The
Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t necessary to hit them
with that awful thing [atomic bomb]. . . . I hated to see our country be
the first to use such a weapon.---–Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) 34th President of the United States and Supreme Allied Commander on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As
I write this article today the 1st of July, 2014, a bomb has just gone
off at the Maiduguri market near the Power Holding Company (NEPA)
building. The explosion was heard at about 8.20am this morning. Many
casualties may be recorded as the area is usually a crowded commercial
centre. The ongoing indiscriminate killings of innocent Nigerians by
insurgents, irrespective of tribe, ethnicity, religion or party
affiliations is no longer news, but what is news however may be the way
it is interpreted or perceived by other citizens of the country from
other regions. Some feel this is a fight against the sovereignty of
Nigeria by external forces with the collaboration of some Northern
politically aggrieved elites who lost out in power grabbing in 2011;
others feel this is a political war all about 2015 general elections;
some say it's about the failure of Goodluck Jonathan to abide by the PDP
zoning arrangement which led to many leaving the party to form other
political parties and terrorist cells to cripple his government; and
others say it is a clear failure by the Jonathan administration to
protect Nigerian citizens. Those who fund or support Boko Haram may have
many justifications for their actions but we must always remember that
there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.
But
for the purpose of this article I will be analyzing how people from the
Niger Delta especially ex-militants from the region perceive the Boko
Haram menace. Dokubo Asari is my case study for the instance case. This
are some of his famous statements on this subject matter:
1. “On
this issue of Boko Haram, the North will lose, We are just waiting;
they will push us to an extent where we will tell Goodluck Jonathan that
you are on your own. But what will happen will be one that will be
unimaginable in the history of this country”, he said.
2. We
will cut them (the Northerners) off from the world. We are capable of
doing that. There will be no food and they will pay dearly for their
actions.
3. “The
arrogance of Boko Haram is un-Islamic, the type of bomb they are using
is ‘small small pikin bomb’. If we begin throwing bomb, nobody will stay
in Abuja. We don’t manufacture bomb, but we buy bombs and dynamites.
4. “But
very soon, we will not be able to guarantee our patience any more. If
Ijaw people should retaliate, every household in the North will cry. It
is the North that needs peace more than us. Everybody must impress it on
them that they should sheathe their sword and drop their arrogance”.
5. Boko Haram killings were part of sponsored scheme to stop President Jonathan from going for a second term.
6. Asari challenged Boko Haram leader saying they should meet in the battlefield. Asari
dismissed the threat by the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar
Shekau, against President Goodluck Jonathan, warned that 2015 would be
“more than do-or-die.” They will shoot the guns; throw the bombs and that is when we will dance.
From
the statements of Asari above, it is evident that almost all Ex-Niger
Delta militants think like him. They do not see Boko Haram as our common
enemy but as a northern Nigeria thing fighting their brother GEJ in
power. One cannot really blame Asari for always speaking the way he does
especially when some Northern elites like Mallam Nasir Elrufai also
make provocative and unguarded utterances daily on Social Media inciting
people against the President. They play politics always with serious
national security issues instead. In times of Terror, what responsible
citizens should do is rally round their nation and the President as it's
done in other climes but, the reverse is the case in Nigeria where
politicians organize pressure groups to call on the President to resign
from office. Did the Americans ask George Bush to resign after the
September 11 attack? Won't that have been a triumph for terror if they
had done so? Some politically aggrieved people from the North have not
only been agitating for the President to resign but indirectly calling
on the military to over-throw him. That is how far some people are
willing to go just to wrestle away power from Goodluck Jonathan.
In
summary what is in the mind of every Niger Delta militant either it be
Dokubo Asari, TomPolo, Ateke Tom, Boyloaf, etc is that if
Boko Haram "brings a war on their land, the gates of hell will be
opened. They do not see this as a national problem we should all unite
to fight but, a political creation targeted at their Ijaw brother in
power. With the discovery of a bomb at a Winners Chapel Church in Imo
State and the arrest of about #486 Boko Haram suspects in Abia, the
stage seems set for the export of Boko Haram from the North East to
Southern Nigeria but what is not clear is what the reaction will be if
bombs starts going off in the South.
Professor
Wole Soyinka just recently warned of impending threat of a Civil War if
the Boko Haram menace is not curtailed but what i see is a deadly end
for Nigeria with the way prominent Northern Elites, traditional and
religious leaders in the region have kept quiet while Boko Haram is
bombing and recruiting more Almajiris for their dastardly acts. I can
imagine what is going through the minds of these ex-militants now. What
are they thinking or planning? Are they re-grouping or also
re-establishing their militant camps? Are they buying arms, dynamites
and bombs again or is Asari's threat a mere ranting of a frustrated
ex-militant? My advice to both Boko Haram and their sponsors who are
obviously some Northern elites is that although there are
causes worth dying for, but this particular one of Boko Haram is not
worth killing for. The killings should stop now as it has gone too far
and transporting it to the South may have far worse consequences for
this nation than imagined. I have been asking myself recently how is it possible to have a civil war and the answer that keeps coming to my mind is "if this continues". Like the saying goes "Only the dead have seen the end of a war". Civil War is not an option we should contemplate. Since there's no war that will end all wars, so why not just avoid a War in the first place. Since War
does not determine who is right but only who is left, the best way to
avoid unnecessary killings is to avoid it at all cost. Let
us all unite to stop these senseless killings and protect our land.
Sign up today and let's #EndBokoHaram. In the end, I will leave us with
this thought from John Lennon:
War is over ... If you want it.
Deji Adeyanju writes from Abuja and can be contacted on Twitter @adeyanjudej9
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