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Tag: Terrorism

  • Terrorism ‘ll soon become history in Nigeria, says Mark

    •UN: Boko Haram insurgency displaces 6,000 people

     

    Senate Presient David Mark yesterday assured the leadership of the Czech Republic’s Parliament that terrorism would soon become history in Nigeria.

    Mark spoke when he met with the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Mr. Milan Stech and other principal officers.

    He said the operations against militants in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states would end terrorism, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Kola Ologbondiyan.

    Mark added: “The operation is being handled well and sooner than later, terrorism will soon become a part of our history.

    “We are conscious that fighting terror is difficult because of factors that dwell on human rights and collateral damages. But the operators of emergency that has been introduced in the areas will bring terrorism to its end.”

    He noted that Nigeria has played the role of ensuring stability in Africa and has always been a home to all Africans.

    However, the President of the Senate who is on a state visit to the European country regretted that the nation came under attacks from misguided extremists.

    “This trend became escalated by the situation in Mali, Niger, Libya and Chad. But the Federal Government tried to curtail this through appeal and other carrot approaches but this did not quite succeed until the introduction of emergency rule,” he said.

    He told the Czech parliamentarians that the National Assembly would continue to create legislative instruments that would deepen democracy.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday said that more than 6,000 people have been displaced by anti-insurgency operations and general insecurity in Nigeria.

    UNHCR spokesperson, Mr Adrian Edwards dropped the hinty in a report presented in New York, United States (US).

    According to the agency’s report, those affected have fled to neighbouring Niger Republic for safety.

    UNHCR spokesperson Mr Adrian Edward said: “Those that have spoken to UNCHR say they fled for fear of being caught in the government-led crackdown on insurgents linked to the Boko Haram sect, particularly in the Baga area of northern Nigeria, close to the Niger border.

    “Refugees reported that air strikes by government forces are continuing from time to time, and that planes are regularly flying over the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where the state of emergency has been in force since May 14.

    “People arriving in Niger also mentioned the increasing presence of roving armed bandits in several states in Nigeria.

    “The people also spoke of rising commodity prices coupled with pre-existing food insecurity which is also becoming a major concern for the populations of the affected States.”

    Edwards added that Niger had so far received 6,240 people, comprising Nigerian nationals, returning Niger nationals and people of other nationalities.

    He said that many have fled Cameroon and Chad in the past few weeks.

    “New arrivals are either renting houses or staying with host families, who are themselves living in very precarious conditions,” Edwards noted.

    According to him, an official of the UNHCR, who has visited several border villages hosting new arrivals, also met some Nigerian families living out in the open, and some under trees.

    He stated that the presence of the newcomers was also putting a strain on the meagre local food and water resources.

    Edwards noted that Niger, a country in the Sahel, itself struggles with food insecurity due to years of drought.

     

     

     

  • Terrorism, poverty  and  the democracy agenda

    Terrorism, poverty  and  the democracy agenda

    In  Addis Ababa  this week the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegh and current Head  of the African Union accused the International Criminal Court of Justice of racial bias in the prosecution of errant world leaders and pointedly stated that the AU is not well disposed to the prosecution of the current president of Kenya  Uhuru  Kenyatta and the Vice President for the  post election violence in the 2007  presidential elections in that nation. In  Accra Ghana  the president of the country noted that Islamic militancy will soon overcome the whole of West  Africa if care is not taken and that he is saying this even though Ghana does not have such insurgency on its hand right now. As  Nigeria celebrated the government’s Democracy day  on May 29 and key former presidents shunned the invitation of incumbent Nigerian president to the occasion, it turned out that the UN  Secretary – General  Ban Ki Moon was celebrating the UN  Peace Keepers Day   on the same day and was commending fallen Nigeria’s soldiers as ten percent of  the Nigerian UN Peace Keepers have died  in 2012 in the UN peace keeping role and the UN published their  names on that day.

    At  another global forum the   Jim  Yong Kim,   the Group MD of the World Bank  was audacious  enough to announce that the World body was planning to eradicate global poverty  by 2030  by making access to  health facilities affordable globally in pursuit of  the goal of global  poverty alleviation .At  the other end in Syria however   Bashar  Assad the president of that nation boasted  that the balance of power is with the Syrian army in its war with those he called terrorists  and he accused some nations namely Saudi  Arabia  and Turkey of financing the rebellion in his nation while acknowledging that Hizbollah, the Party  of God in Lebanon  is fighting alongside the Syrian army in the war to preserve what he called the territorial integrity  of Syria.

    It is my  contention today that world leaders  on occasions behave like the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the sand while the body is there for all to see . Secondly while some cling to power by all or any means because they cannot contemplate life out of office, there  are still some who believe  that to serve humanity is still a possible task in spite of manmade  challenges  and obstacles  both  locally and abroad. Thirdly in the name of democracy, security  and political stability,   politicians and world leaders  mostly indulge in promoting their whims and caprices and  in muscling their opponents  to submission if not annihilation in pursuit of their   so called political agenda   and objectives. Let me now hook these observations to the news items I have highlighted today.

    Starting with Kenya, let me  state  categorically  that the accusation by the AU Chairman that the ICC is racially prejudiced against African Leaders is a false alarm and is indeed a dangerous case  of jaundice   and prejudice. It cannot survive any moral scrutiny either in Addis Ababa or Nairobi. This is a fact the  current president and Vice president of Kenya will be the first to admit as they were not on the same side during the 2007 elections or the  post  election violence. They later buried the hatchet and contested on the same ticket in 2013 knowing  that the charges at the Hague were  hanging on their neck like the proverbial sword  of Damocles . That their ticket clinched the Kenyan presidency in spite of the ICC charges is a victory for democracy and the dictum that a people deserve the leaders they have. That however does not absolve them of culpability in the murder and mayhem of the 2007 post election   violence in Kenya. The charge that 90%  of those being prosecuted  by ICC are Africans is sheer  persecution complex and a product of colonial mentality. The world is a global village and such sentiments belong to the past. That is why the Arab Spring revolution got rid of leaders like Housni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi. If the AU wants, it can   negotiate a reprieve or pardon or even a stay of prosecution for the Kenyan leaders. It should not however insult the intelligence of Africans by talking of racial bias towards African leaders by the ICC. That  is an anachronism and a dubious  charge  indeed  that  cannot hold water.

    On the charge by the Ghanaian President John  Mahama  that Islamic Militancy will  destabilize West Africa if care is not taken , I cannot agree  more. He  gave  the example  of the French Military  intervention in Mali  and the need for the AU  to form a standing intervention force to counter  regional insurgency  and I cannot agree more. What I  think is lacking is the moral  capacity  and commitment on    the  part of both political  and religious  leaders in the region to tackle the problem of militancy head on,  on a once and for all basis , instead  of the present half- hearted approach of thinking that the problem will go away as rapidly as it has surfaced. In addition the issue of negotiating or succumbing to blackmail while keeping  trained armed forces at bay is counterproductive as it gives the militants  a   false  sense of strength and importance  as such vacillations and dithering     give them ample time to select their next target  for terror with maximum impact.

    Next, according to UN reports, Nigeria made the largest contribution to world peace in 2012 . This is according to the UN Report that  17 Nigerians were killed  last  year  on peacekeeping duties  and this was announced on Nigeria’s Democracy Day  May 29  which also is the UN Peace  Keeping Day. The UN Secretary General   Ban Ki Moon therefore commended the Nigerian Peace Keeping Contingent for making the greatest human sacrifice for world peace in 2012. Which to me is a source of pride as a Nigerian  and I seize this opportunity to commiserate with the families of the gallant soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of their nation. Incidentally May 29 was picked by the Obasanjo Administration  as Democracy Day when it was elected  into  office in 1999. This year however Obasanjo shunned the Democracy Day in Abuja and was instead in Dutse, Jigawa State where he was showering praises on the state Governor Sule  Lamido at the First Jigawa State Investment Forum. In Abuja President Goodluck  Jonathan was busy,  lamentably and apologetically pleading with Nigerians bent on judging his two years in office, to have a marking scheme before doing that –whatever that means.

    At  the World Health  Assembly – WHA  in  Geneva,  Switzerland the World Bank Group MD Jim Yong Kim, an American and a medical  doctor spoke on the theme –  Poverty, Health  and the Human Future- and noted that to end poverty and boost shared prosperity, the nations of the world need to drive global growth by investing in human capital, health education and social protection for all their citizens. He made the revealing news that out of pocket health expenses force about 100m people into poverty every year. Heidentified three  areas that health delivery can enhance economic growth  and national planned efforts to make universal health delivery achievable through access, quality  and affordability. Yong Kim seems to be saying what one has always known that a sound mind needs a sound body. Coming from a global financial institution noted for infrastructure development and finance, the pursuit of poverty alleviation by 2030  by this unique American head of the World  Bank,  is a   most welcome  welfarist   approach  to  global growth  and economic    development.  This is because democracy at the end of the day is about the welfare of the citizenry and a better life for those who elected those who now tyrannise them globally  .Surely  the World Bank’s   Group  MD poverty alleviation approach to economic growth  and prosperity through access to quality and affordable health facilities by 2030  is highly commendable –  and is a huge, innovative step in the right  direction. We wish  him well.

    Lastly the war in Syria has shown clearly that democracy in that nation will not come on  platter  of gold. Rather than  be frightened by the prospect of becoming a Housni Mubarak being driven to court in a cage or a  Gaddafi  beaten to death by a mob, Bashar Assad  has dug in in Damascus and there is no sign of him giving up as the west is betting on . Better still for him,  his Russian supporters  have given him about 300  anti aircraft equipment in case of any creation of a no fly zone like the one that crippled Gaddafi’s well armed forces . So,   it is not always the case that nations fall like dominoes in the face of insurgency as happened in N Africa two years. In fighting insurgency  to a stand still and still retaining the loyalty of his army in the wake of international isolation, somehow the blood letting leader in Damascus   has my  grudging admiration. Perhaps the Russians have seen something opaque to the rest of us in siding with the son of an old ally Haffez Assad. Time, surely, will tell.

  • Terrorism: Mark seeks Almajiri system’s ban

    Terrorism: Mark seeks Almajiri system’s ban

    Senate President, David Mark, on Wednesday urged Northern governors to ban the Almajiri system in the area to curb terrorism.

    Mark, who insisted that since the practice is not an Islamic injunction, said politicians encouraging it are doing so for political gains.

    He noted that the system is counter-productive and called on governors from the north to follow the example already laid by the governor of Kano State who has reportedly banned the system.

    He said people now do bizarre things in the name of unemployment.

    Mark spoke following the debate on a Bill entitled: “A Bill for an Act to Repeal and Re-Enact the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act 2003” in Abuja.

    Mark said: “If you cannot get employment you will go and join a terrorist group so that you can be employed. You join Boko Haram so that you can be employed.

    “If you are poor then you begin to trade and traffic in human beings so that you can be rich. These are just never excuses.

    “What of the people who are also buying these people outside? Is it because they cannot find employment or because they are poor?”

    He added: “We must agree that politicians in the north have failed over the years to stem the Almajiri system.

    “In fact, if anything else, it would appear that they have encouraged it for political reasons or they have been scared of making a comment on it and I think it is a unique opportunity for governors in the northern region to ban the Almajiri system today because they need to and it is a system that is counter –productive to the growth and development of the country.”

     

  • Senate blames terrorism on porous borders

    The Senate on Tuesday blamed increasing rate of terrorist activities and human trafficking on the country’s porous borders.

    The upper chamber attributed the high rate of human trafficking in the border communities to the inability of government to meet the social needs of the inhabitants.

    Senate President, David Mark, stated this while inaugurating a public hearing on a bill for an Act to amend the border communities development agency Act cap B10 laws of the federation of Nigeria and for related matters, 2013.

    The bill sponsored by Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South) seeks to strengthen the agency to make it perform its functions.

    The agency has the responsibility of improving the social and economic lives of Nigerians living in various settlements, villages and towns spread across 96 local government areas in 21 states along Nigeria’s international borders.

    The Act enacted in 2004 was first amended in 2006 to reposition the agency to cope with operational inadequacies.

    Lanlehin observed that in spite of the amendment, the condition of Nigerian border communities was yet to improve.

    Mark, who was represented by Senator James Manager, noted that the situation had worsen, especially with the influx of mercenaries, terrorists and other armed groups through the country’s porous borders.

     

  • The price and psychology of terrorism and survival

    The price and psychology of terrorism and survival

    The  man on record as saying –  give me a place to stand and  I will shake the world – is probably making a plea which may be mistaken  for a bit of hysteria, but  is still  at best , a mere request. However the  man interested in overturning the status quo  by all means in other to press home his point is a different kettle  of fish. This  is the  insurgent    or  terrorist  who is a man of violence and force,  who  regards death and mayhem as the hall mark of his world view and is not making a plea  by any stretch of the imagination to anybody,  except  to force his view point  down the throat  of all stakeholders  in his environment.  In   sharp contrast    however, the  man fighting for survival  values life  and prays or dialogues  with a view of a better tomorrow. Such a man is different  again from the suicide bomber who is ready to die now for what he  believes he or she has been denied prior to his killing himself,  and taking  all in the vicinity to his perceived world beyond, or  his mortal destination. Indeed,    the man fighting for survival  and even  the rabidly violent insurgent   must keep  away  and keep doing so from the vicinity of the suicide bomber who does not believe in any tomorrow,   finally   and  anymore.

    Such is the scenario I am creating today in view of the latest news  this week in Nigeria on which I admit to a touch of ambivalence, and  on the  global  scene at large this week. The first is the Boko Haram video on global news showing that the terrorist organization has kidnapped children and women and is ready to  get ransom on them   or use them as bargaining chips for the release of  its members in government custody. The  second is the presidential declaration of state of emergency  in three states namely Borno, Adamawa  and Yobe  which have been scenes  and states in which the Boko  Haram   have had a field day in laying siege most violently and with impunity, on the territorial integrity of the Nigerian state in recent times.

    In  the world at large, from Liberia where the head of the presidential body guard threatened to come with guns after journalists critical of government, to Turkey’s Prime Minister’s   frantic  visit to the  US on the Syrian crisis, to  the election of Nawaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister in a volatile Islamic   democracy    like Pakistan;  the issues involved revolve around survival, insurgency, terrorism and   the grim but dangerous battle to keep the ship of state on course  by all means, as is now the main preoccupation of the embattled Nigerian government and president.

    Let  me go back to the earlier categorizations I   made  and stress that the ‘man’  inherent in my assertions  and definitions of the characters so identified namely terrorist, insurgent, survivalists and suicide bombers can refer to  the opposite sex, institutions , states  and governments.  Starting with Liberia therefore it would appear that the presidential body guard boss spoke the mind of his boss, the president of Liberia because for days there was no recant or repudiation of his assertion from the presidency. He was reported to have told journalists that they are terrorists and that   though   they have their pens the security people have their  guns and that they would come after journalists if they write anything that threatens the territorial integrity of Liberia. In protest, the Liberian media published blank front pages and sought audience with the Liberian president to no avail. Eventually the security boss issued a recant and said the media and security forces are indeed partners in progress in protecting the territorial integrity of Liberia but the damage had been done   and this is clear to deduce. This is because in keeping silent, the Liberian president unwittingly endorsed his aide’s undisguised and hostile warning to the press. That studied silence in a reverse situation between the state or presidency and the press can be sufficient for a security coup on which there could be a black out from the press. In tacitly approving an undemocratic gesture  by the security chief President Sirleaf  exposed herself to a   future  or imminent security risk on which she may cry wolf later  to survive,   without  being taken seriously  by the press  she has treated  with contempt and disdain through her trigger happy,  gun totting security chief this last week. In threatening the press to survive albeit through her security chief, therefore, the Liberian president has unwittingly shot herself in the leg in terms of her future security and survival in the performance  of her duty as president of Liberia.

    The Turkish  PM Erdogan’s visit to President Barak Obama in the US   was indeed a journey  for help to survive in dangerous waters  that relations between Turkey  and Syria, Turkey’s  northern neighbor have become in recent times. On a personal level, the relations between the two leaders can be likened to that between a suicide bomber and a survivalist. Really, Syria’s leader, Bashar  Assad knows he is sinking in terms of rejection by his people  and he is ready to bring down the house , this time the  entire region in which Turkey is the real leader,  down with him. Latest reports indicate that Assad’s forces are using chemical weapons and are bombing targets inside Turkey thus drawing Turkey into a war with Syria. But the Turkish  PM has done so well for his nation  economically  and has won back to back three terms in elections and knows that war with Syria is unpopular with his countrymen. Also, in getting popular and getting more powerful Erdogan has been able to cage the army in Turkey and historically the army is the guardian of Turkey’s secular democracy which  has taken a hiding   from Erdogan’s electoral successes .  Erdogan’s problem is that his party is Islamist  and Turks are wary that he is violating the nation’s founder’s laid down principle that the army , which Erdogan has boxed into a corner by trying its  leaders  for previous military coups, is the official  guardian of Turkey’s  secular  democracy. That  was what Kemal Ataturk the founder  of modern Turkey handed down as the governing principle in Turkey.  In  effect  then,  the army is watching Erdogan in his cat and mouse survival game with the suicidal Assad of Syria and waiting to cash in, once there is any insurgency against the Turkish PM for his foray into Syria to support the Syrian  rebels and for which he  has gone to Washington to  seek protection as a dutiful  and committed democratic  and still  secular leader of Turkey.

    The story of the re-election of former Pakistani  PM  Nawaz  Sharif  is a story of political survival in a difficult environment where religion and politics are the key catalysts for political power, control  and   participation. Pakistan must be the only nation in the world where religious insurgents threaten democracy but are still not able to succeed in deterring Pakistanis from performing their civic duties of voting for their leaders of choice. Nawaz Sharif had alternated power as it were,  as PM with the late Benazir Bhutto, in between coups that had sent either packing one time or the other.   The present scenario was even more interesting and symbolic in that former military ruler Parvez Musharaff who sent Sharif packing in a coup before, was around to contest the election but was denied participation in the electoral process  by the judiciary . Interestingly during Musharaff’s military rule he invited the late Benazir Bhutto from exile to contest elections but did not invite Sharif who nevertheless came in a much publicized flight   from Britain, only for his flight to be diverted to Medina in Saudi Arabia after     Sharif had risked his life for the journey.   Ironically,   Nawaz has survived the exile to be PM of   Pakistan today, while the man who denied him entry into Pakistan then,   former General Parvez Musharaff is facing charges for not providing sufficient security for Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated while campaigning in the election for which Nawaz was then denied entry into Pakistan. Also, most intriguing in Pakistan is that the present president, the late Benazir Bhutto’s husband knows that under Nawaz Sharif, whose party has sufficient majority to rule alone, his time in office is up or at best in great jeopardy,  as  president of Pakistan. This  is because  it was under the  previous premier ship of the new PM that the  president  was jailed for money laundering;  a charge that the highest   court  in Pakistan has ordered should be executed by successive PMs  of Pakistan who  were members of his party, which has now lost power to Nawaz Sharif’s party,  which is a very volatile development indeed.

    On  Nigeria, let me round up  by commending the Nigerian president and government on the state  of emergency  declared  in three states in the North East namely  Adamawa , Borno  and Yobe . For three reasons I say the commendation is well deserved. The first is that the president no matter how belated has shown that he is  now  in charge,  as nature abhors a vacuum in fighting anything,  including insurgency  and terrorism. The second is that that the wolves in sheep clothing, which he admitted are around him, now know that the battle line is drawn and that they either play ball and support him or leave office before it is too late. The third is that by involving the army the president has given the institution a great   opportunity to prove its mettle as well as assert and display its loyalty and commitment to the Nigerian state and its fledgling democracy. Given  the dire circumstances we have found ourselves through earlier vacillations and dithering in dealing with terrorists, insurgents  and  now  police- killing  cultists,  the state of emergency is like a breath of fresh air and  vibrant  leadership,  unlike the earlier putrid verbiage and vocabulary  of negotiations   with,  and  amnesty  for  merciless insurgents and unrepentant terrorists. Taking the bull by the horn  always seemed a strange strategy for this presidency in confronting those who threaten our nation’s territorial integrity and security with impunity till now One  therefore   hopes and prays that now that the cat is at home mice and terrorists  would flee in whatever direction they  wished, and allow  peace to reign in our fatherland henceforth –   with our president fully  and firmly  in  the saddle in  pursuing  their imminent rout and defeat. Amen

  • Terrorism a global threat to democracy, says Jonathan

    Terrorism a global threat to democracy, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday described terrorism as a global challenge to democracy.

    He spoke through Vice President Mohammed Nnamadi Sambo at the seventh ministerial conference of the Community of Democracies holding in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

    Jonathan feared that such global challenges as activities of undemocratic forces abusing the freedom offered by democracy to destabilise the system as well as terrorism by non-state actors could overwhelm legitimate democracies.

    He urged member-countries to strive hard in entrenching democracy and the rule of law to defeat those challenges

    His words: “We must continue to strengthen our collective resolve to confront current and future challenges as a united entity and thereby engender sustainable peace and development for our people.”

    The President renewed Nigeria’s commitment to the entrenchment of democratic values, saying the nation will not shy away from collaborating with others to create “a league of democratic drivers” that would entrench best practices.

    He said: “Nigeria will at all times lead the way to strong democratic values amongst the nations of Africa. It is on this note that our administration has pledged to ensure that local elections in Nigeria are held according to established international norms.”

    Jonathan, who said his administration was focused on strengthening democracy through good governance, creation of opportunities and economic growth, lauded member countries for electing Nigeria as the next president of the community for the 2015-2017 period.

    Nobel Laureate Aung Suu Kyi, who was the guest of honour at the event and chairperson of the National League for Democracy of Myammar, cautioned against conflict in overcoming difficulties, even as he admonished a peaceful approach in the quest to attain democracy and development.

    The Community of Democracies is a global intergovernmental coalition of democratic countries with the sole objective of promoting democratic rules and strengthening democratic norms and institutions around the world.

    It has a 24-member country governing council as its highest decision-making body.

    The members are: Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Finland, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Republic Of Korea, Sweden, United States (U.S) and Uruguay.

  • Three arraigned for terrorism

    Three men were on Monday charged before a Chief Magistrate Court, Ikeja over alleged act of terrorism and being in possession of explosive substance.

    They are; Ebenezer Akinbolade, 45, John Damilola, 30, and Tolulope Vincent, 30.

    The were arraigned on a three-count charge of conspiracy,  acts of terrorism and possessing explosive substance.

    Police  prosecutor, Inspector Barth Nwaokoye said that the accused committed the offence at 2.15 p.m on April 13, 2013 at Emco Guest House, along Yetkem Rd., Lagos. Nwaokoye said that the defendants engaged in  acts likely to promote terrorism and endanger life.

    According to him, the defendants  allegedly  armed themselves with explosive attempted to harm one  Alhaji Adewale Nurudeen whom they had business dealings with.

    The prosecutor said that the offence contravened Sections 242, 401 and 409, Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.

    When the charges were read,  the defendants pleaded not guilty to the three count charge preferred against them.

    The chief magistrate, Mrs A. Demi-Ajayi granted the defendants bail each in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum.

    She adjourned the case to June 5, 2013 for mention.

  • Terrorism and tinted glass phobia

    Terrorism and tinted glass phobia

    Who says that Boko Haram has not changed the lifestyle of Nigerians? That person should ask car owners, not only those that look tense when they are on a bridge or Nigerian Christians that are afraid to go to church on Sundays and their liberal Islamic counterparts who are no longer enthusiastic about going to pray in public mosques on Fridays. Ask young graduates who are no eager to avoid the unemployment line by rushing into NYSC camps in the North where there is more need for such graduates? The latest group to ask this question is Nigerians who own new and used cars that manufacturers in other parts of the world created from innovative thinking and research. Such doubting Thomases should ask managers of the country’s security who do not want to be called losers by Boko Haram warriors and have thus unearthed a law created under military dictators to assist police in fighting Western Education is Sin terrorists.

    Terrorism is a major challenge for governments all over the world. It has led to creation of special agencies in some parts of the technologically advanced world. There was nothing like Homeland Security in the United States in the years before September 11, 2001. Air travelers and their non-travelling family members could go as far as the boarding gateuntil terrorists made it mandatory for security officers to create new policies to restrict non-passengers to the ticketing area of the airport. Hundreds of air travelers have learnt how to leave their belts at home when they need to go through security checks in all airports of the world. Even women obsessed with their femininity have had to live with small volume of face powder, small amount of perfume, and sometimes without toothpaste if they want to travel without hassles. It is therefore not strange that Nigeria’s security managers have gone into the archive of laws created during the era of military dictatorship in the country, in their search for what to do to assist them in frustrating Islamic terrorists, and unintentionally, the citizens whose cooperation they need direly.

    What is strange is that the archaeologists of military laws have not given citizens good reasons to believe that they are not just being capricious or arbitrary. No data have been provided to show any link between terrorist acts in the North and vehicles with tinted glass. Smokers did not have to complain about being prevented from carrying their matches or firelighters with them on the plane, after the experience of shoe bombers or the botched attempt of young Nigerian international terrorist to light the bomb under his underwear a few years ago. Air passengers all over the world who are lovers of peace and order have not complained about ordinances that forbid them to carry machetes, knives, and bows and arrows into aircrafts. The connection between these dangerous items and in-flight terrorism had been made clear to passengers and non-passengers.

    What has not been made clear to Nigerians is the connection between tinted glass on the two rear sides of cars and the killing of innocent people by Boko Haram bombing of the UN office in Abuja, churches, motor parks, and police stations. How many terrorists have been nabbed operating from vehicles with tinted glass? How many explosive devices have been recovered by police from cars with tinted glass? How many guns have been shot and how many bombs have been thrown from moving cars with tinted glass since the advent of Boko Haram? It is necessary for the police to use data obtained from such heinous crimes to enlist the support of innocent Nigerians that had taken loans to buy cars with tinted glass made by their manufacturers abroad.

    Reports have indicated that Islamic terrorists had thrown bombs from motor cycles while some had shot innocent citizens from moving bicycles. Is the change in our security protocols going to ban motorcycles and bicycles? Nigerians have been told that Boko Haram bombers have used empty houses and occupied houses to store explosive devices and powerful assault guns. What is the attitude of the Inspector-General of Police to thousands of such houses in the north and south of the country, board them up? Invoking an obsolete law in the books against owners of cars with tinted glass is reminiscent of erecting road blocks as a means of fighting crimes. It is obsolete and may be counterproductive.

    In a war that requires cooperation of civilian population, policymakers in the security sector need to know how to cultivate citizens. They should not create policies that anger or antagonize citizens unnecessarily. Asking car owners to obtain special permit for using cars that they had duly registered and for which they had paid duties to Customs is similar to punishing or blaming the victim. Anyone that drives an unregistered car in the country has committed a punishable crime. It should not be criminal for citizens who have paid customs on their vehicles and paid for registration with their local government or the Federal Road Safety Commission to use those vehicles. It should be safely assumed that Customs department, FRSC, and the NPF are interlinked and are agencies that share common interest in the country’s security. For the law retrieved from the archive to be fair to citizens, it must include reimbursement of customs duties and registration fees already paid by owners of cars with tinted glass.

    In the fight against Boko Haram, our rulers need to learn from best practices from other countries that have security challenges from Islamic terrorists or any other category of terrorists: Ensure that cars do not carry tinted glass that is in excess of what is allowed in other parts of the world and ensure that security officers are given gadgets that can see through tinted glass from a distance. It will be less expensive for the federal government to acquire such devices than to have to face litigations seeking refund of huge sums of money to citizens who own duly registered vehicles. It is instructive to know that when the law being excavated by the police was made, it was to give special protection to military governments without mandate to rule. Even in those days when civilians were prevented from buying cars with green and jet black colors, and owning cars with tinted glass, military rulers were exempted from the rule, an indication that the law was not to fight crime but to accentuate privileges of new class of rulers.

    Thomas Paine and David Thoreau at different times had warned makers of bad and oppressive laws about the danger in making such laws. They had argued that human beings have the capacity to resist or disobey unjust laws. The National Assembly should not engage in panel beating an unjust and unreasonable law inherited from decades of military dictatorship. What senators need to do is to jettison the law against the use of cars with tinted glass. It is absurd that, at a timethe president, governors, emirs, obas, obis, and obongs across the country are making a case for unsolicited amnesty for Boko Haram terrorists, the police is excavating laws to rattle citizens in all parts of the country or using vehicles duly registered with law enforcement agencies.

     

  • Terrorism: Letter to the President

    Terrorism: Letter to the President

    SIR: According to Zimbardo, “Terrorism is all about psychology; it is about understanding the motives, values and ideology of terrorists to induce generalized fear, anxiety and helplessness in target populations”.

    Mr. President, your administration will be mistaken to be seen to be directly involved in extending blanket pardon to the members of an organized criminal group that had mercilessly embarked on “propaganda by deeds” to inflict sustained fear and fright on both the military and civil populace leading to the death of about 2000 persons. There is nothing under the heaven you can do to placate religious terrorist group. How can you grant amnesty to a terrorist who is in a hurry to be immolated or martyred? He or she is not interested in money or material things hereunder any longer. He or she is narcissistically enraged!

    Those people calling for amnesty for terrorists are lounge lizards or spongers: their values are not the values of the terrorists. They are simply tiger riders!

    Sir, let me humbly recommend to you what to do to reduce the menace of domestic terrorism in Nigeria in line with the global best practice.

    Declare Sheik Ibrahim Shekau, the leader of Al-Qaeda – Boko Haram terrorist group wanted as public enemy number one, with a promise to reward handsomely any move to arrest him.

    Scrap the Ministry of Niger – Delta to be replaced with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs should be rechristened Ministry of Home Security. More importantly, create a special anti-terrorist standing squad to be named NIGER FORCE to be well funded and disciplined.

    Please don’t dare granting amnesty to the terrorist group: but you can cut a deal with its leader through your National Security Adviser and other security people. For instance, deals were made to solve the problems of domestic terrorism in Germany and Italy in the seventies and eighties. You don’t set up commission on political evil to thrive. It is counter-productive to the current global moves to curtail terrorism. Al Qaeda, meaning the “base”, is a global terror network fuelling international terrorism using municipal cells.

    A long term solution to terrorism is to imbibe democratic values at all times. Terrorists hate democracy. Election must be transparent. Votes must count. Corrupt officers and people must be severely punished. Profane and sacred cows must be barbecued. The information ministry must be charged to combat the apparent winning streak of the domestic terrorist as far as strategic communication management is concerned. Terrorism has political, strategic, religious, ideological, economic, social, academic, financial, tactical, technological and narcotic dimensions. Mere setting up of an already frightened group to distribute money and job cannot curb the anomic phenomenon; neither will the northernisation of the landing ogre. Everybody must be concerned. The world powers are watching us. Any attempt to give blanket amnesty to terrorist group as erroneously ignorantly compared with the Niger Delta militant group, who the whole world know is fighting a legitimate cause against “environmental genocide”, will lead to balkanisation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No sane person will want that.

     

    • Michael Angel Folorunso

    Alakia, Ibadan.

  • Boston bombings: How Nigeria, US define terrorism

    Boston bombings: How Nigeria, US define terrorism

    Three people were killed and more than 170 injured in the United States on Monday when two explosions hit the finish line of the Boston Marathon. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts. But it took less than 24 hours for President Barack Obama to describe the explosions as a terrorist act. “This was a heinous and cowardly act,” he said. “And given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism. Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an act of terror. What we don’t yet know, however, is who carried out this attack, or why; whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual.” Even if the US president had not been quick in describing the attack as terrorism, he would still have done so in the days ahead, as he belatedly did in last year’s attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, when four Americans were killed including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

    In contrast, after more than three years of active bombing of mainly civilian targets in the northern part of Nigeria by Boko Haram militants, the federal government, claiming poetic licence, has struggled not to describe the attacks as terrorism. Not only has it wrestled with its conscience, it has also put pressure on the US government not to categorise the attacks as terrorism. So far, the US has acceded to Nigeria’s strange request, perhaps because there is no consensus within Nigeria on how to describe the violent bombing campaigns in Nigeria. Some argue that the attacks manifest unmitigated terrorism, while others argue that once the bombings were categorised as terrorism it would stigmatise the country and inflict untold hardship on Nigerians travelling abroad. In determining how to describe the Boko Haram attacks, those who eventually won the argument and prevented the sect from being labelled terrorists gave the impression we owed more obligations to the comfort of travellers and the living than we owed to the more than 2,000 who have died and countless more who have been maimed or who can no longer smile.

    Indeed, in Nigeria, the US has found itself putting up with much more than merely wrestling with its conscience on how to categorise Boko Haram attacks. The Americans also squirm as they are made to respect, or pretend indifference to, the Nigerian government’s decision to negotiate with terror or grant amnesty to terrorists. It is of course not the business of any outsider what we do with ourselves, as long as our actions do not impinge on the wellbeing of others. So, whether we see a minor insurgency where other countries see terrorism is strictly speaking not the concern of the US.

    But as Obama reiterated clearly on Tuesday, the US has made it the cardinal principle of its domestic policy never to negotiate with terror or to prevaricate on the meaning of terrorism, for the life of every American is so valuable that the living has an unshakeable obligation to the dead to bring every felon to justice. If Nigeria chooses to negotiate with terror in exchange for peace, or to pretend that terror is not actually terror until it pleases us to consider it so, that is our business. We are at liberty to choose not to mind what the consequences of today’s appeasement will be on future generations of Nigerians, as we whimsically modify moral principles and set precedents that neither past nor present, nor yet future generations can be proud to cite or embrace