Straight Talk: Of Boko Haram, Amnesty, and Egalitarianism.

PART ONE: PREAMBLE

"If Mr. Jonathan was in the past disinclined to negotiate with Boko Haram’s faceless hounds, why is he now hearkening to entreaties to do so? And if members of the sect had preferred to operate in anonymity, what are the odds that, with an amnesty dangled in their faces, they will peel off their masks and show their faces? Is it the case, perhaps, that the Sultan and others championing amnesty have been in conversation with the Haramists? If so, can the Sultan and other pleaders guarantee that members of the sect will consent to lay down their weapons and integrate themselves into society the moment amnesty is pronounced?" Professor Okey Ndibe: “Dancing With Ghost, Ignoring The Dead” – Sahara Reporters, April 08, 2013.

... and his fear came to pass. The "Haramists" rejected the unconditional offer of amnesty from the President. And the "Sultan and other pleaders" were not able to prevail on the sect to "peel off their masks" and "lay down their weapons ..." This morning, April 17, 2013; it was reported by Sahara Reporters that “two Police Officers were gun down in Kaduna.” Once again, it’s deja vu all over again.

President Jonathan may have won strategically by ceding ground on the amnesty debate – preempting ACN, CPC, Northern Governor Associations, the Northern Elders, and the Emirs in their calculated resolve to cast him the enemy of peace in the region - but there are situations where a leader must not only be politically strategic, but at the same time, be seen to be adamantly resolute in the face of 'clear and present danger.' The lingering lawless state of our union is an ideal situation. Our President should have stood by his "Borno Declaration”, where he told the distinguished audience that “unless they put their house in order and talk to the sect members who are their children to lay down their arms and embrace peace, the Federal Government will not grant them amnesty, not to talk of withdrawing the men of the JTF.”  As you all know, few days after that profound declaration, our President capitulated. Earlier today, the President inaugurates a 26 man Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North. Nigerians, where we go from here is as fluid as unraveling boko haram’s next target.

Renouncing violence and agreeing to dialogue should precede amnesty, if at all, but not the other way round. All the concerned parties must be willing to participate, without compulsion or appeasement.  Today, we are exerting undue pressure on the Presidency to compromise as if we have forgotten what boko haram's demands are. In other words, we are willing to extend financial support to the same people who willfully and knowingly participated and continue to participate in unconstitutional religious crusade, to wit indoctrinate and conquer the unwilling by the use of force. As I write, perfection and deployment of IED are virtual reality every where in the northern part of the country.  

From all indications, we have forgotten the victims and their families who hadn't the slightest knowledge of who Yusuf Mohammed was, what he stood for or how he died? And for the sake of peace, the Presidency has abdicated in its inherent responsibility to protect the defenseless in the face of threatened rights. President Jonathan and his advisers are now willing to compensate the sects for attempting to kill the Emir of Kano, for bombing UN Official Complex and killing innocent souls. We are now pandering to enemies of civilizations for ravaging the entire Middle Belt region with merciless daring. We are now appeasing bunch of heartless mercenaries, masquerading as victims, for ruthlessly transforming the once cosmopolitan Maiduguri into a ghost town. And for killing and maiming innocent unarmed women and children, and burning places of worship, as if life has no meaning, we have set up committee to compensate them for daring to subvert our emerging democracy and transform a secular nation-state into one where Sharia Law is the order of the day.  Where is our conscience? Where is the collective outrage? This is the time, Nigeria, to stand with your President - pressuring him to do what is noble and Presidential, and not to capitulate in the face of tyranny.  

All of us feel victimized when government treat criminals as protected species. Bogus Petroleum Marketers are living free and living large at our expense. Police Pension Fund Raiders are using our money they stole to pervert our justice system, buying themselves freedom in the process. Governors of Obasanjo's years are yet to account for the Billions of Dollars they stole from the people. Today, one can no longer explain the insurgency on the basis of vengeance for the death of Mr. Yusuf Mohammed, as it was originally. 

Historically, religion has always been a weapon of political power game in Nigeria. Prominent leaders who should have step up to stem the tide of the insurgency at inception, feign ignorance, arguing that it is a war that would bring down the Jonathan's government. They were wrong. Commentators in the social media who called on elder statesmen and political leaders in northern region to intervene were labeled ethnic chauvinists. It is a Jonathan's problem, we were told. Not any more. "We should not wait for the Federal Government to start the process of making peace with Boko Haram. We must stop the blame game of saying 'it is Abuja' (that should end the insurgency), because Abuja is only to complement the efforts of the state governments while the actual decision and the mobilisation of the people rests with the state governors." That was Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, while addressing the 24th Forum of Speakers of Northern States Houses of Assembly, on April 17, 2013.

When did the irrepressible Governor, the Sultan, and the Elders realize that the insurgency is no longer a Jonathan's war to win or to lose? Just pause and reminisce on the scale of the carnage, the bombing, the indiscriminate killing and maiming that the boko haram sect unleashed on this nation in the past three years, and wonder if the Sultan, the Emirs, the Governors, and the Elders and the Statesmen were in a different planet.

With the inauguration of yet another committee by the Presidency this morning, we are down the same road once again. And to those of us writing, publishing, and fighting to keep Nigeria undivided, that is the Nigerian question we must not hesitate to unravel. First, we must not relent in hammering on those policies and programs influenced by religious and ethnic considerations that perpetuate division and hatred. That awareness is necessary to prevent a repeat of the past and strengthen national cohesion  - a road map, perhaps, to a new Nigerian. (You may also call it a national conference by other means).

PART TWO: HOW DID WE GET HERE?

There is no denying the fact that boko haram is chicken coming home to roost. The educational policy selfishly designed and openly implemented at the national level to impede educational advancement in the south, with a view to eliminating the educational gap between north and south, boomerang in a magnitude unimaginable by the proponents of the policy. It succeeded in creating generations of uneducated, easily manipulated religious extremists in northern region – a cesspool for boko haram adherents and recruitment reservoir for those who want to impose a state religion on the rest of us.

Today, free education at all levels, though practicable, is an aberration at the national level, because Dr. Jubrin Aminu now Professor (Senator) Jubrin Aminu was of the view that a nationally implemented free education at all levels has the potential to widen the already educational gap between the North and the south. In his own words: “In the Universities themselves, the Federal Government is now contemplating introducing free education. Whatever may be the merits of this considered step, its likely effect on University population must be mentioned. It is going to result in an even greater imbalance in enrolment  for the simple reason that at the moment, there are a fair number of highly eligible candidates for University education, mainly from the educationally advanced states, [west, east, and Midwest] who unfortunately cannot enter University simply on financial grounds.” That was Professor Aminu in his memo, titled “Educational Imbalance: Its Extent, History, Dangers and Correction in Nigeria” - National University Commission.

Following the Professor’s memo, our federal government did not only jettison the idea of free education at all levels as he canvassed, they went as far as removing government subsidy on students’ feeding - more money is being spent on southern children given their larger population in Nigerian Universities. Think about the “Ali Must Go” era, and you will remember what they did.

His retrogressive logic was that if federal government implements free education, southern parents already handicapped by financial problems and who would not have been able to take their Children through the university due to the financial problems would now be able to do so. Such a development, he argued, would ultimately add to the existing education gap between north and the south. It was his view that poor families in the north will not take advantage of the program like poor parents in the south, because of their resentment towards western culture and values. That was Dr. Aminu’s argument in the memo, not mine. Based on that calculation, he concluded that the idea of free education should be a non-starter. And they did. Obasanjo was the Military Head of State. And that remains the policy till today. In other words, if it is not good for his own people, it is not good for Nigeria. He was wrong. How he came to that conclusion is beyond common sense. Did he or any of his collaborators make any attempt to impress it upon their "anti-western culture people" the importance of popular education? They never did. As at then, his people needed free education more than the rejected tribes of the south.

The educational gap between north and south that Dr. Aminu wanted to bridge by all means possible did not happen overnight in the south. It was made possible by the embrace of Christian Missionaries in the East - integration of religious studies with scholarly pursuit - by the Ndigbo, and the free education program of Action Group in the western region as well as the acceptance and embrace of western culture and values side by side with the Yoruba creeds by the people of the Western Region. Dr. Aminu acknowledged these facts in his 53-page memo, rather than strive to adopt the same programs nation-wide, he embarked on a futile war, demanding that the rest of the country stand still for the north to catch up educationally, whether or not his northern administrators, governors and commissioners for education thought it prudent to embrace the same values and programs that made educational advancement possible in the south.

In similar vein, when President Obasanjo came into office, thanks to IBB and his fellow northern power brokers, most of the Governors in the north feel no scruple introducing Sharia Law in their respective states. Going by the facts on the ground, there was no compelling reason, whether social or religious, that could explain the Governors’ motive for the Sharia initiative. It was done to spite a President who is from the south, and at the same time, a Christian – the same President, who, of course, was not, and has never been in the good book of his own people. It doesn't matter; they want you to buy into their machination that they are protecting their beloved region and religion from infidels. My friends, it’s all farcical – a diabolical contrivance to cloak their wastage and poor performance in office.

Today, it is a different story; Boko haram sect has taken the Sharia initiative to a level unprecedented in the history of religious war in Nigeria. Also, for the first time in the history of the creation of Nigeria, it is the un-celebrated and overtly lampooned “clueless intruder from Utuoke”, who thought it fit to extend popular education to the forgotten and the rejected talakawa and the almajiri of the north.  His name is President Jonathan, the same guy every political strategist is scheming to throw out of Aso Rock, come 2015. Guys, you don’t have to like this man, you don't have to be a member of his political party (I am not), but you cannot take that unprecedented accomplishment away from him.

It is sad, very sad that a country and a people so blessed, who were few years back, categorized as the happiest people on earth, are now in a state of anomie. Thanks, of course, to the smartness of perverts and apostates who are never shy of deploying religious and ethnic propaganda to divide and conquer the majority of us under the guise of “protecting my people”. This time, no one is safe. Not even the Emir of Kano, of all person. If Nigeria must move forward as a progressive nation-state, if Nigeria must move forward as one indivisible nation-state, these are the people we must never vote into national office. It’s all about common sense. Something must be different come 2015.

PART THREE: MOVING FORWARD

A child growing up should have a home, a government that cares, and the opportunity to make a choice about what to make of every religious doctrine contrary to the trends within the Muslim faith in the northern part of the country. There are Muslims in Yoruba land; most of them are well educated, while others are fairly educated. The same is true of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia, and Iran, just to name a few. Why must northern Nigeria be an exception?

What is called for is a coherent national education policy, with full support of the federal government, similar to what Action Groups did in the Old Western Region. It was a similar educational program that late Governor Abubakar Rimi implemented in Kano State during the second republic – a grass root educational campaign that won for his administration, a UNICEF Award. The Almajiri educational initiative of the present federal government is a good start, but it must be all embracing – every child, whether from Christian, Muslim, or Animist background should have access to early and free education in every part of the country. (If I am not mistaken, the Northern Chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria also espouses this view). A compulsory, free, and popular education for all children of school age – from Elementary School to Grammar School level - would go a long way in shaping the attitude of the children and how they embrace religious doctrine as adult.

Education is a right, and it is the best investment in the life of a child. Religion is a choice, and should be treated that way. In most part of northern region of Nigeria, religion, and not education, is a right - the only known avenue to emancipation. A child capable of imbibing and reciting Quran verses verbatim is capable of digressing quadratic equations in a Mathematics class, if given the opportunity. Don’t ask me how. The proof is glaring. No matter how you look at it, it’s all about effort and the leadership that you have and what their views are on educational advancement, and specifically, on egalitarianism.

In addition, the Holy book does not forbid integration or teaching of popular education - English Language, Arithmetic, Social Studies, and Integrated Sciences - side by side with Islamic studies. Christian Missionaries in the Eastern Region, before and after our independence from Great Britain, perfected the integration model perfectly well – Bible on one hand, English, Mathematics, Civic, and Social Sciences on the other. Same can be replicated in Northern region with respect to religious studies.

We must not give up on educating these children, because informed citizenry is the most potent and decisive weapon against false beliefs and extorted indoctrination. No one would buy into the western education is “haram” baloney, if regular education was part of his or her adolescence. There must be a distinction to be made between social/moral purity and survival instinct through purpose engagement in the economic sector.

God and Allah help those who help themselves. That is a fact and not just a saying. Our Islamic scholars, teachers, and leaders should be willing to embrace changes and accept the fact that religious freedom is most ennobling when combined with economic freedom. The current helplessness of the less privileged in that part of our World is disgraceful and cannot be sustained for too long. Therefore, government intervention in the academic sector at the very early stage in the lives of the affected children would go a long way in shaping their perception and understanding of religion, its social and moral impacts, and the extent of its limitations in the context of economics – creation, distribution, and consumption of wealth." We must start early.

PART FOUR: A WORD OF CAUTION

Any attempt by any one group or groups to engage in forceful indoctrination of the unaffiliated should be treated the way it is - an act of war against the sovereign. For Nigeria to live up to its promise of one nation one destiny, it must be willing to apply every resources at its disposal to defend threatened rights.

We want to reinstate that Boko Haram is a real threat to our corporate existence as one country. We support dialogue in the past, and we still do, because we believe that it is easier to subdue and conquer enemies you know, and in a bounded enclave than fighting an insurgent groups with no fixed address or defined territory. Besides, a declaration of war on the sect is a declaration of war on innocent Nigerians who do not espouse forceful incrimination,  but happen to share common boundary or close proximity with them.

As things are today – dialogue or no dialogue - it is our belief that Government alone cannot wage a decisive battle against Boko Haram. Security Agencies alone cannot wage a decisive battle against Boko Haram. To be successful in dismantling the sect and their beliefs, our Security Agencies need the unflinching support of local chiefs, community leaders, religious leaders, and above all, the loyalty of other peaceful and law abiding Muslims who do not share the jihadist  philosophy, and the forceful indoctrination campaign characteristics of the Boko Haram sect.  

In addition, if the unrest is a rejection of President Jonathan and his administration, we want to state on record that, if President Jonathan cannot rule Nigeria, no one, henceforth, can rule Nigeria. And if for any reason connected with the present state of insecurity in the country, he ceases to function as President, Nigeria will come to a standstill. The outcome will be such that when it is all over, there won't be a country called Nigeria again. You cannot continue to sponsor and fund lawlessness, with a view to destabilize the country, and at the same time find grace in labeling the President weak. 

Nigerians should give President Jonathan a chance; he did not breach any law by stepping into the vacuum created by the death of President Musa Yar'Adua. He acted within the confines of our constitution. Every Nigerian must have the right to aspire to the highest office in the land through democratic process. Let's grow and develop our democracy consistent with the trends in most developed countries of the World. Military coup is never a better option, it has never been and it will not be. If our Judiciary is independent and graft free, we will be able to manage the war against corruption, and at the same time, be able to conduct a free, fair and credible election, and ultimately, elect leaders of our choice.  If President Jonathan and his government remain nonchalant about recouping our stolen oil wealth from bogus petroleum marketers and from police pension funds raiders, then, come 2015, we should come together and rally around and vote for a credible candidate who is ready, and in a better position to protect and manage our wealth.

Make no mistake; Nigeria is not for sale and will not suffer any extinction come rain or shine, but we must be willing to point fingers at the real infidels in our midst - those who steal and those who use religion to divide us. They are the real enemies of one strong Nigeria. We must be able to say it the way it is, without equivocation. We must must be persistent in our collective resolve to educate our voters on the credibility and otherwise of every prospective political leaders. For instance, every Governor who did introduce Sharia Law in his or her State should say bye bye to Presidential ambition.

(If I may digress, we must endeavor to communicate or write in clear English to make it easier for our audience to grasp every bit of our message. That is the fundamental goal of communication - the ability to reach your readers, without placing them in a situation where they would have to guess the meaning of your message. For a start, consult the Editorial page and the Op-Ed Columns of The New York Times. Be smooth).

PART FIVE: CONCLUSION

As we sign off, we want to remind Nigerians that our desire for one cohesive entity, our love for the good life, our intellectual and educational drive, our freedom to worship what we want and how we want shall never be compromised. Similarly, our pursuit of happiness, the need for equal rights, justice, and egalitarianism must be pursued with every fiber of our being - never, never; we will never compromise on those things that we hold dear to our heart as a free people. We will never bargain away our fundamental rights to associate and worship the way we want, or bargain away our inherent rights to educate our kids in any part of Nigeria that we chose. Not now, not any time. We will never surrender.

Every faithful adherent of the Islamic faith in Nigeria must stand up to rescue the faith and the Quranic studies from the stranglehold of those with perverted doctrinaire. Every community must rise to protect itself. Every vigilante group must reorganize to protect their women, their children, and the helpless. I empathize with the sect for the death of their leader, but remember, two wrongs don’t make a right. Every struggle has a meaning. This one has gone too far.

At this juncture, I would like to remind every insurgent group and those behind them that negotiating peace with your enemies is not a sign of weakness; it takes greatness to accomplish that. We shouldn't forget the Camp David Accord between Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, brokered by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. No one consider it realistic given the aftermath of the Six-Day War. It did. Today the two neighboring countries live in peace. Why not us?

Boko haram and their supporters should remember that, and do the right thing: Surrender your weapons and embrace peace. Nigeria is a secular, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural sovereign nation-state. Amnesty, the way is currently being dangled before you is a complete travesty - an absurdity of a dismal proportion. Every Nigerian should reject it. You do not deserve it, and you know you don't deserve it. If boko is haram, as you have been propagating for years, where and how did you learn to develop IED? That explains the fallacy of your demand and the shallowness of your propaganda.  I wish the Sultan and his team the best of luck.

May God bless the good people of Nigeria.

To be continued.

Alex (Ehimhantie-Aiyo) Aidaghese