Of Real Heroes, Nyanya Massacre, and Presidential Indiscretion

The massacre at Nyanya Bus-Stop is a declaration of war on the sovereign nation of Nigeria. Boko Haram and their sponsors and their financiers are enemy combatants; therefore, they should be treated as such.

At the scene of the bomb blast, the President was reported as saying:  “I am also commending security services for their prompt action. Though we lost quite a number of people, we condole with our countrymen and women. We will continue to work very hard." Punch, April 15, 2014. Mr. President, with due respect, on what basis did you commend the security services? About 89 Nigerian died undeserving death. About 200 hospitalized, and vehicles and merchandise worth millions of Naira burnt to ashes. And you are commending the security services for their prompt action! Prompt action about what? For infiltrating the leadership of the bombers, and consequently, averting the bombing and the accompanied bloodshed? Or was Mr. President simply commending them for arriving at the scene of the accident on time to ferry the victims to the hospital?

To say I am flabbergasted is saying the least. This picture is analogous to President George Bush coming to the scene of hurricane Karina and commending Mr. Brown, his FEMA Director, for doing a hell of a job, when helpless African Americans and their New Orleans homes were completely submerged in water. Mr. President, Nigerians deserve better from you and your security team.  I am not passing judgment, but your statement is unacceptable, judging from the position of a reasonable man. It is unfortunate, and it's all part of the pervading culture of low expectations.

Granted, I have no background in military training or security training, but as a reasonable and well-informed observer, I respectfully suggest that it is high time the President review his security team. Dasuki has no reason and cannot afford to be complacent with our national security. Right now his reputation or his good name is not just at stake; it is irredeemably dented. Yes, I know Nigeria is at war with unknown enemies. Yes, I know the spirit of patriotism demands of us to rally round our President and members of our Armed Forces in time like this. In the same vein, the spirit of patriotism also demands we speak truth to power, not just in the face of tyranny, but also in the face of complacency. I beg to move

The Pikin wey say 'im Mama no go sleep, 'im too no go sleep. It is high time the President and his security team resort to the nuclear option - adopt the Obama strategy at full blast. Take the fight straight to the bedrooms of known and perceived enemies as well as to the bedrooms and places of business of known and perceived sponsors and financiers of the sect. That’s not negotiable. They are individually and collectively enemy combatants.

The mangled cadavers at Nyanya Bust Stop were once those of dear fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers. Until Boko Haram, their sponsors and their financiers surrender and disarmed; they deserve no less decapitation than what we saw at Nyanya Bus Stop and all over Middle-Belt and North East in recent times.

A few years ago, Nigerians at home and abroad were branded by the international media as the happiest people on earth. Not anymore. In recent times, peace has eluded us at a level unprecedented in the history of our creation as a nation-state. Kidnapping for ransom is now one of the most lucrative professions in the South-East and in the South-South regions of Nigeria. In the South-West, cultism, and marketing of human parts, grotesque and repulsive as that may sound, are now the order of the day. In the Middle Belt and in the southern part of Kaduna, counting cadavers has become a daily routine. In and around Borno State, it is completely a different story: A war of attrition at its ugliest form.

The once metropolitan Maiduguri is now in total ruin - a once vibrant and welcoming city, reputed as the epic center of the famous Kanem-Bornu Empire is now in total ruin and deserted. That Empire, that vast geographical landscape is now at war with itself - at war with civilization, at war with tolerance, at war with peaceful co-existence, and at war with everything that their worthy son, Idris Alooma, labored relentlessly, through war, commerce and diplomacy, to build to international standard.

Indeed Mohammed Yusuf, the leader or founder of the sect died mysteriously while in the Police custody. And I wholeheartedly empathize with the sect for his death. Unresolved as the circumstances surrounding his death are, what is not in doubt is the fact that two wrongs don’t make a right. That being said, there is no justification, legal or ethical, moral, conventional or customary; to explain or justify the wanton brutality and gruesome death visited on innocent commuters at Nyaya Bus Stop.

Of Heroes and Redemption:

As the security situation deteriorates, we should not allow partisan political expediency to cloud our sense of judgment, pretending that all is well. All is not well. Nigerian is at war with unknown enemies. We must stand together and fight together and take the fight straight to Chad and Cameroon borders. There is a general perception that the military and the Presidency are complacent in the face of unbridled slaughtering of defenseless Nigerians by the sect. A development that seemingly emboldened the sect. 

Nigeria deserves better and the Muslim faith deserves better. It is time we seek redemption and embrace tolerance and forgiveness or step up and fight a just war. It is time real people with genuine intent for peace stand up, talk peace, and be counted.

President Nelson Mandela was locked out of civilization for the better part of his adult life by the Apartheid Government in South Africa, but when he came out, rather than agitate for retribution for members of the apartheid government, he asked for truth and reconciliation.

Every politics, the saying goes, is local. Nigeria fought a bloody civil, and at the end, there was no victor and there was no vanquished. There was the unreasonable treasonable felony trial, and at the end, Nigeria was still standing.

Nigeria needs great men and women right now - serious thinkers and real leaders like Sadat, Martin Luther King Jr., Mandela, and Begin - to seek consensus and restore peace to troubled spots.

Sadly, the struggle and the accompanying narrative are not in any shape or form about freedom or consistent with political or economic emancipation movement championed by Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. It is something different.

It is not what Mahatma Gandhi lived and died for. It is not what Mother Teresa preached. And it is not what President Nelson Mandela suffered for and went to jail for. It is something else – something fundamentally and radically different in scope, style, and goal. That is our dilemma. We don't even know who we are fighting. Nevertheless, one thing remains clear: Those who live by the sword die by the sword. The earlier the leadership of the sect and their sponsors surrender and make atonement for the innocent blood they shed the better it is for everyone. Sooner or later the whole truth will be out.

That being said, any extorted religious 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 mobilize every resource at its disposal to defend threatened rights. Our desire and our love for the good life, intellectual and educational pursuit, freedom of worship, and the pursuit of happiness shall not be compromised. 

Never, never; we will never compromise on those things that we hold dear to our heart. 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, and the way we want. Not now, not any time. We will never surrender in our search for equal rights and justice – an egalitarian society where economic drive and social welfare initiatives are as relevant as religion and ethnic considerations. Let’s get to work, guys. We deserve better.

Happy Easter to everyone.

April 14, 2014.