Not even in the wildest stretch of democratic licence could one have fathomed the on-going macabre dance between the Jonathan presidency and Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa coming days after the carnage at Nyanya. Indeed, only in the engulfing climate of ethical regression – or better still – environment of leadership vacuity could one begin to make sense of the brickbats between two foremost institutions of the Nigerian state at a time of grave national calamity.
To begin with, there is a lot to say of an 71-year old ex-governor, ex-three star general, one-time chief of the country’s Navy, recipient of two of the nation’s topmost honours – GCON, CFR, who currently occupies a gubernatorial office waking up to do a letter to his 18 northern counterparts alleging grievous crime of genocide against the central government on the basis of claims without a shred of evidence. We are talking here of an individual, who by all qualifications, should ordinarily qualify for the elite club of statesmen, making dangerous, unsubstantiated claims against the state.
Agreed, some would argue that there is probably more to say about a pathetic, blundering presidency that has failed to rally Nigerians behind it in the war on terror. A presidency that has far too meagre results to show for the humongous resources deployed to the war; one that couldn’t find the words top connect with our hearts in the aftermath of the most gruesome calamities that has befallen us, and one under which an emergency national security meeting to review the security situation would overnight transform to a conclave of PDP governors on security! Add that to the pathetic PDP stridently seeking to pin the tag of terror on the opposition and the picture of an engulfing anomie emerges.
However, I believe that the situation is bad enough without another rabid, partisan “elder” coming in to further muddle things up for us. For not even in the hate-filled politics of the current time would the attempt by Nyako to stand facts – and logic – on their heads wash! Merely by his letter, any hopes by the younger generation that the Nyako generation – in whom the nation had invested heavily – would somehow rise to the challenge of the times would have by now dissolved into a mirage. They are evidently a major part of the problems for which the nation is currently in quest of solutions.
But then, the trouble with the Nyako’s of this world is that they are living in the past. When he talks about the Jonathan federal government as being the chief sponsor of the Boko Haram, or fingers the administration in the daily mass murder of innocent Nigerians, including the rampant kidnapping of young boys and girls; or the attempts on the lives of prominent northerners like Senate President David Mark in Imo State, Governor of Benue State Gabriel Suswan and himself or even prominent northern traditional leaders like the Shehu of Borno and the Emir of Kano, of course, they are not only meant to sound good to the ears of his “fellow northerners”, they are designed to deflect from the well-known culpability of the region’s leadership in the festering of the monstrous terror machine. Guess it is part of that living in denial that the pervasive insecurity– whether it is the Boko Haram carnage in the north-east, or the frequent the clashes between the nomadic Fulani and farmers across the middle-belt and north central – are alien imports aided and abetted by the federal militias!
The fact of the matter is that Boko Haram is real. The bases are in the North. Perhaps the only area of dispute is the extent to which the menace has mutated. Not even Governor Nyako’s version of reality can change the fact that the Boko Haram has since transformed into a global terrorist network with ties with the Al-Quaeda in the Mahgreb.
Terrorism, on the other hand, is a relatively new challenge to the military, the same way that intelligence has remained substantially an alien culture among Nigeria’s population. The talk of winning the terror war without active citizen engagement is sheer bunkum. But then, how could one imagine possible collaboration when leaders appear to denigrate the efforts of the fighting men?
What was Nyako’s cry of genocide meant to achieve? Hardly about getting the best of the fighting men; at least not with the military – a branch of which Nyako once had the privilege of leading – increasingly presented as an occupation force to the people. Surely, it’s not about tasking the field commanders about the need to observe scrupulously, the rules of engagement, or calling those known to have breached the rules to account. I prefer not to deal with the grave charge of genocide alleged by Nyako which I consider at best opportunistic and cheap.
It is not even about the ordinary people – the hapless victims of Boko Haram’s butchery – who genuinely desire an end to their agonies.
No, it is a re-enactment of the long-running play of giants!
In the circumstance, his reference to an exit strategy for the current state of emergency would appear an after-thought!
I guess it is fine to consider “Northern Nigerian Amnesty to the culprits and consequently squarely address all other matters connected with the Amnesty and Boko-Haram syndrome”.
So also is his proposal “to support maximally all those who have been adversely affected by ‘Boko-Haram’ to sue the federal administration to court for full compensation for any loss of life and property as per existing Laws of Nigeria including those enacted from 1915″ fine. Indeed, the idea of a Trust Fund to address the matter would be most welcome.
The question is – would the proposed restitution also apply to other victims of state-sponsored injustices in other parts of the country particularly those predating the Boko Haram? Or is this an extension of the specious definition of ‘justice’ that has brought the nation to this sorry pass?
