Revisiting Misleading Remarks About Biafra Agitations

Ever since the recently renewed struggle for the realization of the sovereign state of Biafra began, a lot of misleading and silly remarks and misinformation have flooded and continued to be peddled around the Nigerian political space about (Biafra) the upcoming newest country to join the league of sovereign states in the global map.

Expectedly, part of the reasons for the propagation of all these stupid and misleading comments about Biafra is, arguably, not unconnected with the obvious and desperate desire of the propagators of these canards to not only discourage the growing population of the teaming protagonists and supporters of the emerging sovereign state of Biafra, but also to create and instil fear in the minds of the agitators.

Biafran Protest over Kanu

However, what these propagators of lies and antagonists of Biafra seem not to realize yet is that, gone are the days of employing fear, threat, naked use of force and even blandishments, where inevitable, with an intent to intimidate, confuse, coerce or cow Ndigbo, and their youths in particular, into a sort of slave submission. Perhaps this archaic mentality goes to explain why these political slave masters are apparently loath to ask themselves the fundamental question as relates to how (all of a sudden) the Igbo known hitherto for their seeming aversion to street protests and, rather, for putting premium on time and the pursuit of their businesses than anything else, are today willingly thronging the streets across their homeland and beyond in strong demands for the unconditional release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu (who is unjustly languishing in Muhammadu Buhari’s dungeon) and for the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra out of the Nigerian state.

Funny enough, whereas these legitimate demands being peacefully and lawfully ventilated through protests (by the pro-Biafra activists) are viewed to be mere activities of miscreants by no less a miscreant than former President Olusegun Obasnajo, they (the agitations) are regarded more or less as nothing in the predictable opinion of General Yakubu Gowon, who amusingly believes that “with Biafra it is finished”. Incidentally, these are old men and so-called civil war veterans who, behind their tough-talking and seemingly unperturbed facade, are deeply troubled in their innermost hearts over the surprisingly generational transfer of the same Biafra struggle which they had hitherto, erroneously and naively thought to be no more attractive, if not dead. It is perhaps within this context that one could of course appreciate the seeming honesty behind the claim by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ ad Abubakar 111, of being increasingly worried over the raging pro-Biafra protests.

But however honest the Sultan is or may be on this matter, it is imperative for him to know that his assertion to the effect that the Igbo living in his part of the North “keep telling us (them) that they have nowhere else to live than where they are presently living” cannot but be best considered as his subjective or personal opinion. Of course it is not unexpected that the Sultan ought to know better what would naturally be the predictably responses of these foregoing Igbo folks so reportedly interacted with on this raging issue of Biafra agitations, bearing in mind the straitjacket of feelings of insecurity to their business interests, lives and properties that are bound to limit their frankness in the course of the said interaction. In other words, the Sultan should ordinarily have no illusions about the predictable responses of these Igbo business men and women living in his domain on the subject of their desirability of the sovereign state of Biafra or otherwise in the absence of an organised, official or, better still, a United Nations backed referendum. It is therefore laughable that the Sultan of Sokoto or anyone else could be deluding him/herself thinking and asserting that the Igbo traders and residents in the North are ever disposed to continue to live in darkness, instead of light which the sovereign state of Biafra symbolizes in all facets, should there be referendum today.

Meanwhile, regarding the remark that the Igbo will simply lose their perceived tight grip or dominance in the control of the vast majority of markets and commercial activities spread across all nooks and crannies in Nigeria should they opt for the sovereign state of Biafra in due course, there is no gainsaying that this is  somewhat misleading. In the very first instance, it is crystal clear that the Igbo inclination for active and competitive participation in business and/or their ubiquitous involvement in commercial activities is a well known global reality which transcends borders and to a large extent defies human comprehension. To this end, therefore, if it is the calculation of certain Nigerian people that Ndigbo will be at a great risk of losing their perceived tight control or dominance in the area of commerce in Nigeria in the event they ultimately embrace the sovereign state of Biafra, then these Lugardian elements need to be reminded or told in plain words that when one door closes another one opens; that the Igbo participation in commercial activities goes  beyond trading in the Nigeria markets; and, more importantly, that the Igbo can afford to survive discretely or without dependence on the Nigerian markets. In essence, it is no Nigerian citizen’s business or task crying for the Igbo people over the so-called possible loss of their control of markets in Nigeria should they opt for the sovereign state of Biafra. Surely it is easy to project that the Igbo will be losing their perceived tight control of the Nigerian markets should they ultimately embrace the option of an independent state of Biafra, yet this is relatively too small a price to pay for the sake of achieving a consolidated and prosperous living as well as a meaningful future both for themselves and their posterity – prospects that can rarely be accomplished under the auspices of the Nigerian state.

What is more, the attempts by unscrupulous Igbo and non-Igbo elements to correlate the renewed struggle for the independent state of Biafra with the anticipated notion of Igbo Presidency by 2023 (or 2019, according to General Ibrahim Babangida’s obsession)  is not just mischievous but also an instance of crass stupidity of highest order. As a matter of fact, the enduring merits of actualising and living in the land of the independent state of Biafra far outweigh the fleeting gains associated with the time-bound Igbo “occupation” of the Presidency of the Nigerian state. For this reason, it is neither here or there for the political slave masters and all those who think that the idea of a sovereign state of Biafra is something that can be traded off with the lure of Igbo Presidency in Nigeria.

Strangely, virtually all Nigerians are quick to come to an agreement that no nationality and people in Nigeria are more nationalistic, patriotic, cosmopolitan and diligent in terms of effecting national spread in the development of Nigeria than the Igbo have done, yet the same Igbo are despised, maltreated and viewed as being deficient of all these same virtues whenever it comes to matters pertaining to their legitimate aspirations and entitlement to occupy the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Yet, these “lying liars” believe that the Igbo must be perpetually subjugated to the captivity of one indivisible Nigeria (?).

Worse still, these hypocrites are wont to caution that the Igbo might unknowingly be hurting themselves and their group interest vis-a-vis their prospect for producing a President of Igbo stock for Nigeria owing to the ongoing agitation for Biafra. Unfortunate as this line of thought is, it seems to elude the short memories of the elements behind this mischief that even if the ongoing Biafra agitations were to be aptly perceived as Igbo people’s strategic precursor to securing the Presidency of Nigeria sooner than later, that such is not a novelty and as such has no basis for hurting the Igbo interest vis-a-vis other contending interests in the Nigerian project. Or, have we now forgotten that it was the extreme propensities of the Yoruba nation to “spoil show” for the unity of Nigeria (in the wake of the sudden demise of Chief M.K.O Abiola) that necessitated the emergence of President Olusegun Obasanjo? Or, in the same vein, that safe for the same proclivities of the Niger-Delta Militants to rend the country apart in 2011, the seeming national consensus to elect President Goodluck Jonathan would not have been reached? Or, could the narrative be different from the Boko Haram menace which provided the people of the Northern region the catalytic platform for the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari? And based on the foregoing, why then do the spokesman of the All Progressive Congress in the South-East and his counterpart in President Muhammadu Buhari’s media team want us to believe that the Igbo demand for a sovereign state of Biafra will hurt or stop the quest for Igbo Presidency in Nigeria?

But, on the other hand, assuming the ongoing agitations for Biafra belie a political undertone – which even though unlikely, cannot be ruled out –what then can anybody say is wrong with it given the fact that since the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election and the eventual demise of Chief M.K.O Abiola (the custodian of the mandate of that annulled election) in 1998, threat of secession or the outright unleashing of violence on the citizenry and the polity at large has thenceforth become a new pattern of negotiating for and securing Presidential power in Nigeria?

Anyway, what is paramount now in the face of the increasing issues arising from the ongoing agitations for Biafra is for the international community, and all sane minds, to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to unconditionally release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu (the Director of Radio Biafra) and to organise a referendum with a view to nipping in the bud the impending conflagration that could erupt in Nigeria as corollary of the prevailing and premeditated inaction. Needless to say this will in turn go a long way clearing the air on the diverse misleading remarks and misinformation about the ongoing agitations for the sovereign state of Biafra.    

Paschal Chiduluemije Onyiorah writes fromAbuja via duluemije4justice@yahoo.com(07012130204). Please join me on facebook or follow me on twitter @onyiorahpaschal.                         

Revisiting Misleading Remarks About Biafra Agitations

Tambuwal’s Defection: Why Yoruba must redeem themselves

“Tinubu used his political muscle to convince gullible Yoruba legislators to vote     against a Yoruba woman, Mulikat Akande, in a post that was specifically designed by the PDP as a benefit for Yoruba. He then got the same mumu Yoruba politicians to vote instead for Aminu Tambuwal; a scion of the Sokoto Caliphate with Hausa/Fulani agenda. This is something that could never have happened the other way around. It is inconceivable that a Hausa/Fulani legislator would be persuaded to give something that has been zoned to Hausa/Fulani to a Yoruba man. To put it bluntly, the Huasa/Fulanis are not stupid” – Femi Aribisala.

Aminu Tambuwal

Hmmm! Who then are stupid? Anyway, the above bitter truth remark extracted from Mr. (Pastor) Femi Aribisala’s Tuesday column in the Vanguard Newspaper, published on November 4,2014, under the rubric: Aminu Tambuwal is a traitor, clearly speaks volumes about the unbecoming political shenanigans and grandstanding of certain Yoruba elements – aptly described in English as quislings – who unfortunately constitute the larger percentage of Yoruba folks ceaselessly moaning and groaning about how the Yoruba nation has not been “fairly” carried along by the PDP-led government of President Goodluck Jonatnan in terms of representation in the allocation of positions or offices in the executive and legislative organs of government. Yet, these same elements who tend to forget or pretend to forget that they were the architects of the same so-called “marginalization” of the Yoruba nation vis-à-vis the composition of the top hierarchy of the legislative arm of government. Though aside from this clearly self-inflicted marginalization of the Yoruba in the national legislative scheme of things, it will be quite unfortunate and totally misleading for any rational mind to assert that President Jonathan’s government has not been excessively fair to the Yoruba people by any standard of assessment .Anyway this is an issue for another day.

But as was hitherto and widely reported, one of the reasons the then leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and the then ACN legislators moved against Mrs. Mulikat Akande who apparently was the Peoples Democratic Party’s choice for the position of the speaker of House of Representatives at the time, was not unconnected with the notion that she was viewed, rightly or wrongly, to be the anointed candidate of the former president  Olusegun Obasanjo – whose seemingly provocative political posturing at the time never helped matters at all. In the circumstance therefore, it seemed convenient for people to key in to the prevailing impression that Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his ilk had reason to view the possible emergence of Honourable (Mrs.) Mulikat Akande as the Speaker of the House of Assembly as an unmistakable continuation of what seems to be an unwanted reign of Obasanjo and his associated phenomena in the south-west politics. To this end, one is thus tempted to think that there could be little wrong on the part of Chief Tinubu and his men to have politically acted expediently with the sole aim of clipping Chief Obasanjo’s developing wings in the south-west politics at the time – a development the eventual emergence of Aminu Tambuwal settled forthwith.

However good and self-fulfilling as the eventual emergence of Aminu Tambuwal may have turned out to be for Tinubu and his cohorts after all, it certainly arouses some degree of incredulity in the minds of observers of Yoruba politics who still find it extremely hard to fathom how the collective interest of a people – meant to be championed and protected by their political leaders – could be so selfishly and foolishly sacrificed by a tiny minority of their political class, all in an attempt to ridicule the little of what appeared to be Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s perceived or imagined clout in the south-west politics. As it were, it may be easy for anybody to say that there is no big deal or any major loss of benefits in the “harm” the then leadership of ACN and its Federal legislators conspired to cause the Yoruba people of the south-west by trifling with the clearly recognized “right” and privilege of the region to produce the Speaker of House of Representatives as designed by the Peoples Democratic Party. Even to put this thinking aside, there is no gainsaying that the present political leadership in south-west Yoruba has failed the Yoruba nation in the manner it has been handling the intricacies and consequences of Yoruba internal politics. Of course taking a cue from the past political events dating back to the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s reign and stint in politics, there could hardly be remembered a time the political leadership of the south-west under his watch abdicated or compromised whatever was meant for or due to the Yoruba people as their own share of national entitlement, and neither was he ever disposed to trade off the regional interest of his people for whatever reason, let alone doing so for personal aggrandizement. This in part helps to account for why despite Chief MKO Abiola’s seemingly hostile political inclination towards Chief Obafemi Awolowo before and during the second republic politicking, the latter did not still act beyond the reasonable against the former and which in turn explains why Chief Abiola did receive unalloyed support and solidarity from the vast majority of Yoruba in the wake of the struggle for the de-annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election –  annulled by General Ibrahim Babagnida’s military regime.

Besides, as we may recall, Chief Awolowo’s affection for protecting the Yoruba group interest, as was earlier witnessed in the 1950s through the very first defection saga in the annals of Nigeria, led him to influence and cause a mass movement of Yoruba members of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC into the Action Group. And no matter how anybody still views this landmark historical development, the fact is that no real political leader worth his salt within his enclave would have done otherwise. Arguably, it stands to question if Dr Azikiwe – who apparently felt bad about this defection – would have stood to watch Chief Awolowo’s Action Group make such an unprecedented in-road into the politics of the then Eastern region, without plotting and executing a similar counter political offensive.  Therefore, if what we regard today as ethnic politics is deemed to have started from Chief Awo’s political disposition arising from issues pertaining to the defection saga of the 1950s, it may well be because of nothing short of his life-time strong belief in the pursuit of Yoruba cause and/or the need to always defend and safeguard their corporate interest within the comity of the Nigerian nations, at any given opportunity.

Surprisingly, it provokes deep curiosity that the present day political leadership of the same Yoruba nation is gleefully negating and undermining the same group interest or entitlement of their people in desperate pursuit of political witch-hunting. In fact, it defies rationality that the hitherto described sophisticated and united Yoruba politicians could today disagree and bicker to the extent of sacrificing, for some selfish and frivolous reasons, their larger group interest to the advantage of other contending regional interest in the country which the emergence of Honourable Aminu Tambuwal as the speaker of House of Representatives confirms. And looking back at the facts of history, it is most unlikely – if he were to be alive today – that Chief Obafemi Awolowo would have espoused or endorsed this course of action with respect to Yoruba’s preference for Honourable Aminu Tambuwal as the speaker of House of Representatives to their own Honourable Mulikat Akande. Little wonder that the ordinary South-West Yoruba folks and electorate seem to have begun to register their disenchantment with the manner their group interest is being toyed with by the actions and inactions of the South-west leadership of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), now the All Progressive Congress, alongside with its Federal legislators in the House of Representatives. Critically weighed, one could hardly rule out this factor as one of the unspoken reasons why the APC may have lost the last gubernatorial election in Ekiti state to the PDP – notwithstanding the propaganda about the alleged role of the so-called “stomach infrastructure” in determining the outcome of the contest .

But be it as it may, it is high time the south-west Yoruba political class united and stood up to regain what belongs to their people and due to the entire Yoruba nation. Much as it is the original and, perhaps, subsisting decision of the Peoples Democratic Party – arising from its internal affairs – to zone the position of the speaker of House of Representatives to the South-West Yoruba, it need not be belaboured here that the entire south-west Yoruba political class should always strive to consider the corporate interest of the Yoruba nation above and beyond their individual, partisan or in-group interest. Needless to say at this juncture that a time shall definitely come when Chief Tinubu and those “mumu Yoruba politicians” (courtesy of Femi Aribisala) as well as the South-West in general would be denigrated or ridiculed by the Hausa/Fulanis, whose stereotyped born to rule mentality and the belief that they know and play politics more than all other peoples of Nigeria are being currently massaged and reinforced by a section of the Yoruba political class.

Therefore left to the dictates of expediency, it is imperative for Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the entire APC leadership and followership in the South-West to rise up and do the needful by using this providential opportunity offered by Honourable Aminu Tambuwal’s defection to make amends and allow for the emergence of a Speaker of House of Representatives with South-West Yoruba descent. This remains one way Chief Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his APC kinsmen could readily redeem themselves for apparently shortchanging the people of the South-West geo-political zone. A stitch in time saves nine.

Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal writes from Abuja

Via duluemije4justice@yahoo.com  (+234 080 377 386 07)

 

 

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Tambuwal’s Defection: Why Yoruba must redeem themselves

AIG Mbu’s Tyranny and Matters Arising

The recently reported arrest and detention of Mr. Amaechi Anakwue – a Journalist and senior reporter – working with African Independent Television in Abuja at the behest of Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of zone 7, Mr. Joseph Mbu, is not only deserving of all-round

Joseph Mbu

condemnation by all and sundry but also it remains one notorious development in recent time the media as a whole should not just gloss over it and move on as if to say “let us leave the matter there since it has come and gone”. As unfortunate as this unbridled pang of dictatorial tendencies of AIG Mbu has been rudely unleashed on Amaechi Anakwue and which is typically arising from the whimsical disorder inherent in the lives and mentality of some Nigerian Police and other security personnel, it will be naïve and, in fact, counter-productive for members of the public and the media in particular to think that paying little attention to this ugly incident or even leaving it entirely for both the management of AIT and the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ) to sort out will be enough to tame Mbu or mark the end of his notorious culture of impunity. Surely this effort alone is not going to bring this malady to an end. At worst, the little attention this matter seems to be getting from media practitioners at the moment might later mark the beginning of the unleashing of more officially approved propensities on the citizenry by other potentially brutal personnel of the Nigeria Police and other security agencies. This in the main explains why Amaechi Anakwue’s travails should be viewed as an attempt by the Nigeria Police Force to test run the complexion of public opinion as well as the reaction of the Nigeria Press on what the future application of this same Mbu’s tyrannical proclivity would be like. Unfortunately, that only a few write-ups have so far emerged and dotted the landscape of both the print and online media in strong condemnation of Mbu’s cruel action against Amaechi Anakwue and the institution of the Press – beyond the initial news reports on the issue- and the fact that virtually all the national dailies are yet to send across their strong worded note of warning to Mbu and his ilk via their editorials, goes to underscore the degree of seeming lack of seriousness on the part of the entire household of the Nigeria media. However, an exception must be taken for the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on the grounds of its proactive disposition so far on this matter.

But the question lingers: what offence in actual sense did Amaechi Anakwue commit to deserve the sort ill-treatment meted out to him by men of the Nigeria Police force at the instance of their boss AIG Mbu? Based on media reports, it can be fathomed that the only irrational rationale behind Mbu’s indecent descent to the unenviable status of a tyrant Police Chief wielding arbitrary power against the person of Mr. Amaechi Anakwue is not unconnected with the reference by the latter to the putatively public perception of the former as a controversial man – an orthodox perception arising basically from a series of manifold controversies which Mbu had been variously associated with. That being the case, it therefore baffles one what essentially is outrageous in addressing him as a controversial Police officer.

Meanwhile, for the purpose of clarity, it is instructive to look up for the meaning of the word “controversial”. Accordingly, the LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English defines “controversial” as “causing a lot of disagreement, because many people have strong opinions about the subject being discussed”. Thus if Mr. Joseph Mbu in his capacity as the then FCT Commissioner of Police could, for instance, abruptly and impetuously impose a ban on the peaceful assembly of a group of Nigerians, otherwise called Bring Back Our Girls Group (#BBOG#), known popularly for their seemingly ceaseless street march and calls on the Federal Government to expedite actions towards ensuring safe rescue and return of reported abducted girls of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok community of Borno state – a development that triggered off intense public argument, anger, agitation and even litigation – then wonders what else could disqualify Mr. Joseph Mbu within the context of the foregoing meaning of the word in issue from being aptly described as a controversial figure. Or, better still, if Mr. Mbu as an erstwhile FCT Commissioner of Police could reportedly order his men to resort to the use of tear gas in an attempt to intimidate and disperse the then striking polytechnics lecturers and their students who were peacefully protesting against the insensitivity of the Federal Government to their plight and/or demands at the time (an action which equally generated public debate and condemnation ), then one wonders once more what makes AIG Mbu think that his antecedents do not lend credence to the notion that he is indeed controversial.

Undoubtedly, AIG Mbu’s latest tyranny could not have been born out of nothing short of the truism that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Much as it is clear that he has always wielded power as a senior Police officer, it is hard to downplay the argument of people who believe that Mr. Mbu now sees himself as a demigod possessing an unfettered right to exercise “absolute power” on account of what is perceived in some quarters as his undeserved elevation to the AIG rank. Though terrible as this line of thought may be, it is nevertheless unimaginable what the scenario would have been like if Mbu were President Goodluck Jonathan who has been variously insulted by Nigerians using different pejorative adjectival descriptions such as “clueless”, “kindergarten” (President), etc. And looking at the loose temperament often exhibited Mr.  Mbu, one may be inclined to commend President Goodluck Jonathan for being extremely tolerant with power irrespective of all the seemingly provocative insults and bashing he keeps receiving from Nigerians – both from the small and the mighty ones alike. In fact,  it transcends mere exaggeration to submit at this juncture that it would have been more sensible for the United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, to specifically tell Nigerians and the world at large that it is rather because of AIG Mbu’s kind of tyranny and tendencies that the government of his country is unwilling to sell arms to Nigeria government, instead of going all out of the way attributing such reluctance or outright refusal to the so-called gross human rights abuse allegedly being committed by Nigeria Military in the North-East geo-political zone. But while this thinking does not in any way translate to any form of slightest support for the American Ambassador’s hypocritical stand on his country’s objection to the sale of arms request made by the Federal Government of Nigeria, there is no gainsaying that AIG Joseph Mbu latest tyranny is a complete negation of the principles of rule of law and fundamental human rights which invariably constitutes a chink in our national armour in so far as our individual or group rebuttal of the grave accusations of human rights violation leveled against the Nigeria military by Ambassador  Entwistle(over the ongoing operations in the North-East) is concerned.

By and large, given that AIG Joseph Mbu was once quoted by the media to have aptly described himself as a “lion”, the supposedly king of all animals, it has thus become imperative for the Federal Government to swiftly begin to monitor the seemingly marauding activities of this apparently monstrous specie of lion with a view to not only taming (domesticating) him but  also ensuring that he does run amok or go all out of the way harming and/or devouring unsuspecting citizens doing their legitimate work within the ambit of the law. And this is neither a joke nor a laughing matter.

Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal writes from Abuja Via duluemije4justice@yahoo.com – 07067504208

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AIG Mbu’s Tyranny and Matters Arising

Boko Haram and the US elusive presence

It is increasingly becoming unacceptable and, in fact, a source of serious concern that despite the intensely reported coming and the purported presence of security operatives of American origin and their western allies in the Nigerian air space, the high incidence of terrorist attacks being perpetrated by the Islamic Boko Haram sect has unfortunately remained on the upward trend.

Boko Haram

Expectedly, to say with hindsight that a lot of Nigerians are now beginning to wonder if indeed there is any mileage in the involvement of these alien elements in the ongoing fight against terrorism, is not in any way a slip of tongue. That the entire world has always held Americans in high esteem, alongside some of its European allies, over their aggressive disposition towards terrorism and the war against it, is an incontrovertible fact.

Also, that the US and her allies have over time earned enormous reverence and high reputation for possessing the force, the technical knowhow, the wherewithal, the sophisticated weaponry and/or the ordinance needed at any point in time for combating and winning the war against terrorism, is yet another fact that is not and cannot be in issue.

Nevertheless, a cursory evaluation of the presence of these strong external forces in the Nigerian air space so far does not seem to reveal any fundamental improvement in the way or manner the Nigeria security agencies had been doing their work in striving to win the war against the Islamic Boko Haram terrorists . Needless to say that this is quite contrary to the lofty expectations most Nigerians had kept abini tio. One is therefore tempted to ask what the hell are these alien elements doing in our air space. Little wonder that some Nigerian are still opposed to their presence. And here of course lies the real fact in issue.

But aside from that, it is key to note that the Nigerian public had been suffering a fate worse than death even before the American government and some others offered to be allowed to come in to occupy our air space – ostensibly for the sake of lending a helping hand in the search for the missing Chibok school girls. And as media reports would later have it, these interventionists would only provide the intellectual and scientific support aspect basic to the ongoing campaign against terrrorism, the focus of which is on carrying out the onerous task of intelligence gathering.

Critically viewed on the whole, this assignment could as well be construed as consisting in passive attempt by the US to merely observe Nigerians while they fight to defeat the terrorists in their midst. This in part accounts for why the first reported instance of their unwillingness or, better still, outright refusal to share intelligence with the Nigerian security agencies did come to some persons as a big surprise. Ironically, however, that our anguish in the hands of the Islamic terrorists has rather persisted in great defiance of the supposedly superior technological powers of the external relief sought and received, is, to say the least, unimaginably incomprehensible.

Arguably, it stands against exaggeration to assert that since the coming of these external elements who now occupy our air space doing what only God knows, the number of casaulties arising from the dastardly operations of the Islamic Boko Haram sect has not only risen but appears to have outnumbered the total death toll experienced prior to the offer and acceptance of this foreign intervention. This is just a pity.

More so because many a Nigerian had not only heaved a sigh of relief upon the announcement/reports of the arrival of the American security operatives and their European counterparts in Nigeria, but had also hoped and banked so much on their presence as the ultimate solution to the menace posed by the Boko Haram sect. Of course this mindset was in no small extent aptly captured and ventilated by no less a person than President Goodluck Jonathan himself when in the immediate aftermath of the kidnap of Chibok school girls and the resultant United States’ and others’ offer of intervention, he was reported to have enthused that this development (as ugly and deplorable as it remains) would mark the “beginning of the end of the Boko Haram sect”. For some obvious reasons, not a few Nigerians really reasoned along the same line and were all on the same page with Mr. President.

But unfortunately, some months down the line, the security situation in Northern Nigeria has become so deteriorated that it is now as precariou as never before – as if the coming/the presence of the American and European security personnel in our air space has even brought about a turn around in the fortune of the Boko Haram insurgents.

Needless to say that nowadays, unlike before, the frequency and the scale of deaths of hapless Nigerians living in the North-East geo-political zone as a result of the bloody activities of the Boko Haram sect have now gone beyond the level ever experienced in the past. Yet all this is happening at a time and in a place where American and European security personnel are apparently believed to be hovering around and ostensibly holding forte with utmost sincerity (?). Hmm…

Meanwhile, for clarity, it is important to state clearly that the thrust of the issue here is not that the Americans, Europeans or the outside world in general should lead the way for Nigerians in this raging war against terrorism in our land or that their security personnel in Nigeria should sacrifice their lives in order for us to live ours in abundance, either. Nay. This is far from the point in issue. Truth be told, willy-nilly, the best being offered to Nigeria now in the fight against terrorism by both the US government and other interested members of the International Community – outside the African continent, is simply not enough.

Yes, the support is not enough! If perhaps the US government and other nations that have shown concern so far are still waiting for the Nigeria’s version of terrorism to attain such a horrendous height to be characterised by disgusting images of rampant cases of decapitation as being perpetrated against christians and people of Yazidi minority in Iraq by the Islamic State – ISIS – Jihadists, before they (the US government and others) could “reasonably” and “sufficiently” be provoked to swiftly, pro-actively, resolutely and, in fact, overtly deploy, commit and involve more human, material and other resources in this lingering war against the Boko Haram Islamic terrorists, then it will suffice to submit that the United Nations’ (UN) Secretariat would do well from now to begin to brace up for whatever challenges associated with admiting new member states that are naturally bound to spring up from the federation of Nigeria – in the event of the occurence of the foregoing worse case scenario in Nigeria.

Clearly, it is a complete negation to the United Nations’ principal objective of ensuring at all time the maintainance of international peace and security for the US and other super powers within the fold of the Security Council to continue to trifle with the terrorist activities of the Boko Haram sect or to keep downplaying and predicating its increasing bloodletting propensities on the trite premise that these anomalies are all rooted in and traceable to the intrigues and intricacies of Nigerian politics.

Unequivocally, while this impression cannot be entirely ruled out vis-a-vis the uninspiring attitude of the US and others on this issue of terror in Nigeria, it must be noted that the phenomenon of terrorism anywhere in the world begins and thrives with politics (which in itself entails the struggle for power and/or the control of power). Hence it becomes no excuse for the international community to abdicate its responsibility in Nigeria under the seeming pretext of not wanting to effectively meddle into the latter’s internal affairs.

This is why it is high time the US and the entire International Community adopted more aggressive and elaborate measures in combating the Boko Haram scourge – such kind of measures that would replicate herein the US subsisting efforts aimed at containing the excessses of the Islamic State – ISIS – in Iraq. And there is no gainsaying that anything short of this kind of approach could imply that the history of the voilent disintegration of Nigeria may soon be told by all and sundry. With doubts in mind, one is loath to imagine that a contingency like this would appeal to the wishes of the US and the world at large.

In the final analysis, let it be known that it no longer matters to the ordinary Nigerians (who are bearing the heaviest brunt of the insurgents’ attacks on daily basis) on knowing or caring to know who is doing what and how as far as taking all available drastic actions to stamp out the Boko Haram insurgency from this shore is concerned. With all due respect, therefore, while it is advisable at this juncture to look beyond President Jonathan’s political platitude belied in tirade against rational minds and objective observers whom he reportedly described as prophets of doom – for expressing their concerns about the future of our collectively owned Nigeria – it is imperative and obligatory for the US government to pro-actively rise up now to these intractable security challenges bedeviling our so-called gaint of Africa before it is too late.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal writes from Abuja

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Boko Haram and the US elusive presence

Revisiting Nyako’s Defecation in the Temple

By Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal 

If there had been any iota of doubt on the part of any person or group of persons over the nature and/or manner of the unalloyed support and the seemingly disguised protection being offered to the Boko Haram sect by a number of Northern leaders, especially those of them occupying public offices, by now such a person or persons would have begun to obliterate the vestige of such unnecessary reservation from his/their psych in the light of the memo reportedly authored and addressed to the19 state Governors of Northern Nigeria by no other person than Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state.

Understandably, though the raging activities of the Boko Haram sect now appear like a whirlwind apparently blowing almost everybody and everything to pieces, there is no gainsaying that all the disgruntled Northern politicians whose unguarded utterances, actions and inactions did interact to give birth and vent to the prevailing security situation the country has found itself, would undoubtedly be rankling with deep regret that the original script of their political shenanigans designed to be used to destabilize the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan via the instrumentality of the Boko Haram sect may have been abandoned by the latter and replaced with the one of their foreign pay master – Alquada – which has invariably blown up in their faces. To be specific, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who once reportedly threatened the country (during the countdown to 2011 presidential election) with his remark that “he who makes peaceful change impossible, makes violent change inevitable” appears nowadays to be more concerned than anybody – as if this evil remark credited to him does not with hindsight betray his possible foreknowledge of all the diabolism and machinations that were supposedly on ground for members of the Boko Haram sect at the time. Curiously, it then boggles one’s mind that this very unpatriotic statement credited to Mr. Abubakar – among sundry others of its kind blurted out by scores of Northern leaders – seemed to have eluded the short memory of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state while he garnered his jumbled-up canards, hate words, grave allegations, etc; and constituted them into a memo.

To say the least, it is most unfortunate that a person like Governor Murtala Nyako with such military and governance pedigree in Nigeria governance “enterprise” could turn around to intensify his efforts towards holding brief for the Boko Haram sect. like a friend would put it, Nyako’s style of advocacy for the Boko Haram sect is simply “typical of the many tragedies of belied solidarity for the activities of the sect often adopted by most Muslim northern leaders.” Instructively, it smacks of no surprise that in dissecting issues relating the Boko Haram and the Federal Government of Nigeria, Gov. Nyako rather chose to adjudge the latter guilty of genocide against the people of Northern region in much the same way he accused Jonathan-led government of aiding and abetting the kidnap of “thousands of our (Northern Nigerian) girls and boys” alike. On the other hand, in an apparent romance with the Boko haram side of the facts in issue, Nyako wants it clear that he is more inclined to believe that all the havoc being wreaked every now and then in almost all the states of the Northern region are by no stretch of imagination the unlikely misdeeds of the “so-called Boko Haram” – hence his submission that “we no longer accept let alone believe that our prominent Mallams in the mosques in Kano and Zaria have been killed by ‘innocent’ Boko Haram members”. Hmm… ‘innocent Boko Haram’ members? Wonders – indeed – shall never cease.

Arguably, there exist possibilities that certain killings of “some prominent mallams in the mosques in         Kano and Zaria” as well as “pastors and other worshippers in the Christ Apostolic Church in Jemita-Yola”, among many others across the different states of Northern region, may well transcend the usual attribution to the gory activities of the Boko Haram sect. Nevertheless, not a handful of Nigerians may be somewhat disposed to share in this view – at least for now. In essence, much as one is inclined to empathize with Murtala Nyako over the state of confusion the operations of the Boko Haram sect has brought to bear on his pattern of thinking, there appears to be absence of concrete evidence to rebut the claim of Nigerians who are wont to point at the members of the Islamic sect in the event of any act of killing, assassination and/or wanton destruction of properties perpetrated anywhere within North. Clearly, it is worthy to note that it is no fault of any Nigerian or anybody living in Nigeria to have had his/her mindset to be so stereotyped. For one, come to think of it, the failed attempt to take the life of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ade Bayero, could not have born less the hallmarks of the typical Boko Harm encounter or the imprint of its usual atrocities, yet this attack was reportedly ascribed in certain quarters to the activities of unknown gunmen. Somehow, still bearing in mind that a certain well-known Nigerian from Kano state had reportedly indicated his undying interest or what some persons would prefer to call his wishful thinking to succeed the present Emir as soon as the latter kicks the bucket, will it be abnormal if someone reasons that this potential aspirant to the throne of the Emir of Kano could have plotted the failed assassination attempt on the life of Ade Bayero? Or can anybody stand out to vouch for the innocence of the Boko Haram sect on this travail of the Emir? Surely, this is one key angle to the raging insecurity in the North that Gov. Nyako did not pay attention to – either by omission or commission – while dwelling on the allegation of the so-called “genocide in Northern Nigeria”.

What is more, Nyako’s claim that the alleged attacks on his convoy and those of Benue state Governor, Mr. Gabriel Susan, and  the Senate President, distinguished Senator David Mark, could not have been the handiwork of the “innocent Boko Haram” is, to say the least, risible. By his thinking, for the alleged attack on the senate President to have reportedly taken place in Imo state would not have meant anything short of part of a whole gamut of the “demonic policy of evil few in and around the administration that have advocated how Northerners, both Christians and Muslims, are to be so dealt with, ill-treated and oppressed”. No doubt, this is certainly funny. But while it must be admitted that Nyako is duly entitled to his view, it seems with hindsight extremely difficult to fault the perspective of Nigerians who did say and still maintain that the members of the Boko Haram sect can hardly be exonerated from all these alleged attacks as mentioned by Governor Murtala Nyako, for some obvious reasons. First and foremost, despite serious attempts by people like Nyako to deny the deep involvement of the Islamic terrorist group – the Boko Haram – in the cruel activities of the Fulani herdsmen across the length and breadth of the North-central geo-political zone, the emerging truth clearly points at the opposite. That the so-called Fulani herdsmen recently arrested by men of the Nigeria Army in Taraba state openly confessed to being full-fledged members of the Boko Haram sect goes to unmask the real identities of the Jihadists lurking in the bushes, forest areas and destroying farm lands across the Nigeria territory. To therefore submit that this set of Fulani herdsmen were the ones or among the ones who reportedly ambushed and attacked the convoy of the Governor of Benue state – Mr. Gabriel Susan – is by no means an exaggerated premise. Similarly, taking a cue from the historical murder of Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi in Ibadan by the then so-called “Northern mafians” led by General T.Y Danjuma and which was initially schemed to be projected as having been perpetrated by the people of the Yoruba descent if not for the brutal murder of their own  Fajuiyi in the course of that bloody activity, one can as well appreaciate that what Governor Murtala Nyako calls “attempts to assassinate the senate President (Northerner) in Imo state” was simply a well- calculated machinations of the Muslim Hausa-Fulani and their Boko Haram killing squad aimed at replicating General Ironsi scenario on Senator David Mark – with a view to blaming the fate that was to befall him (the latter) on the Igbo. Needless to emphasize that David Mark’s “sins” in this regard might not be unconnected with the fact that he professes Christianity and has so far proved himself to be an unwilling tool in the ever manipulative hands of the power-drunk Muslim Northerners. Otherwise, how does one begin to rationalize the awkward thinking within the Hausa-Fulani enclave – as was widely reported sometime – which tends to portray and at time treat the person of the Senate President as a “peripheral Northerner”? Honestly, to assert that the alleged attack on distinguished Senator David Mark in Imo state could not be anything short of the handiwork of certain Islamic fundamentalist in collaboration with their benefactors (in the persons of some of the political elements in the far North) – who have been desperately using the deadly platform provided by the Boko Haram sect in pursuing their vicious political agenda and career – can hardly be discarded in the final analysis as a wild assertion. In fact, this becomes tenable given the fact that these same blood-thirsty elements in the North seem to have succeeded so far in breeding some indigenous ‘foot soldiers’ within the Middle-Belt region. Expectedly, therefore, that the Middle-Belt region is now confronted with the harsh reality of having one of its sons in the person of Abubakar Sadiq Oguche (an Army deserter from Benue state) as one of the prime suspects in the recent bombings at Nyanya in Abuja only goes to further underscore the fact that there is clearly more suspicion flowing from the North than the South over what Governor Murtala Nyako calls “attempts to assassinate” the Senate President, himself and the Governor of Benue state.

But be that as it may, the fact is that for a man who was once the Chief of Naval Staff and the first and last Deputy-Chief of Defence Staff in the annals of Nigeria, Mr. Murtala Nyako’s seemingly questionable military experience vis-à-vis the threat to national security and unity of Nigeria as embedded in his memo to the 19 Northern state Governors is nothing but a sacrilegious defecation in the temple.

Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal writes from Abuja via

Revisiting Nyako’s Defecation in the Temple

The Changing Face of Islamic Terrorism

 

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and    inhuman, such as his command to spread by sword the faith he preached” – Manuel 11 Palaeologus.

The above words ascribed to Byzantine Emperor Manuel Palaeologus as contained in the Seventh Conversation edited by Professor Koury and which eventually won the attention of His Holiness Benedict xvi as captured in his famous Regensburg Address delivered on September 12, 2006, clearly portray the unmistakable correlation the religion of Islam may be sharing with

Boko Haram leader, Shekau Abubakar

extremism that can as well be classified in some way or to some degree as terrorism – which at times is mildly disguised, depicted or referred to as  Jihad/holy war. Just like Muslim scholars are inclined to emphasize, Pope Benedict xvi himself did in fact acknowledge in his foregoing treatise that even “ the emperor must have known that Surah 2,256 reads: “There is no compulsion in religion”. But the fundamental question is: is this provision in the Surah widely understood and accepted by all Muslim faithful as what is truly obtainable in practice? While this is most unlikely to be the case in the light of some questionable activities of some Islamist sects, it is the view of His Holiness – Pope Benedict – that: “According to some experts, this is probably one of the surahs of the early period when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat”. Curiously, granted there were a modicum of truth in this assertion, could it possibly be that the allegation of support for extremism often leveled against Islam by some elements may not after all be unfounded?

It is though fathomable that not all Muslims are favorably disposed to accept the use of any form of compulsion as a method for the propagation of Islam under any guise or circumstance, yet it is arguable that the religion of Islam itself does not actually seem to discourage the naked, cruel and continuous use of force as a means of sustaining its survival. For sure, it still boggles one’s mind why even in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and a host of others that are almost hundred percent peopled by Muslims, there exists a high propensity of blood-letting in the name of Islam. And to say that this tendency appears to be as old as the evolution of Islam itself, is not in any way an understatement. Hence according to the Egyptain-born Journalist Magdi Allam – who converted from Islam to Catholicism and was subsequently baptized during the Vatican’s 2008 Easter vigil presided over by Pope Benedict – “it is scientifically and historically correct to affirm that Islam is a religion that was spread by the sword”.

What is more, aside from every other account of the evolution of Islam in different countries of the world, the Usman Dan Fodio’s Jihad of 1804 in parts of the territory known as Nigeria today remains a testimony to the unpleasant role of the sword in the propagation of Islam. Incidentally, that Islam is today the religion being professed by scores of people of Hausa descent across and even beyond the Northern parts of Nigeria (who were originally pagans before the advent and eruption of the Usman Dan Fodio’s Jihad and conquest of Hausa land) owes a great deal to the terrible role of the sword or, better still, prophet Mohammed’s “command to spread by the sword the faith he preached”. Unfortunately, this is no less the same hawkish approach that saw the seemingly gradual but forceful Islamization of both the Yoruba and non-Yoruba communities in the South-West and parts of the North-Central and South-South geo-political zones.

Strangely enough, that the terrorism of forceful conversion to Islam during the life and time of Prophet Mohammed did in fact rely more on the use of sword as directed by him, only goes to show the prevailing desperation at the time and the sort of morbid fascination with sword as probably the most dreaded weapon of war in his time. It is therefore no surprise that the same sword has continuously been used in different climes and forms by successive generations of extremist Muslim faithful for the same purpose of spreading the message of the prophet as a way of sustaining the survival of the religion.

Now come to think of it. There are people who believe or are wont to argue that the raging activities of the Boko Haram sect are un-Islamic/anti-Islamic and so do not in any way represent, reflect or conform with the credos and tenets of Islam as well as the wishes and yearnings of prophet Mohammed as enshrined in the holy book of Islam. For these persons, associating the dastardly operations of the Boko Haram sect with the larger national or global Islamic agenda and modus operandi is tantamount to attempting to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. Hence for the Sultan of Sokoto – Alhaji Saa’d Abubakar and his ilk, Islam is and remains nothing but a “peaceful religion”. And here lies the crux of the matter. Though as tritely familiar as Sultan’s remark is, there is one question that obviously and urgently needs to be addressed by those who believe they know or are positions to know. The question is: if indeed the Boko Haram’s ongoing bloody mission to Islamize the North and Nigeria by extension is in any way fundamentally different from the 19^th century Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio in Hausa land and beyond, how then can we differentiate the motives and the methodologies of the two Jihads as relates to their common pursuit of Mohammed’s “command to spread by sword the faith he preached”?

Indeed it can be rammed home that Islam is a peaceful religion and that not all Muslims subscribe to and/or are favorably disposed to the diabolic recourse to sword as a recipe for spreading the message of the prophet, but then nothing could be further from the truth about the “command to spread by sword the faith he preached”. In the circumstance therefore, this directive forms the central premise of the awful truth about the religion of Islam which, for all intents and purposes, appears to be tailored from the time and life of Prophet Mohammed to survive and be sustained with the aid of the sword. And given the dynamism associated with contemporary ordinance or the quality of 21ist century arms and ammunitions being manufactured and used today, we are therefore increasingly being confronted with the realty of new vistas for the propagation of the cause of Islam the world over. In essence, the ultimate realty in Nigeria today is that we have all been conscripted to face the emerging renewed phenomenon of the terrorism of Islam being championed for now by the Boko Haram sect. This is why our 21ist century travail in Nigeria can aptly be located in the paradigm shift of Jihad or what some analysts perceive as the changing face of Islamic terrorism.

Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal writes from Lagos

                                                          

The Changing Face of Islamic Terrorism

Immigration tragedy and Jonathan’s side

The Honourable Minister of Interior, comrade Patrick Abba Moro, and the Nigeria Immigration Service are in the news again – still on the very bad side as almost always. Not too long ago, it was the same Nigeria Immigration Service then under the leadership of Mrs. Rose Chinyere Uzoma that allegedly recruited over four thousand officers into the Service which we (Nigerians) were later told did not go down well with the Honourable Minister, comrade Abbah Moro, and members of the Board of Nigeria Immigration, Fire Service, Civil Defence and Prison Service, reportedly because of the failure of Mrs. Uzoma to abide by the due process guiding such an exercise. As was the question then which still desires to be addressed, if the Honourable Minister, who at the time was reported to be ignorant of the happenings pertaining to his ministry vis-a-vis the recruitment racketeering that rocked the Nigeria Immigration Service under the control of Mrs. Rose Uzoma, was a member of the foregoing board or ably represented at the time by a proxy, then how on earth would comrade Abbah Moro ever exonerate himself from the subsisting public impression that he was the leader of the people who masterminded the recruitment scam under Mrs. Uzoma? And like I did submit at the time that “comrade Abba Moro could hardly be isolated from the scam since it allegedly took place under the ministry he oversees and as such has lost or rather lacked the necessary moral ground to be the one to set up a panel to investigate Mrs. Uzoma” (see Daily Independent of January 24, 2013 under the rubric: Issues in the Immigration investigation Panel).

However, if the ugly incident of the last few days (March 15, 2014, to be precise) arising from the tragedy called the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment test which saw the death of no less than fifteen persons, including pregnant mothers, amounts to anything serious in the estimation of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, then one is inclined to think that comrade Abba Moro has no more business presiding over the affairs of the Ministry of Interior. To begin with, how do we rationalize a situation whereby the Nigeria Immigration Service under his watchful eyes decided to go the whole hog of “extorting” the sum of one thousand naira each from millions of unemployed Nigerian youths all in the name of giving them hope of being considered qualified to participate in the recruitment test that unfortunately ended up consuming the precious lives of scores of them? Of course, hearing it from the Honourable minister that no less than four thousand, five hundred and fifty six thousand vacancies were apparently what Jonathan-led government has approved for recruitment into the Nigeria Immigration Service, one wonders with hindsight why Mr. Abba Moro and his board members – saddled with the recruitment responsibility – went as far as allowing the sale of millions of recruitment forms to job seekers for more than three weeks. It is though understandable that these job applicants were not forced to purchase these recruitment forms, the truth of the matter is that the Honourable Minister under whose jurisdiction and/or supervision this glaring case of extortion took place can hardly be free from complicity in the loss of lives of our fellow compatriots struggling to become useful and responsible by attending this ill-fated Immigration recruitment exercise.

Bad enough, as if the demise of these promising young Nigerians was of no consequence or something worth trifling with, the Honourable Minister while being interviewed on the Nigeria Television Authority did make a statement to the effect that some of those who died before the exercise were squarely responsible for their deaths. Little wonder that this seemingly careless remark provoked different headlines in the national dailies. And as one daily aptly captured and captioned it, “You killed yourselves – Honourable Minister of interior”. Agreed that one way or the other, some of these victims of immigration recruitment exercise may have through their actions and/or inactions contributed to the fate they suffered, but do we really need/expect a responsible minister of Federal Republic of Nigeria to callously blurt out such gaffe all in an attempt to blame these hapless Nigerians, even at the expense of considering the farcical arrangement put in place for the recruitment test? Now come to think of it, considering the nature of seats and the seating arrangement that characterized the venue, is the national stadium a conducive/befitting place meant for such exercise?  If indeed the Honourable minister of Interior and members of the Board of Nigeria Immigration, fire Service, Civil Defence and Prison Service did not in their inner most hearts consider the recruitment exercise a mere formality orchestrated to be used as a ploy to justify the (mis)appropriation of the huge proceeds accruable from the sale of millions of Immigration recruitment forms, why then did they not deem it necessary and convenient for the applicants to stagger the recruitment test, at least bearing in mind the fact of different categories of job applicants alongside their qualifications? Or, better still, why must all categories be subjected to the test on the same day and at the same time and venue?

Incidentally, it is one speculation still making rounds that the consulting firm that handled the entire exercise has the wives of comrade Abba Moro and that of the Senate President, His Excellency, distinguished Senator David Mark as the key vested interest. But whether this is true or false, it remains quite unfair going by media reports that the Nigeria Immigration Service was not adequately carried along in an exercise that originally belongs to it. Even though comrade Abbah Moro has quickly denied these allegations, particularly the one bordering on the outsourcing of the entire exercise to a consultancy firm allegedly belonging to Senator David Mark’s wife, it is high time Nigerians be told the naked truth as to the real names of the owners of this malfunctioning firm whose farcical arrangement occasioned the untimely and avoidable deaths of scores of job seeking Nigerians. This matter is such that we must not trifle with it and neither does it make sense for us to still pretend that all is well. This is the time to call a spade a spade.

In the circumstance, however, it is instructive to state the obvious.  The Honourable minister of Interior, comrade Abbah Moro, just like in the previous case of Mrs. Rose Chinyere Ozoma, stands unqualified to be the person to institute a panel of inquiry into the circumstances of the travails of these young Nigerians who sustained various degrees of injuries as well as those who died while striving to participate in the recruitment exercise. For one thing, comrade Abba Moro could not have concluded based on whatever preliminary reports hastily made available to him by whoever that claimed that the victims of this recruitment tragedy were responsible for their ordeal due mainly to what Moro branded “lack of patience” on their part. Yet here he goes again, this same man is now tinkering with the idea of constituting the so-called high powered panel to investigate and unravel what he has already told us was the primary cause of the alleged stampede that precipitated the regrettable deaths of these hapless job seekers.

But lest forget, leaving/entrusting the Honourable minister of Interior with such task to set up a panel to dispassionately look into the remote and immediate causes of the misfortune that befell job applicants at the various centers of the Immigration recruitment test is clearly tantamount to putting the would-be members of the intended panel under brief to re-echo what we have already heard from comrade Patrick Abba Moro. This is why it has become imperative for President Goodluck Jonathan to swiftly step in and do the needful by instituting a presidential panel that would rather carry out a thorough and objective inquiry in this regard, with a view to redeeming the increasingly dwindling fortune and image of his government. A stitch in time saves nine.

 

 

Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal (08037738607),  

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Immigration tragedy and Jonathan’s side