Wednesday,
May 21, 2014
Folks, it is now certain that
Boko Haram is geared up to prove to the world that it is in control of affairs
in Nigeria and can hit and run at will. It goes where it chooses and does
everything with impunity. Two huge bomb blasts occurred today in Jos, killing
and maiming people, to confirm its notoriety! The day belongs to Boko Haram!!
We are told that 118 people were
killed and many more injured in the busy market where the two blasts occurred.
Too sad!!
The audacity with which Boko
Haram is carrying out its terrorist activities in Nigeria is really
frightening. There is enough reason to indicate that the Nigerian government
doesn't know how to solve the problem.
And the sub-regional group,
ECOWAS, is incapable of doing anything. Have you forgotten the news report that
intelligence chiefs of countries constituting ECOWAS would meet in Accra this
week to deliberate on how to fight Boko Haram? Ghana's President said so when
he dashed to Nigeria slightly more than a week ago to talk-shop with the most
incompetent President to have ruled Nigeria (Goodluck Jonathan---an apology of
a leader; a caricature of a political leader!!).
He was in Paris, France, to join
leaders of countries bordering Nigeria (Idriss Derby of Chad and Paul Biya of
Cameroon who themselves are problems to which their citizens are yet to find
solutions).
After wining, dining, and
wenching, they emerged to say that they were ready to fight Boko Haram. How
annoying? To fight Boko Haram with their mouths? As if their mouths were guns?
Now, Boko Haram has struck again
to prove to them that they are nonentities and weaklings!!
The Nigerian government is
particularly obnoxious at this stage. Its inability to deal with Boko Haram has
added much fuel to the situation created by the 419 phenomenon to tarnish
Nigeria's image everywhere in the world.
I have been confronted by people
in the New York area (whom I had all along regarded as abysmally ignorant)
about the kidnapping of innocent girls in Nigeria by African men which, to them
confirmed their poor opinions about happenings in Africa. I had no way to
disabuse their minds of such opinions because Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan disarmed
me.
More than a month after the more
than 200 innocent girls were captured and driven underground, the Nigerian
government hasn't given any strong indication that it knows what to do to
secure limb and property. The President isn't even touched by the daily
demonstrations going on in his country by the parents and loved ones whose
daughters are in captivity.
Yet, this same Goodluck Jonathan
was at his eldest daughter's wedding to witness the obnoxious display of
ostentation. How will he feel if one of the kidnap victims were his own
daughter or grand-daughter? A callous leader he is, indeed!!
And he is in charge of Nigeria,
which is behaving as if it has ceded control of the situation to outsiders. The
United States is on the ground, trying to explore avenues for taking on Boko
Haram. But as an outside force, it is not to be expected to weep more than the
bereaved!!
Britain inserted itself into the
issue only to come across as laughable because the aircraft that it sent to
augment the force quickly developed technical problems and got incapacitated.
Is that all Britain can offer at this stage to its former colony?
Britain cannot escape blame for
anything happening in Nigeria today because it was the very imperial force that
grabbed the landmass called Nigeria to establish its colony for extreme
exploitation of resources. Don't forget the role of Mungo Park and the
so-called Royal British Company or whatever that commercial entity was.
Britain used its wily ways
through Lord Lugard's Indirect Policy to confuse the Africans occupying that
part of the world, playing it safe in fear of the Sokoto Capliphate of Usman
dan Fodio, yet hiding behind that same Caliphate to hit the heads of the
Northerners against those of the Yorubas and Igbos in the south.
That Indirect Rule Policy worked
very well for Britain as it served as the ideological panacea to its problems.
Britain succeeded in exploiting the human and natural resources of Nigeria by
playing the ethnic card to the blind side of Nigerians.
Britain favoured the North
(because it saw how the people deferred to the Sultan and allowed themselves to
be used for diverse religious, political, and economic purposes and gave the
Emirs the authority to exercise power on its behalf).
No opposition to its authority
(because the people invariably obeyed the Emir's orders without question) meant
a blank check to suck Nigeria dry. (Michael Crowther has said a lot about this
callousness).
In our time, that divide-and-rule
spectacle has given rise to weird phenomena that Britain cannot extricate
itself from. Yet, David Cameron and the British Establishment have receded to
the background, giving the pride of place to the United States in this search
for ways to fight against Boko Haram.
Boko Haram may be regarded as an
extremist group, but it seems to derive its strength and viability from
history.
Isn't it disgusting that Britain
would send an aircraft to reinforce forces in Nigeria pitted against Boko Haram
only for this aircraft to break down? It is an old and worn-out aircraft that
cannot carry the burden imposed on it. A clear demonstration of the duplicity
with which Britain deals with Africa.
Ironically, Britain gained more
from its presence in Africa than the United States or any other. Why are the
British so annoyingly stingy and callous in dealing with the African countries
that supplied all the resources needed to boost its industrial revolution,
missionary work, and many more?
Will Britain's decision to
participate in efforts to eradicate Boko Haram turn out to be the eye-opener
that Nigeria and other former British colonies need to know Britain in its true
elements and how to relate to it?
At the end of it all, there is no
doubt in my mind that both Nigeria and Britain have reduced their influence to
absurdity and shouldn’t be surprised at the implications. But in it all, the
Nigerian government comes across as useless and unworthy of being in office.
If this Goodluck Jonathan had
been in charge of affairs at the eruption of the Nigerian civil war, there
would have been no land mass left to be called Nigeria at the end of the
exchanges. Wiped out into oblivion!! What does NIGERIA even mean beyond the
River Niger whose name is appropriately given to its northern neighbor, NIGER?
Can these Nigerian people not learn how to redeem themselves from the ashes of
the horrible history that dogs them wherever they go in this world? An apology
of sorts!!
I shall return…
·
E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
·
Join
me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment