisted and selfish interest of its demented and perverted founders and supporters.

    As I indicated in this place a few weeks back, I am not sure that Nigeria has learnt the appropriate lessons from the disturbance sufficient to end the uprising. Neither the federal government which was for a long time ambivalent in fighting the sect, nor the religious, social and political elites of the North which initially saw the sect as a puritanical and messianic tool for societal cleansing, nor the dispossessed who saw it as a fitting retribution against government at all levels for years of official tyranny , has had a new and deeper appreciation of the concepts of tolerance, justice, fairness and equity, and that these values actually transcend tribe, religion, class or political grouping.

    More practically, however, it beggars belief that the security agencies were not proactive in defending the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, nor was their defensive dragnet tight enough to forestall the abductions of over a 100 students from that school. The first major abduction of about 20 schoolgirls at Konduga in Borno State in February caught the government and its security agencies flatfooted, notwithstanding the declaration of a state of emergency in that state and two others. Not all the girls have been freed. And now this. Coming a day after the Nyanya, Abuja bombing in which more than 75 people lost their lives, the Chibok, Borno State abductions are bound to fuel a feeling of hopelessness and to underscore mounting lack of confidence in the ability of the government to perform its constitutional duty of protecting its people.

    Every Nigerian, especially parents, must be deeply distressed by the abductions and the implication for the safety and chastity of the abducted girls. It is truly heartrending. Indeed, every such abduction brings the country frightfully close to an implosion, as reports of parents determined to go into the bushes to liberate their daughters show. Dr Jonathan has called a security meeting, as he always does every time such horrendous crimes are committed. But does his government have a new plan to fight the sect? Does he himself inspire courage in the society and in those fighting the anarchists? Not only has the president inexplicably failed to visit the affected areas and show heartfelt empathy, even when he visited, all he did was talk down to the traumatised people of the emergency states.

    More and more, the Jonathan presidency looks absolutely befuddled, if not paralysed, in fighting the sect. But the president clearly does not have time on his side. Nor do we as a country. If we do not defeat the sect very soon, the sect will be the death of us, for the country is so dangerously close to the precipice and so inflammable that a small fire at any remote part can provoke a conflagration.

  • ActionAid flays Nigeria’s govt on killings

    ActionAid flays Nigeria’s govt on killings

     

    ActionAid, Nigeria has called on the government to stop the killing and maiming of innocent citizens.

    The anti corruption agency said in a statement Thursday that “far from being part of the solution, government at all levels is, in fact, part of the problem.”

    The release read further: “Organised violence and acts of terrorism have been on the rise throughout the country. This year alone, over 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds more maimed and abducted.

    The release quoted the Country Director of the civil the group, Dr. Hussaini Abdu, to have said the Nigerian politicians are “more concerned about party politics than the security of the Nigerian people.

    “The government has the power – and the responsibility – to galvanise national action and bring state officials and other members of the security sector together to solve the ongoing security problems, but they refuse to do so.”

    Abdu stressed further that terror cannot be addressed in this divisive atmosphere. Politicians must shelf their differences and come together to build a national consensus on the challenges facing the country.

    “Poor government policies have further endangered the lives and security of Nigerians, especially the poor and vulnerable people. The FCT Government’s policy mandating the centralisation of transport parks, for example, directly contributed to the high number of deaths and casualties in the Nyanya attack.

    “Had the buses and people not been concentrated in one area, it would be less of a target and, in the event an attack still occurred, have resulted in fewer victims. This is a very basic risk assessment that they failed to do or, alternatively, did not care to heed. This Government policy has not only pauperised vulnerable people in Abuja, it has continued to expose them to huge security risks.”

     

    He frowned at the nature of the security in the country which he believed are in favour of the privileged.”Security efforts the government does make are heavily concentrated on protecting the privileged. For years we have seen state institutions and structures being heavily guarded while the less privileged are left to be the victims of ever-increasing attacks. This disparity is unjust and must be immediately and appropriately addressed. Across the country, the mindless killings have been in locations where poor people reside. In Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and other states, it is poor and vulnerable people living in the fringes that are being killed, while our leaders remain under heavy protection of security agencies.”

    Abdu, on behalf of ActionAid urged the government to “put party politics aside and come together to build a consensus on how to effectively address the growing security situation across the country.  Security for all Nigerians, they state, must be the government’s number one priority”, he concluded.