The bestiality and violent criminal activities of that dreaded Boko Haram group stands condemned by every believer in the sanctity of human life. The dastardly act of this group, in the last couple of years, remains a mystery, highly unquantifiable, in terms of souls and properties lost, the one that drew global attention being the cruel abduction of over 200 innocent girls from Chibok School, in Borno State.
However, with the pronouncement credited to Nobel Laureate, our highly respected Prof Wole Soyinka, during his last interview on the CNN, there is therefore, the need to go to the basics and critically look at the issues that surrounded the emergence of this dreaded group to global prominence, for the purpose of learning one or two lessons from the phenomenon.
The name, Boko Haram, before its political coloration, was a derogatory appellation given by the residents to that local Islamic Organization, headed by late Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, whose worldview, preaching and ideology were radically and totally opposed to the existing Islamic doctrines of the known core Islamic religious organizations in his locality.
The preaching of the then religious group, headed by late Yusuf, was considered anti-establishment because it centered on certain evils, that they (the group) generally associated with some products of western education, by way of human propensity for selfishness, whereby both the political patronage and economic resources meant for the majority are being cornered by the few northern educated, religious/political elite, to the detriment of the populace. Hence, their local agitation, then, for a full fledged implementation of Islamic practices, as entrenched in Sharia Laws, in order to be able to curb (in the group’s estimation) the injustice and evils associated with the acquisition of western education. Hence, the coinage of the term “Boko Haram” by the local populace to spite the group.
Presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, in an interview with CNN which published on page 7 of The Nation of Wednesday, May 7, revealed that the Islamic organization, (Boko Haram), at the initial stage, was not involved in kidnappings or any form of violent acts. However, one can say the group became radicalized and militarized between 2002 and 2009, when the opposing local traditional, political and religious elite joined issues with the group, thereafter, occasionally made use of the local security agencies and institutions to abuse, harass and intimidate Yusuf and his members, from one town of the state to the other, coupled with the destruction of their mosques within the North-eastern zone. Members of late Mohammed Yusuf Islamic organization were often detained and clamped into prison or police cells, and without recourse to the rule of law, hence, the group early clashes, skirmishes and confrontational attitude with the local police stations and prison guards.
The activities of the group came to national prominence, in 2009, when late President Umaru Yar’Adua, under the instigation and influence of the opposing local elite, sent down both the police and military troop to arrest late Mohammed Yusuf, at the end of which he was extra-judicially killed, on Thursday, July 30, 2009, by the police, with many of his organization members murdered in cold blood that spanned five days, between Sunday, July 26 – 30,2009, at their various camps in Bauchi, Yobe, Kano and Maiduguri, Borno State.
The extra-judicial killing of Mohammed Yusuf, and cold blooded murder of his followers, drew the attention of international media like Al Jazeera. Late President Yar’Adua, as a result of the international media outcry, made a promise to bring to book those security personnel who were involved in the extra judicial killings, but did nothing to that effect, until his demise.
Prof Wole Soyinka rightly pointed out, in his interview with the CNN, published in The Punch of May 8, that Boko Haram menace has graduated from local and national issue, to become an international monster, beyond the capacity and capability of the federal government. However, although, he denounced the extra judicial killing of late Mohammed Yusuf, but on the notion that the killings aggravated the crisis in the North-east, the Nobel Laureate was quoted on page 7, of The Nation, Wednesday, May 7, as saying “the late Yusuf was a serial killer and butcher, who should have been brought to justice were he to be alive.”
The question, now is – was there any discreet and personal investigation conducted by the Nobel Laureate, (apart from the ones dished out to the media, by the state security agencies, in collaboration with the locals, who had issues to join with the late Mohammed Yusuf, then) to warrant Yusuf being categorically labeled a serial killer and butcher, before his murder in 2009?
Was such investigation, if any, brought before judicial adjudication and pronouncement for legal backing and validity?
Prof Soyinka went further during the CNN interview to say “When Yusuf was killed, a former Head of State went on a mission of appeasement to Boko Haram family, asking the people to forgive and forget. But this was a killer. But the law says those who kill must not go unpunished” – The Nation, Page 7, May 7. The question now arises, if Mohammed Yusuf was a killer, and the law says those who kill must not go unpunished, should the punishment be pronounced or meted out to the alleged killer without recourse to the said law, for proper lawful court adjudication?
At what point, and how many months or years, after Yusuf and some of his followers’ gruesome murder, did the former head of state go to beg Boko Haram to forget and forgive?
At the time of extra judicial killing of Yusuf Mohammed and his followers in 2009, was there any public condemnation and outcry for justice, most especially, from our activists and social justice crusaders, in the like of Prof. Soyinka?
What has since then happened to the court case of those security agents arrested, for their involvement in the extra judicial killing of Yusuf and his followers since 2009?
It really saddens one, how a mere local divergent opinion, ideas, and preaching on issue, among adherents of the same faith could snowball to a global menace, with its attendant human and material loss, in great magnitude, arising from the murderous activities of the so-called Boko Haram, as a result of both the leadership and followership’s act of omission or commission.
Human history is replete with repetition, and our sense of judgment is often beclouded with emotion, sentiment and prejudices, based on mind-set, and our pre-determined assessment of individual and issue, depending on our line of divides – socio-economic, political and religious stand pole.
Now that all hands are on deck, and foreign help is coming in, to rescue our abducted daughters, there is a fervent need for every living human being to be tolerant, uphold justice whenever it matters most, making truth his or her shield, and be conscious of the fact that act of censorship of facts, half truth, outright falsehood and cheap propaganda, against perceived enemies, often lead to uncontrollable but avoidable self-indulged crises in our private, public and national lives.
As President Goodluck Jonathan postulated that Chibok abduction saga, will mark the beginning of the end of terror in Nigeria, so also the import of its lessons should, however, not be forgotten, for the prevention of future unnecessary upheaval and its unwarranted human and material sacrifices, out of ignorance and spiritual bankruptcy.
• Oluwole writes from Iwo Rd., Ibadan
