President George W Bush’s tenure as America’s leader would probably have passed without much to remember it for were it not for Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorists.
The 43rd president of the United States had his work cut out when Al Qaeda struck mainland America on September 11, 2001 bringing sorrow, tears and blood to an hitherto, fortress America. And Bush, after a slow start took on the challenge and responded in such a strong fashion that finally defined his presidency.
His war on terror, initially wrongly christened a crusade, later identified the so called axis of evil and rallied the rest of the world against Al Qaeda and its backers. It drove him into the second Gulf War that led to the overthrow of the then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, the war in Afghanistan and the countless military actions in Pakistan and some Gulf Arab countries against the terrorists.
Though he couldn’t kill or capture bin Laden, his presidency set the tone for the Obama administration in the continuing war against terror. And if anything good would be said about the Bush presidency it probably would be that he confronted and fought terror and weakened Al Qaeda. History would probably judge him right on that, even though he could have done it better.
As the Nigerian government continues its own war against the home grown terror called Boko Haram, the success or otherwise of the ongoing military action in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states could well define the Goodluck Jonathan presidency.
Like play, like play, as we like to say in Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency which began like a child’s play has assumed a notorious and murderous dimension that could consume our country if proper actions were not taken. Just as Gowon treated Biafra at the outset of the civil war as a police action, federal government’s initial reaction to the emergence of this group of home grown terrorists was less than serious. The political elite especially those of northern extraction didn’t pay much attention either. At best they saw it as a problem of the north east, the Kanuri people, alone. But when the group, which was firmly on ground in the north east decided to export terror to the north west, north central and even Abuja the whole country took serious note of their activities. But even at that, a section of the northern elite, especially some elders and leaders of thought in the north east zone was against the limited military activities deployed to that region by the federal government, complaining of high handedness and brutality against the civilian population by the soldiers.
Though the military Joint Task Force (JTF) sent to the region to battle the insurgents recorded some qualified successes, Boko Haram was all the same getting stronger and even popular among the people, and the government was beginning to lose control of that section of the country bordering Cameroun and Chad. So, something had to be done and urgently too to arrest the situation and save Nigeria from disintegration. And so entered the state of emergency declared on the three states by the federal government.
Even though President Goodluck Jonathan’s action could be said to have come rather late, some have argued that it is better late than never and recent reports seem to suggest that the military could be winning the war. Though as I warned on this page recently, it is too early to role out the drums and celebrate or declare victory as the terrorists are not relenting.
One area that gladdens the heart in this war against Boko Haram is the resolve of the locals, especially the youth to collaborate with the JTF to fish out the Boko Haram members in their community. A group of youths known by the locals as “Civilian JTF” and whose ages range between 17and 25 years has for some time now been moving from one street to another, house to house in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital identifying and arresting suspected members of Boko Haram and handing them over to the JTF.
Armed with iron bars, cutlasses and wooden batons, the group apparently fed up with the trouble and hardship that Boko Haram has brought on the community decided to launch it’s own war against the terrorists and rescue the people from Boko Haram.
One had argued repeatedly on this age that until the people themselves turn against Boko Haram there is nothing much the security agencies can do to end the insurgency and defeat terror. These terrorists are not spirits, they live among the people, they attend the same mosque for prayers, so, there is no way they would not be known in their local community. So, if they operate with seeming impunity that’s because the people condone them and in fact support them.
It would be necessary to recall here that there was a time (during the Babangida years) that Benin City, the Edo state capital and to a large extent, the entire state was under the terror of a gang of armed robbers led by a Bini man called Lawrence Anini. Together with his right hand man Monday Osunbor and the rest of the gang, they robbed at will and even dashed out their loot to members of the public, the Robbinhood way to escape arrest especially in a difficult situation. Because the robbers evaded arrest successfully for so long, the people began to believe that they were spirits who could not be arrested. But it took a presidential charge by Babangida to the then Inspector General of Police, Etim Inyang to get the police to arrest the gang. The rest is history, but suffice to say that the Bini people actively cooperated with the security agencies to fish out Anini and co and rid their city and state of the menace of these robbers.
That Maiduguri youths have taken the initiative to fight and fish out Boko Haram members in their midst without minding the likely repercussion on their personal safety is a clear indication that the days of the terrorists are numbered. It is a pointer to what can be achieved when a people are determined. Their decision, not without it’s dangers though, was in sharp contrast to the position of the so called Borno Leaders and Elders Forum that had criticized the deployment of the JTF to the state in the past on the grounds of high handedness and indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians by the soldiers.
The Borno youths have shown that to defeat terror and overcome evil, all men and women of goodwill must come together to collaborate with both the government and the security agencies. Boko Haram is beatable and the war is winnable, but all of us must get involved.
The war on Boko Haram could define the Jonathan presidency and decide whether he returns in 2015 or not. Even with victory in sight, the way and manner it is conducted could determine whether the president would be praised for a job well done or get blamed for the collateral damages. Stories abound about the “atrocities” of the JTF, but nowhere has the kind of war we are waging against terror been won without the innocent suffering, but what must be done is to have a clear cut rule of engagement for the military and follow such strictly and anything to the contrary must be punished severely.
Madam at the top
Strange things are happening at the presidency that all men and women of goodwill need to come together and stop. It does appear that there is more than one commander in chief of the Nigerian armed forces going by the way and manner the wife of our president, Dame Patience Jonathan has been conducting herself both in private and in public.
Those who know one or two things about the political crisis in Rivers state where the first lady hails from, claim Madam at the top, as part of her war against the sitting governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has been meeting with heads of security agencies, including the military in the state dishing out instructions and woe betide who amongst them dared flout her orders.
Emboldened by her show of federal might over the state government, crooks, hoodlums, kidnappers, cultists et al are returning to the streets of Port Harcourt to terrorize the people without any fear of arrest. Kidnapping is returning now and the state police command appears not bothered: part of a conspiracy to return terror and fear to the state preparatory to the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers? Quite a lot is happening with Madam exercising powers she doesn’t have. Nigeria shine your eyes.
