Tuesday,
January 28, 2014
Folks, Nigeria seems to be on the
brink of catastrophe at many levels.
While the terrorist group Boko
Haram wreaks havoc on the society in North-Eastern Nigeria, the country’s
politicians gathering in the safe haven of Abuja are bickering over raw
political power with the opposition threatening to block the government’s 2014
budget. And blocking the budget means straining the administration and making
it difficult for it to do what it has to do to govern the country!!
The objective of the opposition
is clear: to incapacitate the Jonathan Goodluck administration, weaken its
grips on power, and create the unfortunate impression that it is incapable of
moving the country forward. All in readiness for the next general elections for
it to be voted down. As if by voting it down and installing in office these doom-mongers,
anything drastically new will be brought to the table to solve Nigeria’s
problems.
In any attempt to comprehend the
problems facing Nigeria, one cannot under-estimate the violence that the Boko
Haram group is wreaking on the country. I am not in the least ignorant of the
political capital that the Boko Haram terrorist activities have for the
opponents of the incumbent government. Unfortunately, there seems to be some “insider-work”
going on against the Jonathan Goodluck administration, which has been neglected
to the government’s own disadvantage.
Sometime last year, it was reported
that some members of the government were sympathetic toward the Boko Haram or
were even providing material support to boost the group[s terrorist activities.
The President has moved to make changes in the military establishment but such
changes haven’t helped stem the tide. The situation rather appears to be
worsening day-by-day.
From what has happened so far,
one can only say that Nigeria is gradually heading toward disaster. If Boko
Haram can operate with so much impunity and purposeful wickedness without any
fear of being clamped down upon, there must be something boosting its
activities that the Jonathan Goodluck government lacks the capacity to
confront.
I am very much concerned about
the Nigerian situation and will repeat my appeal to leaders of the West African
sub-region to pool resources together to help Nigeria solve this Boko Haram
problem once-and-for-all. Failure to do so will open the floodgates for the
group to spread its activities to the sub-region or to establish cells in the
other countries to perpetuate its terrorism.
In all that hap-pens in Nigeria,
it is the poor people who have nothing to gain from the activities of the
politicians in power who suffer the scourge of the terrorism being wreaked on
the society. In the latest happening, there is so much to make stomachs churn:
·
Suspected Islamist militants have attacked two villages in north-eastern
Nigeria, leaving 74 people dead. Militants attacked
Kawuri village in Borno state as a busy market was packing up on Sunday,
setting off explosives and setting houses ablaze.
·
Witnesses said 52
people were killed in that attack, while 22 died in an attack on a church
service in Waga Chakawa village, Adamawa state, on Sunday.
·
Gunmen planted
explosive devices around Kawuri village prior to the attack, said a witness and
security official. They also killed civilians in their homes, dozens of which
were set ablaze in the attack.
·
"No house was
left standing," Ari Kolomi, who fled from the village to Maiduguri, the
Borno state capital, some 70km (43 miles) away, told AP news agency.
·
"The gunmen were
more than 50 [in number]; they were using explosives and heavy-sounding
guns." Mr. Kolomi said he did not yet know if his relatives had survived
the attack.
·
Earlier on Sunday in
neighbouring Adamawa state, gunmen attacked a busy church service in Waga
Chakawa village, an army spokesman said.
·
They set off bombs and
fired into the congregation, killing 22 people, before burning houses and
taking residents hostage during a four-hour siege, witnesses told Reuters news
agency.
(Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25916810)
Clearly, the Nigerian government stands
paralyzed before this problem. No proper intelligence gathering is going on to put
the government ahead of the pack so it can prevent the terrorist acts or clamp
down heavily on this Boko Haram. Does Nigeria have any intelligence and
security service at all to help the government secure limb and property and
prove to the citizens that it has superior means to ensure national integrity?
Why is it so difficult for the government to
know what it needs to know about Boko Haram so it can clamp down on its
activities?
Some claim that Boko Haram has the backing of
politicians from Northern Nigeria or some members of the government and security
services and that as soon as a Northerner becomes Nigeria’s President, its
activities will cease. Is that how the management of a country’s affairs should
be approached?
Truly, Nigeria is descending into an abyss
from which it will not recover if it does descend there. Probably, the ghost of
Uthman dan Fodio is at work to punish Nigerians for accepting the British
influence to destroy what the Sokoto Caliphate had in store for the country!! A
test case for historians!!
And day-in-day-out, the history of Nigeria is
being enacted and re-enacted, which other African countries should learn from
if they haven’t already done so from the turmoil in Somalia, Egypt, Central
African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and many more.
As the citizens’ living conditions worsen and
the population explodes, on expects those ruling the countries on the continent
to take pragmatic steps to solve existential problems, not to pursue agenda
that worsen problems.
Unfortunately, it is these very suffering
citizens whose blood, toil, and sweat feed the national coffers that these politicians
fleece to live in comfort. It is not as if all these countries lack natural or
human resources to make progress. They have everything in over-abundance but
are hamstrung because they lack leaders to take charge of affairs and act
responsibly in the national interest.
Oh, Africa!! When oh, when?
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
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me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.
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