The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Terrorism

  • UK to support Nigeria’s fight against terrorism

    UK to support Nigeria’s fight against terrorism

    The United Kingdom will increase its support to Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the West African sub-region, particularly Mali.

    The new British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock, told journalists in Abuja on Friday that London has great interest in Nigeria in view of its size, resources, importance in West Africa, the continent and the world as a whole.

    He said: “Sadly, terrorism in the northern part of the country has taken many lives and is damaging economic and developmental prospects; and increasingly, the daily struggle of too many poor people.

    “Nigeria and the UK have a shared agenda not just to address security in the region, but worldwide. Nigeria is not alone in the fight against terrorism in your country. We are with Nigeria considering our interests here.

    “We have a long history of military cooperation which we hope to expand. Nigeria is not alone, West Africa is not alone and Mali is not alone.

    “The UK has experience of its own, which it is already sharing with the Nigerian authorities. What is happening in Nigeria is part of the Sahelian problem just like what is happening in Mali.”

    Stressing that fight against terrorism requires an integrated political, economic, security and human rights approaches, Pocock said that one of his cardinal objectives in Nigeria is to reduce terror threat in the sub region.

     

  • Govt has will to fight terrorism, says Jonathan

    Govt has will to fight terrorism, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said the government has the political will to fight terrorism, adding that efforts so far have yielded the desired result.

    He spoke yesterday at a summit on security jointly organised by the Police and Vanguard.

    Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Gambo-Jimeta blamed neglect of police funding by successive governments and general poor administration as responsible for the insecurity in Nigeria.

    Gambo –Jimeta, who chaired yesterday’s session, described the insecurity in the country as “self-inflicted”.

    President Jonathan, who was represented by Minister of Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade, said: “A lot of emphasis is being placed on training and retraining, improving the sophistication of weaponry and equipment, improved welfare of officers and men and the image of the police.

    “I am optimistic that the political will being demonstrated by this administration will yield the desired result in the fight against terrorism, improve crime investigation and enhance public order policing.

    “This will guarantee the ultimate protection of lives and property and law enforcement in our society,’’ he said.

    Gambo-Jimeta said successive administrations neglected the security agencies, the “organ of stability’’, in terms of funding.

    Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar said as a nation grows, the threats it faces become sophisticated. “Security is undoubtedly the foundation on which any society’s socio-economic and political development are built. “Insecurity, therefore, is a venomous threat to the well being of the citizens of any nation and a cankerworm that destroys the roots that hold the existence of any nation,’’ Abubakar said.

    Vanguard Editor-In-Chief Mr. Gbenga Adefaye said the organisation had the social responsibility to help in finding solution to the security challenges. Adefaye appealed to authorities concerned to take seriously the recommendations that would come out of the summit. The theme of the summit, which ends today, is “Addressing Nigeria’s Security Challenges for Sustainable Peace and Development’’.

     

  • Jonathan gets wake-up call on terrorism, kidnapping

    Jonathan gets wake-up call on terrorism, kidnapping

    •Why govt is slow, by President

    President Goodluck Jonathan was yesterday admonished to banish the twin menace of terrorism and kidnapping next year.

    The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Nicholas Oko, urged the government to find a permanent solution to terrorism and kidnapping.

    He spoke at the Christmas Day Service at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp in Abuja.

    President Jonathan, First Lady Dame Patience and members of the first family attended the service.

    Terrorism is rampant in the North where Boko Haram (western education is a sin), has been killing people. Kidnappers are on the rampage in the South, especially in the Southsouth and the Southeast.

    The rights group, Campaign for Democracy (Southeast), alleged that kidnappers make an average of N750 million weekly in the Southeast, making it the most “lucrative business”.

    Primate Okoh said: “If you look at this church environment, you will see so many security men on duty.

    “It is not everybody that can bear with this kind of situation; since the emergence of terrorists, many people no longer go to church and many select the day they go.

    “So, it is our duty and prayer that in the coming year, Nigeria will know perfect security and that men and women will return to normal life.

    “And nobody will stop anybody from visiting anywhere; if you want to go to Maiduguri or Kaura Namoda, you should be free to go.”

    The cleric also expressed concern that kidnapping was being fuelled by greed and “love of money’’.

    “This type of people, we cannot justify them by talking of unemployment; the kidnapper is not interested in employment because you cannot pay him.

    “They have become used to spending big money and if from one kidnapping he gets N50 million, tell me where you can employ such a person?’’

    The primate’s sermon was on the theme: ‘’Messiah’s presence in our midst’’. He drew his message from Isaiah, Chapter 9 and the gospel of John chapter 1.

    Rev. Okoh also prayed that in coming years, Nigeria will have perfect security, people will no longer have fear for personal security.

    According to him, “Jesus Christ has come to give us eternal salvation, shine his light in the darkness of the world. He has come as the Prince of Peace. He came down to lift up the poor.

    “The Lord came with the gospel of transformation and power that has transformed us from darkness to light. If you want to know God and his workings, then look at Jesus.

    “He has given us moral light to shun what is wrong and do the right thing.

    “We need to embrace peace in this country. We have of late been praying to have peace between man and man in our country. The Christian faith does not encourage tit for tat for the frequent killings because Christians are peace bearers. Irrespective of provocation, we must promote peace.

    “It also has the solution to the frequent tribalism that has affected us and caused chaos.

    “For all in leadership, traditional, religious, political, the emphasis of leadership is the poor, the down trodden. At all times, their welfare and relief must occupy the priority of the leaders.

    “We need to thank God for what the government is trying to do that we will no longer be slave to massive rice producers like Thailand.

    “Is difficult to understand why it took us so long to realise that if we produce our rice that we can eat and generate jobs for our people. Also we have started producing bread with local content and it is good news to the poor. It will be political miracle if we have constant power supply and it will be good news to the poor.

    “The development of the railway system and the construction of road also will be good news to the poor.

    “Following the story of incarnation, the government can continue to come down to the poor because God is interested in the affairs of the poor”.

    Prayers were said for the first family, government and the country.

    The First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan took the old testament lesson from Isaiah 9:2, 6&7.

    President Jonathan read the Epistle from the book of Hebrew 1:1-12.

    The President said his administration would fulfil its promises to the people.

    He said: “I want to reassure Nigerians that we are committed and will keep faith with our promises. At least what we are doing in agriculture, transportation and power has been noted by the Primate.

    “We have laid a solid foundation for power, agriculture and transport sectors and I can assure you we will not go back again.

    “By human thinking, our administration is slow, I won’t say we are slow but we need to think through things properly if we are to make a lasting impact. If we rush we will make mistakes and sometimes it is more difficult to correct those mistakes.

    “I want to assure Nigerians that any step we take, whether little or giant, we won’t go back. And where we need to act fast, we will do so; that we demonstrated with the flood disaster because it required immediate response.

    “Democracy must be dictated by ballot papers and I think we have achieved that with electoral reform. We will not go back but will continue to improve.

    “For our transformation to be sustained, we Nigerians must be reformed. We must not see our country as where we make money only and build walls and live as prisoners because of the criminal activities of a few”.

    The President also underscored the need for re-orientation in the country, noting that a situation where some criminal-minded Nigerians vandalise government property to sabotage the government’s effort must be condemned as such actions are tantamount to the transformation plan of the government.

    “People play politics with things that affect even their own lives. You wonder why a person go and cut down a conductor carrying cables that produce electricity because you want a government to fail. This happened somewhere in Enugu. You begin to wonder if they are humans. That is why we need to reform if we must transform.”

    The President also said the church has a critical role to play if democracy must be sustained.

    “The sermon today brought a number of things to lime light, our transformation in agriculture and others.

    “When we were planning for our campaign, we spent a whole day debating on what should be our theme and we settled for transformation. At the time, it sounded strange and many people even asked what are we transforming but I’m glad that today people are beginning to see the transformation.

    “The church has a great role to play if the transformation must succeed because you can’t transform without reformation and is the role of the church to do so.

    “I urge the church to come up with various programmes to talk about how we Nigerians can be reformed.”

     

  • ‘We must fight corruption as US fights terrorism’

    ‘We must fight corruption as US fights terrorism’

    Senator Anne Okonkwo, who represented Anambra Central District between 2007 and 2011,  recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He spoke with OLUKOREDE YISHAU on the agitation for the Presidency by Igbo and fight against corruption in the country.

    What is your position on the quest for an ‘Igbo President’ in 2015?

    The ambition for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2015 is not just bones without flesh. It is not a slogan for grand popularity, neither is it a baby song to help us go to sleep and quit disturbing. Far from that,it is a political, social and economic reality that the culture of Nigeria as a political entity supports since 1914. It has become a necessity that fairness and equity made imperative. It has gone beyond the usual sentiments, intrigues and politics that lack honesty and faithfulness. If Nigerians still believe and accept that – in brotherhood we stand, then the best centenary affection we can dramatize to cement that resolve is to persuasively buy into the Igbo Presidency Agenda.

    To me, the wisdom of fair national preservation should convince politicians, businessmen, technocrats, school children, market women etc to reflect and dance this tune for once. We will accommodate every alliance to realize this, we will respect every commitment we make in this regard. We assure Nigerians, they will get the best deal they have ever seen. Let us build trust by sacrifice and let our genuine sacrifice as a nation determine our true prosperity.

    But the problem of unity among Igbo has always been a serious one. How can this be solved?

    I am aware of the popular perception that Igbo are not united or not capable of speaking with one voice. I am also aware that politics is not only about speaking with one voice. It is more about speaking with several voices about the same issue. If there is any issue the many voices of over 50 million Igbo in Nigeria and the Diaspora have been consistent and united about, it is the sacred agitation for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction. We should not malign this century old desire with day old excuses that Igbo are not united or can not speak with one voice. What is practical and clearly evident from this misinterpreted scenario is the Igbo man’s exemplary passion for national unity above ethnic exclusivity. That is why we have about 70 per cent of our population spread comfortably in every nook and cranny of our dear country. They are there investing their lives earnings, speaking the language of their hosts, assimilating their cultures and always remain their No1 development agents sometimes against aggravated attacks and selective mistreatment. That is the open score card of our faith in national unity. And the test is for our fellow compatriots to accede to us this much sought after concession. We have adopted a multi level, multi partisan approach to the vital negotiations and engagements necessary. Committee 21 (C21) which I happen to be the President of is one of the revving engines amongst many others advancing this timely frontier.

    Every day we read about corruption in high places. Are you not worried?

    Very regrettably, there appear to be no new language to describe corruption in Nigeria. There is nothing new I will tell you that you have not seen or heard. Our grave picture of arrested development at a graying adult age is sadly the harvest of our corruption tragedy.

    The havoc of what I call our Acquired Corruption Tragedy Syndrome (ACTS) is worse to our national life than AIDS is to our physical body. This is because while AIDS can be evaded through fear and discipline, corruption is lethally invasive with value killing propensity and impunity. Our easy accommodation to the pills of corruption and quick adjustment to its devastation, is a development taboo that we must vomit to make progress. So don’t ask me whether the Government is trying or not in the fight against corruption. Assuming the government have not done much as is very obvious, should we the people surrender? We must devise the courage to put our fingers in our throat and vomit this scourge in our system without hesitation. By that cleansing, we will serve the government a yellow card, and consequent red card if they still fail to act.

    For example, the attack on corruption should be fought with the same intensity Americans fights terrorism internally and globally. The same momentum Muslims fight for their faith. No compromise, no half measures unless we have resigned to be buried as living carcasses in the decay. When governments and institutions that should fight corruption energetically make excuses as atonement for not performing, then darkness will assume superiority over light in our affairs. It is that sad.

    Do you think that the Igbo are truly marginalised?

    While overseas, I read what Governor Rochas Okorocha said about Igbo marginalization at an Ndigbo forum in Lagos recently. He admirably articulated the issue properly and proffered the way forward. And by the way, he is an able member of the C21 group. I concur with him that the soft cries or loud moans of marginalization without more, will not take us far as a race. In Nigeria as in other nations, people are constantly marginalized by race, culture, economic, religious and even gender. In reality, equality is a precept, because you will always have the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the tall and the short. What is significant is how many triumph do you make out of your perceived or real weaknesses. The Igbo have had economic marginalization after the civil war. But they became giants of trade and commerce. Today we are being marginalized politically especially at the highest level of leadership in this country. Have we given up, no. Should we continue to cry without doing the necessary, no. Can we do something about it, capital yes. We must re-enact that can do spirit of triumph to once again overcome, and I am certain, we will.

    Are you comfortable with the deregistration of parties by INEC?

    We have all lost count of the number of political parties that are supposed to engage us, educate us and canvass for our votes for acceptance. But we also know that most of these parties have long converted their certificates into title documents for personal ego and sundry trading. INEC feels it’s their duty to do something about them which they have done. Some of those affected have loudly said no; that INEC cannot do that legally. That is the beauty of democracy. We are eager to see them square up with INEC at the courts of Justice and I believe at the end of the day, our institution of democracy will be the better for it. What I may candidly suggest is that, it would have been more expeditious if this kind of matter can go straight to the Supreme Court so that it can be decided once and for all. That way, it will have less strain in the pockets of the litigants and save INEC, too, from operational pressures. But like I said, it promises to be an interesting and enriching combat.

    Is the on-going constitutional amendment likely to give us the desired result?

    The constitutional amendment being undertaken presently should cut a radical picture of thoroughness based on core principles of justice, equity and fairness. If we make the mistake of playing to the gallery with our usual sentiments and politics, the essence will be lost and the cynicism of the people that it is a staged jamboree will be validated. The issue of the cost of governance and the size of government should be taken care of down the three tiers of government. All impediments to the enthronement of merit and performance should be expunged. True federalism may not come in one fell swoop, but clear progress in that direction should be made. The Judiciary should be mandated to establish special courts for corruption and economic crimes to end the gimmick of purchased injunctions and procured endless adjournments.

    Then of course, the big one, two more states from the South East. I understand that there are more than forty two wishes for additional states nationwide, but two of them are overriding necessity, the South East extra states demand. Let us heal that open sore to our national conscience.

     

     

  • Terrorism: Why we opted for death penalty – Senate

    Terrorism: Why we opted for death penalty – Senate

    The Senate on Friday said it adopted the death penalty as punishment for acts of terrorism due to Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances.

    The National Assembly at its sitting on Thursday approved the death penalty for acts of terrorism in Nigeria following the recommendations contained in a conference committee report of both houses.

    The report was on a harmonised version of a Bill for an Act to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 and for Other Related Matters.

    The spokesman of the Senate, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, told the News Agency of Nigeria in a telephone chat, that the choice of the death penalty was informed by the existing situation in the country.

    “This is Nigeria and we are going to do laws based on extant things happening in our country. We cannot afford to use what is done in other countries to resolve our peculiarities.

    “So we are adopting this amendment to address the problem that is peculiar to Nigeria,’’ Abaribe said.

    Sen. Victor Lar (PDP-Plateau), who is also a member of the committee, also told NAN on telephone, that the earlier recommendation of life imprisonment was too lenient for such a crime.

    “The life imprisonment sentence as opposed to the death penalty, particularly, for perpetrators of terrorist acts that results in the death of citizens is not decisive enough.’’

    Lar, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, added that prisoners kept for a long time might be granted amnesty while perpetrators of terrorism acts might go scot-free at the end of the day.

    “Take for instance the case of the Libyan terrorists who bombed Lockerbie, they were eventually released and were given heroic welcome.’’

    NAN reports that the Senate version of the amended bill had prescribed life imprisonment for acts of terrorism while the House of Representatives version prescribed death penalty.

    Members of the conference committee deliberated and weighed the advantages and disadvantages of both penalties and eventually adopted the death penalty.

     

  • Damaturu: JTF recovers 11 riffles

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in Yobe on Sunday recovered 11 rifles in Kandahar Area of Damaturu, two weeks after 5,000 rounds of ammunition were discovered in the area.

    In a statement issued by the JTF spokesmen, Lt. Eli Lazarus, in Damaturu, he said the taskforce recovered nine Fabric Nationale and two riot gun rifles in Kandahar.
    “The JTF in a cordon and search operation in Kandahar area of Damaturu recovered nine Fabric Nationale (FB) and two riot guns, making a total number of 11 riffles recovered,” he said.

    The taskforce appealed to members of the public to report any suspicious persons, movements and objects in their areas for prompt response.

    Eli assured that any information supplied to the JTF, would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

    “We appreciate every piece of information that will assist the JTF in its operation toward restoring peace and security across the state.’’

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that business activities were gradually picking up in Damaturu as residents who fled had made a u-turn following the improved security situation in the state.

  • Media and terrorism

    Media and terrorism

    What should be the role of the media in the fight against terrorism in this country, has of recent been a matter for public scrutiny. In the last couple of days, this relationship has been the major concern of security agencies, the government and the discerning public.

    The spokesman of the Joint Taskforce on Terrorism JTF, Col. Sagir Musa was the first to fire the salvo. In a well presented and very engaging article widely published in the media, he made spirited efforts to draw attention to the nexus between regular reportage of acts of terrorism in the media (albeit through sensationalism) and the festering of the malaise.

    He contended that publicity is the oxygen of terrorism and that modern terrorists employ media terrorism to oil their dastardly acts. Musa further argued that terrorism makes sense only when it is conspicuous in that targets are selected for maximum propaganda and publicity value.

    Also at a security training programme for the media, the Director-General of the State Security Services SSS, Ekpenyong Ita, arguing along the same line said terrorists craved for media attention. Hear him, “when they carry out attacks, they want as much publicity as possible and when the media sensationalize such an attack, the terror groups have achieved their objectives of getting wide publicity which is aimed at intimidating and instilling fear in the people”

    The presidency through Doyin Okupe also spoke in a similar vein while reacting to a media report to the effect that nowhere is safe in Nigeria.

    The issues raised above would appear novel given our recent experience with the scourge of terrorism. Because we are experiencing it for the first time, there is the temptation to view these concerns as a challenge peculiar to Nigeria. And given the way things are handled in this country, it may not take long before the media are made to take vicarious responsibility for the ravaging insecurity accentuated by the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

    There is a sense in which these arguments could be pursued and the inevitable impression created that the media have become the greatest impediment to the fight against terrorism. This is more so with spirited efforts to construct a link between terrorism and the media seen by our security experts as the oxygen without which the former cannot survive. But this claim cannot find support for the very simple fact that one precedes the other. Terrorism takes place before the media record accounts of its deadly and devastating consequences. There is therefore a limit beyond which we cannot hold the media liable for the festering acts of terrorism. Moreover, it has neither been established nor can it be established that publicity is the driving force for terrorism undertakings. From what we know all over the world, acts of terrorism are largely driven by such societal malaise as injustice, religious fundamentalism, poverty and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, class or religion.

    Terrorism is propelled and sustained by perceived grievances. And in all instances of terrorism, these grievances are articulated by its promoters and not difficult to locate. The Boko Haram sect has been very unambiguous in its demands from the Nigerian state. It is opposed to western education and committed to imposing an Islamic state in the country. These are some of their known demands and grouses. It was therefore not surprising that as soon as the government made clear it was not interested in negotiations with them and proceeded to place ransom on the heads of their leaders, they selected targets for maximum impact to demonstrate their capacity for evil. And they succeeded in doing just that.

    The bombing of a church right inside Jaji and the assault at the SARS headquarters in Abuja soon after that pronouncement, illustrate this point most poignantly. If the media proceeds to document these occurrences in the interest of the reading public, they are only acting within the confines of their profession calling. It will therefore be incorrect to convey the impression that the media provides the necessary and sufficient conditions for terrorism to thrive as our security chiefs have sought to do.

    Even then, the media have not equally fared well in the hands of terrorists. Terrorists have variously targeted and levied maximum harm on media organizations and practitioners. They have been accused of bias in reporting and documenting the activities and views of the terrorists. The bombing of some media houses in Abuja and Kano by terrorists not long ago, was on account of perceived bias on the part of the media against them. They specifically accused the Thisday Newspaper of distorting reports by not publishing some press statements emanating from them.

    What this underscores is that the media are at the receiving end both from the point of view of the government and the terrorists. The government would want the media to thread softly in the manner they disseminate information on terrorist activities given that their aim in selecting targets for maximum impact is to get maximum publicity and instill fear in the public. This could as well be. But it is also the responsibility of the same government with the benefit of this strategy at its disposal, to make it impossible for them to reach such sensitive and high impact targets that will make for ‘sensational’ news for the media. If the military authorities and the police echelon could not adequately secure Jaji and SARS headquarters resulting to that unmitigated assault, they should squarely take the blame. If they cannot through surveillance and intelligence gathering nip these tendencies in the bud, they could be the real source of that oxygen for terrorist action. Moreover, the media have a social responsibility in regularly drawing attention to these terrorist acts. They draw the attention of the government to the festering phenomenon with a call for more action and alert the public to the dangers they poses to their lives. If the government wants less of these reports, it must do more to tame the mortal danger terrorism has become on these shores.

    Admittedly, there are bound to be some excesses in the manner some sections of the media handle some reports especially given the advent of what is now known as the social media. Their largely unstructured nature gives ample room for abuse. But this affects all spheres of the society and not limited to terrorism. The issues raised by our security chiefs are not entirely novel.

    Before now, the role of the media in the fight against terrorism had engaged global attention. P. Wilkinson sees a symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media.

    But the dilemma in this relationship was succinctly captured by C.A Damm when he contended that terrorists are dependent on the publicity they receive and the media acquire from the terrorists that staple in news reporting: an event newsworthy, unexpected and violent which the public is drawn attention to hear. This appears a more apt way of representing the predicament of the media in the reportage terrorism in a country like ours.

  • Terrorism, politics  and the law

    The  bombing of a church in a military barrack in Kaduna in Nigeria and the placement of a bounty of 50m naira   by the army on leaders of the terrorist group Boko Haram highlight  Nigeria’s  intractable and messy problem with terrorism. Unlike Nigeria, however Egypt faces a new problem from the use and misuse  of power from its new president  Mohammed Morsi,  who recently issued presidential orders granting him powers that are not challengeable in any court in Egypt.

    In Nigeria   again ,in a strange concoction of politics and finance,  the nation’s Central Bank Governor Lamido  Sanusi,  the Champion of Islamic banking in Nigeria  asked the Federal government   to  sack 50%  of its civil servants because  it is spending 70%  of its revenue on paying the salaries  of   these  civil servants .In  far away New  York , the UN Secretary General  Ban Ki Moon asked the UN Security Council to approve the sending of an ECOWAS force to Mali to rescue that nation from invaders both Tuaregs and religious militants  but asked the UN body not to provide the funds said to be worth  $50m.

    The issues highlighted above raise issues of terrorism, authoritarianism, economic planning and finan ce;  national, regional and global stability – and I intend to highlight these issues in that light and context today. Let me stress that it will  require a huge   balancing act to do this and it is in that regard that I will make reference  to an article by Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyii  titled – ‘A  Sense  of Balance ‘   in The Economist which stressed  that both peoples  and nations will need to balance their acts to make the world a peaceful place to live in.

    In  that fine article Suu Kyii noted that the end of authoritarianism is not synonymous with the end of dissent or the  demise  of fundamentalism. The  power  impasse  in Egypt is a clear  vindication of that. Dissent she said should be channeled towards   concensus  and compromise  while she stressed that fundamentalism,  which can be volatile in times of change and uncertainty,  is   in reality  the natural enemy of balance .Suu Kyii  identified terrorists as those people lacking in self-respect who are incapable of compassion and restraint when they have an opportunity to deal with those who  they  think put them in a state of incapacity to attain what they perceive as their deserved niche. Such people who lack self respect are incapable of respecting others. The terrorist mentality she   concluded  is spawned by intellectual and social influences that  widen to an extreme  ‘the gap‘ between the terrorist and others   –  and this destroys the essential balance that promotes a common bond of humanity.

    It  is in the light of the wisdom of this  Burmese    Nobel  laureate that I take on the issues raised first on terrorism in Nigeria and the resurgence of authoritarianism in Egypt in the wake  of President Mohammed Morsi’s surprising and bold move to concentrate power in his hands. In  Nigeria,  terrorism  unfortunately is waxing stronger as terrorists  recently  week  bombed the headquarters of the special police unit in Abuja    where terrorists  were  being kept,  and some were said to have escaped. There have been reports that some suspected terrorists were found round the State House in Ekiti  State while Members of the National Assembly are  said  to be apprehensive that the Assembly could be the target of Boko Haram terrorists.

     It  is my considered view  that no government should allow terrorists to operate with such impunity as this weakens respect for constituted authority  and casts aspersion on the sovereignty of the state. It  is ironically to protect such sovereignty that President Mohammed Morsi   in Egypt seized the powers of the courts and decreed they  could not be used to challenge him in his bid to control law and order in Egypt.

    In Nigeria’s case it is apparent that the state is lax in tackling insecurity and terrorism for reasons best known to the authorities.  But  human lives should not be treated with  levity and nonchalance  by the rest of us because we have not had any  relatives killed yet  by terrorists. It is dehumanizing to see churches bombed on a weekly basis while Christians elsewhere  and   those  not directly involved just pause for a moment and move on while the state wrings its hands in futile admonitions and does nothing to deter the terrorist against the next attack. In Egypt where there is no such terror as in Nigeria, President Morsi has seized power ostensibly to forestall such state impotence in the face of expected terror.

    Morsi  is acting proactively  in anticipation of  spurious litigations that could hamstring the state – even though his anticipation and actions  are  decidedly undemocratic. The  difference between the Nigerian and Egyptian situation is that the party  of President Morsi, the Islamic Brotherhood is a Fundamentalist Party and secular Egyptians are afraid that  Morsi and his party will use the power  he has seized to introduce Sharia  Law  in Egypt,  to the detriment of opposition parties  and other religions in Egypt. Whereas in Nigeria the terrorist is rampant and running amok as it were.

    Yet,  there is still some caution and restraint in the way the stakeholders  and  politicians in  the Egyptian state deal with each other. When the demonstrations against  Morsi started, the Muslim Brotherhood  planned its own counter one for   the next week. But it cancelled this to avert bloodshed when it saw the turn out  of opposition  demonstrators  at Tahrir Square against the president’s usurpation of the power  of the Egyptian Courts. This  week the demonstrators in their thousands have piched camp  in front of the Presidential palace in Cairo.

    Unfortunately,  Such restraint is barren in the way Boko Haram bombs Churches,  killing and maiming   Christians and passers by in Nigeria. Worse still the business as usual stance of the security forces as well   as the ‘not my turn yet‘  attitude of the rest of us has  portrayed  Nigeria  as a nation of people thick skinned  to murder and mayhem in their midst. Which simply means that human life is cheap here as in the Hobbessian theory that says that in a state of terror, where  might is right,  human life is violent, brutish and short. Surely that is a sad and unfortunate image for any nation  not enmeshed in America’s war on terror like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq,   nations   where most unfortunately, suicide bombing has made a mockery  of the sanctity of human lives.   Again, it is in that  light that I  consider the call   by the CBN governor to sack half the work force of our civil service as well as the  posture  of the UN not being ready to spend money on rescuing Mali. The  CBN governor’s call reminds one of ‘the shoot the messenger‘ syndrome while the UN uncharacteristic  frugality on Mali’s survival reminds one of the   proverbial  cat that would eat fish without getting its paws wet.

    What  the CBN governor has said is the correct thing for any government spending 70%  of its revenue on salaries to do, but even he knows that no  politician   or  government in Nigeria will do that and survive. Even the host governor at the venue where the CBN delivered his   stricture said it was not possible. So  the CBN governor was just barking at the moon even though every one knows that sacking of civil servants was never part of his schedule of duties and that makes the civil servants happy as they plan his downfall in the full Nigerian retaliatory syndrome. Anyway,  the CBN governor is as impervious to criticism as the politicians in the way he carried through his Islamic Banking  agenda  which is in tune with his Master’s degree in Islamic studies  from the University of Khartoum.  Really what is good for the  goose should be good for the gander.

    Lastly,  Ban Ki Moon has shown that he or the UN does not understand the gravity of the situation in Mali. ECOWAS  states alone cannot fund the reclamation of Northern Mali because they all have financial problems of their own. They  mostly rely on Nigeria   as the Father Xmas  of such military adventures. But Nigeria has problems of its own such as the one pointed out by the CBN governor, the oil subsidy theft, the huge allowances of its legislators as well as the fight against Boko Haram to which huge funds have been committed.

    The UN should not turn the proposed Mali ECOWAS force  into another laughing stock like  the  blue beret UN Congo troops who stood by and watched unconcerned as M23 rebels seized the town of Goma  from government forces  in the  DRC recently. Mali  is a member state of the UN that is in trouble because of regional problems stemming from the growth of militancy and fundamentalism on the northern part of all ECOWAS states and needs help,  especially the financial type to maintain its stability and sovereignty.

    If Mali falls there will be a wrong signal to militants  in the Sahel  that  they can simulate the situation in  Mali  in any state in ECOWAS . That  is one message that is lost to the  UN Scribe  for  now  .  Not  funding the military rescue of Mali can be counter productive and very costly for the UN in the short run not to talk of in the long. A  word is enough for the wise.

  • Terrorism is war against Nigeria, says DG SSS

    Terrorism is war against Nigeria, says DG SSS

    The Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Ekpeyong Ita, has described the ongoing terrorists’ insurgency in the country as a war against the Nigerian state.

    He, however, hoped that with the combined efforts of the nation’s security agencies and cooperation by the public, the nation would win the war.

    Ita appealed to the media and the public to partner the security agencies in the fight against terrorism, noting that terrorists depend on publicity to sustain their attack against the people.

    “Publicity by the media is the oxygen needed by the terrorists to sustain the attack on the Nigerian state and give prominence to their activities,” he said.

    Speaking at a security training programme for reporters in Abuja yesterday, the SSS boss said the attacks by the insurgent groups notwithstanding, the security agencies have been able to check a good number of the groups’ offensive.

    According to him, the primary intention of the terrorists is to cause division and disaffection in the society and create fear in people.

    He hoped that with the modest success recorded by the security agencies so far, the war against terrorism would soon be over.

    Ita said it was regrettable that while the Western countries are fighting externally-sponsored terrorism, Nigeria is fighting terrorism from within.

    The SSS chief noted that of the three persons declared w anted by the security agencies, one of them had been killed, while another, whose identity is still being scrutinised, is already in custody.

    He said a web is being built around the third wanted person by the security agencies, adding that his arrest is only a matter of time.

    “I can assure you that very soon, we shall have him as our guest. We are not overwhelmed, we will never be overwhelmed and we can never be overwhelmed. We are on top of the situation. The situation is not out of control,” Ita said.

    He urged the media to be circumspect in the handling of information given them by members of the terror groups, saying the motive is to create chaos, fear and division among the public.

    Ita pleaded with reporters to contact the spokespersons of the security agencies and joint task forces for clarification on sensitive information.

    The Nigerian government and the European Union (EU) have agreed on areas of partnering in the war against terrorism in Nigeria.

    The EU counter terrorism coordinator, Mr. Gilles de Kerchave, met with the Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada, in her office yesterday to finalise the arrangement.

    Obada listed the areas in which Nigeria is seeking assistance to include intelligence gathering; training anti/counter terrorism; training on arms/ammunition and improvised explosive devices; training on Improvised Explosive Devised disposal; counter improvised explosive devices training; and training on counter improvised explosive technology.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Terrorism, politics and the law

    The bombing of a church in a military barrack in Kaduna in Nigeria and the placement of a bounty of 50m naira by the army on leaders of the terrorist group Boko Haram highlight Nigeria’s intractable and messy problem with terrorism. Unlike Nigeria, however Egypt faces a new problem from the use and misuse of power from its new president Mohammed Morsi, who recently issued presidential orders granting him powers that are not challengeable in any court in Egypt.

    In Nigeria again, in a strange concoction of politics and finance, the nation’s Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, the Champion of Islamic banking in Nigeria asked the Federal government to sack 50% of its civil servants because it is spending 70% of its revenue on paying the salaries of these civil servants. In far away New York, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon asked the UN Security Council to approve the sending of an ECOWAS force to Mali to rescue that nation from invaders both Tuaregs and religious militants but asked the UN body not to provide the funds said to be worth $50m.

    The issues highlighted above raise issues of terrorism, authoritarianism, economic planning and finan ce, national, regional and global stability and I intend to highlight these issues in that light and context today. Let me stress that it will require a huge balancing act to do this and it is in that regard that I will make reference to an article by Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyii titled -‘A Sense of Balance‘in The Economist which stressed that both peoples and nations will need to balance their acts to make the world a peaceful place to live in.

    In that fine article Suu Kyii noted that the end of authoritarianism is not synonymous with the end of dissent or the demise of fundamentalism. Dissent she said should be channeled towards concensus and compromise while she stressed that fundamentalism, which can be volatile in times of change and uncertainty, is in reality the natural enemy of balance. Suu Kyii identified terrorists as those people lacking in self respect who are incapable of compassion and restraint when they have an opportunity to deal with those who they think put them in a state of incapacity to attain what they perceive as their deserved niche. Such people who lack self respect are incapable of respecting others. The terrorist mentality she concluded is spawned by intellectual and social influences that widen to an extreme ‘the gap‘ between the terrorist and others – and this destroys the essential balance that promotes a common bond of humanity.

    It is in the light of the wisdom of the Burmese and Nobel laureate that I take on the issues raised first on terrorism in Nigeria and the resurgence of authoritarianism in Egypt in the wake of President Mohammed Morsi,s surprising and bold move to concentrate power in his hands. In Nigeria terrorism is waxing stronger as terrorists this week bombed the headquarters of the special police unit in Abuja where terrorists are being kept and some were said to have escaped. There have been reports that some suspected terrorists were found round the State House in Ekiti State while Members of the National Assembly are said to be apprehensive that the Assembly could be the target of Boko Haram terrorists.

    It is my considered view that no government should allow terrorists to operate with such impunity as this weakens respect for constituted authority and casts aspersion on the sovereignty of the state. It is ironically to protect such sovereignty that President Mohammed Morsi in Egypt seized the powers of the courts and decreed they could not be used to challenge him in his bid to control law and order in Egyp. In Nigeria’s case it is apparent that the state is lax in tackling insecurity and terrorism for reasons best known to the authorities. But human lives should not be treated with levity and nonchalance by the rest of us because we have not any relatives killed by terrorists. It is dehumanizing to see churches bombed on a weekly basis while Christians elsewhere and those not directly involved just pause for a moment and move on while the state wrings its hands in futile admonitions and does nothing to deter the terrorist against the next attack.

    In Egypt where there is no such terror as in Nigeria, President Morsi has seized power ostensibly to forestall such state impotence in the face of expected terror. Morsi is acting proactively in anticipation of spurious litigations to hamstring the state even though his anticipation and actions are decidedly undemocratic. The difference between the Nigerian and Egyptian situation is that the party of President Morsi, the Islamic Brotherhood is a Fundamentalist Party and secular Egyptians are afraid that Morsi and his party will use the power he has seized to introduce Sharia Law in Egypt, to the detriment of opposition parties and other religions in Egypt. Whereas in Nigeria the terrorist is rampant and running amok as it were.

    Yet, there is still some caution and restraint in the way the stakeholders and politicians in the Egyptian state deal with each other. When the demonstrations against Morsi started, the Muslim Brotherhood planned its own counter one for last Tuesday. But it cancelled this to avert bloodshed when it saw the turn out at Tahrir Square against the president’s usurpation of the power of the Egyptian Courts.

    Such restraint is barren in the way Boko Haram bombs Churches killing and maiming Christians and passers by in Nigeria. Worse still the business as usual stance of the security forces as well as the ‘not my turn yet‘ attitude of the rest of us has portrayed Nigeria as a nation of people thick skinned to murder and mayhem in their midst. Which simply means that human life is cheap here as in the Hobbessian theory that says that in a state of terror, where might is right, human life is violent, brutish and short. Surely that is a sad and unfortunate image for any nation not enmeshed in America’s war on terror like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq where suicide bombing has made a mockery of the sanctity of human lives.

    Again, it is in that light that I consider the call by the CBN governor to sack half the work force of our civil service as well as the posture of the UN not being ready to spend money on rescuing Mali. The CBN governor’s call reminds one of ‘the shoot the messenger‘ syndrome while the UN parsimony on Mali’s survival reminds one of the proverbial cat that would eat fish without getting its paws wet. What the CBN governor has said is the correct thing for any government spending 70% of its revenue on salaries to do but even he knows that no politician or government in Nigeria will do that and survive.

    Even the host governor at the venue where the CBN delivered his stricture said it was not possible. So the CBN governor was just barking at the moon even though every one knows that sacking of civil servants was never part of his schedule of duties and that makes the civil servants happy as they plan his downfall in the full Nigerian retaliatory syndrome. Anyway, the CBN governor is as impervious to criticism as the politicians in the way he carried through his Islamic Banking agenda which is in tune with his Master’s degree in Islamic studies from the University of Khartoum. Really what is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

    Lastly, Ban Ki Moon has shown that he or the UN does not understand the gravity of the situation in Mali. ECOWAS states alone cannot fund the reclamation of Northern Mali because they all have financial problems of their own .They mostly rely on Nigeria as the father Xmas of such military adventures. But Nigeria has problems of its own such as the one pointed out by the CBN governor, the oil subsidy theft, the huge allowances of its legislators as well as the fight against Boko Haram to which huge funds have been committed.

    The UN should not turn the proposed Mali ECOWAS force into another laughing stock like the blue beret UN Congo troops who stood by and watched unconcerned as M23 rebels seized the town of Goma from government forces in the DRC recently. Mali is a member state of the UN that is in trouble because of regional problems stemming from the growth of militancy and fundamentalism on the northern part of all ECOWAS states and needs help, especially the financial type to maintain its stability and sovereignty.

    If Mali falls there will be a wrong signal to militants in the Sahel that they can simulate the situation in Mali in any state in ECOWAS. That is one message that is lost to the UN Scribe for now. Not funding the military rescue of Mali can be counter productive and very costly for the UN in the short run not to talk of in the long. A word is enough for the wise.