North kicks against ban on B’Haram, Ansaru

http://www.punchng.com/news/north-kicks-against-ban-on-bharam-ansaru/

My comment, as published by Punch Newspaper: Defending and Standing by the President on his Military Engagement in Borno State, declaration of State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States, and the subsequent proscription of the Boko Haram sect.

As a reasonable, objective, and well-informed observer/Nigerian, I do not know what else President Jonathan would have done in the circumstances. First, he yielded to the demands of the Northern Elders and made Sambo Dasuki, a distinguished retired Military Officer, and in fact, one of their own, his Security Adviser. Then he agreed to dialogue with the leadership of the sect. In addition, and contrary to all expectations, he dangled the offer of amnesty before the sect and their sponsors. Yet, nothing could avail them to disarm.

The very day President Jonathan inaugurated the Amnesty Committee, two Police Officers were gunned down in broad daylight in Kaduna. Must we then fold our arms, keep silent in the face of stolen joy and senseless killings as if the resurrection of the dead is happening tomorrow? Life has no duplicate, my friends. Boko Haram and their sponsors took his humility for weakness. The proscription of the two organisations is in order.

As at the day the President declared the State of Emergency in the affected States, the magnitude of Boko Haram's barbaric exploit and mayhem - the bestiality and depravity inherent in their executions - surpassed the constitutional standard of "clear and present danger" or "complete breakdown of law and order" required to elicit and validate declaration of state of emergency by a sitting President. Therefore, President Jonathan acted within the limits of his constitutional power as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by declaring a state of emergency in the affected states. So, I do not know where ACF and NEF are coming from. Is Boko Haram a legal body?

Before the Military intervention, more than half of the territory of the state [Borno State]- a state that is part of Nigerian territorial sovereignty – was under the occupation of Boko Haram. Sadly, our citizens in the occupied enclaves were not only exposed to religious genocide, but were under laws that are grossly incongruous with democratic values, and at the same time, patently inconsistent with rights inherent in the sovereign status that we achieved on October 1, 1960.

Those inalienable rights and democratic values - traditionally and constitutionally inviolate - are currently under siege with the illegal occupation of a substantial part of the northern region of Nigeria by the Boko Haram sect. The overwhelming desire to reclaim that stolen joy, that pride of the Borno people, the democratic values, and sovereign rights presently held hostage throughout the Middle Belt and beyond, prompted President Jonathan and his administration to declare Boko Haram a terrorist organisation subject to proscription. In addition, sending armed forces to the troubled spots is collateral to the emergency regime.

Nigerians are tired of seeing pictures of Police cadavers, lying lifeless, with little or no concern from Nigerians as if they were animals or intruders from a different planet.

Nigerians are tired of seeing pictures of innocent women and children murdered in their sleep, for a senseless struggle they knew nothing about.

Nigerians are tired of seeing villages, once reputed for husbandry and thriving fishing trade, completely overwhelmed and dismantled under the pursuit and influence of a belief system that cares less about economic emancipation or an enhanced standard of living.

Nigerians are tired of seeing a once vibrant and welcoming city, reputed as the epicentre of the famous Kanem-Bornu Empire, in a state of anomie, in ruin and deserted. That Empire, that vast geographical landscape, was at war with itself, at war with civilisation, at war with tolerance, at war with peaceful co-existence and at war with everything that their worthy son, Idris Alooma, laboured relentlessly, through war, commerce and diplomacy, to build to an international standard. This is not the time to cast blame; it is time to reclaim the lost territory and restore peace in the land.

Bringing MEND and OPC into this discussion is intellectually grotesque, and I am not going to address that angle. For these elders and statesmen to question the proscription of the Boko Haram sect reaffirms the beliefs in some quarters that the same elders and statesmen are directly and indirectly complicit with the sect's barbaric resolve. In another climate, this latest outburst from ACF and NEF would have warranted national outrage. But not in Nigeria, where the President is always wrong.

From all indications, our President did the right thing; not doing anything would have given the sect added impetus to expand their territorial reach. Not taking action would have given other groups new energy to further their sectarian objectives, believing, of course, that amnesty and money are waiting for them to share for killing and maiming in the name of religion. Not taking action would have given the opposition parties and the incoherent commentators on social media credible talking points to push for the ouster or impeachment of the President. Above all, not taking action would have succeeded in placing the people in the affected states in a more perilous situation than they have ever experienced since the inception of the insurgency.

At this juncture, I would like to add that there is nothing President Jonathan did that is inconsistent with the current trends in the global war against terrorism.

As Professor Wole Soyinka would say, “the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.” If the Borno occupation by the sect is not a tyranny, I wonder what it is. Therefore, all of us must stand with the President and support our Military in their collective commitment to liberate the supposedly free people of southern Kaduna, Plateau, Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States from the siege and grip of the Boko Haram sect. The President cannot afford to do less, and as a free people of a sovereign nation-state, we cannot afford to do less, either. We should not give room to partisan political expediency or allow the open hatred of President Jonathan to cloud our sense of judgment, pretending that all is well. All is not well. The proscription is in order. This is the time to support our men and women in uniform. Period

Mr Alex Aidaghese (LLM)