By Msonter Anzaa
Recently, it has become common to hear of bomb blasts in Nigeria. Between October last year and now – a period less than a year – there have been four major high-profile bombings that have left scores of people dead. The thing is for the government of Nigeria to promise to “bring the culprits to book” and the Nigeria Police to “investigate” ad infinitum. What role can the President of Nigeria play in arresting this evil and maintaining security in his country?
On Independence Day last year, the first in a series of bombings to rock the federal capital territory rocked the nation. A group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND claimed responsibility for the bombings. What were its grievances? It claimed it did not accept that while there was forbidden poverty among Nigerians, the federal government was spending six billion naira on the anniversary. President Goodluck Jonathan embarrassed the nation by hurriedly clearing MEND of any involvement in the October bombings. This year, the Mogadishu cantonment of the Nigerian Army was bombed. The Police Force Headquarters in Abuja was bombed with the Inspector-General himself nearly narrowly escaping death. And now, the father of them all, the United Nations House has been bombed in Abuja. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for all the latest three bombings.
While Boko Haram does not have any claims except that it believes western education is forbidden, it helps to point out that its activities came to a height following recent political developments that saw Dr Goodluck Jonathan emerge as President. The northern part of Nigeria was aggrieved because it felt it deserved to complete the four years of a new tenure not had by late President Umaru Yar’Adua. The decision by Mr Jonathan to contest and his subsequent victory at the polls have generated bitterness among those who feel an injustice has been done. Consequently, there have been rumours of individuals and groups who have vowed to make the nation “ungovernable” for him. The increase in cases of suicide bombings in the country may safely be interpreted as one of the strategies employed to achieve this aim.
It is important to note that there will always be political, ethnic and religious sentiments among a people. And the President of Nigeria will always have a political party, and ethnic group and a religion. He must therefore not expect to be loved by every one. The people of Nigeria too must realize that they may not always like the man who is president, but the moment he becomes President, he is president for all. Armed with an oath to “preserve, protect and defend’, and with a Constitution that gives him the power to command the armed forces, the president must not become so conscious of those who do not like him and what they may say or do, that he is almost unable to discharge the duties of his office.
At a time of intense insecurity like today, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must know and trust the people working with him in the security sector. He must have access to firs-hand information on the activities of groups in his territory. If he does not trust his official channels of information, he must develop unofficial channels like private spies. In fact, he must have spies who spy for him in every local government area of Nigeria. What again is wrong with the nation’s security mechanism? Has it been taken over by corruption? Has it been infiltrated by Boko Haram? Why is nobody able to say how and when these individuals decide the object and mode of their attack? In the UN House bombing alone over 23 people have been killed and the death toll may rise. What has happened to those arrested by the Police and the Army all these while? What have they been saying?
When individuals wake up and say western education is not good and begin to bomb and murder lots of people as we have seen in Nigeria, the President of that country must not sit in an office and call security summits. He must participate fully in the investigation process and take greater responsibility for security. He must act and do so decisively. In Nigeria, every appointment is made to appease tribal or religious gods who must have their way or the nation will become “ungovernable.” Our leaders would rather die a thousand deaths than risk future political prospects by discharging their duties without fear or favour. In a situation like this, there must be men in the Police whom the President does not have confidence in. Why has he not sacked them? Is he afraid that soon the poor officer’s tribesmen will begin to drum “marginalization” into the ears of the entire nation? What of the Army? Are there Generals to be sacked? Sack them! Talk of the series of reports and findings submitted to the federal government. Have individuals been named? Are they “top” zonal politicians? Try them! Bring them to court. The era of trying to secure national cohesion by begging or dancing the tunes of “leaders” who lead misguided and impoverished tribal or religious extremists ought to be over.
I have read and also commented on the report of the bombings in Abuja on the Vanguard Face book page. I have read terrible comments. An individual whose name I will not mention talked of the Niger Delta militants and said: “thank God we have our own Boko Haram.” While I appreciate that the fundamental causes of these agitations are poverty, injustice, and bad governance, I understand that to reduce the present security crisis to sentimental confrontation is rather to have a misguided sense of injustice. Was it a political issue that oil polluted the Niger Delta, destroyed the livelihood of the people and thus imprisoned them while the federal government and oil companies made money? Do we want to have a Ministry of Boko Haram Affairs? When people talk about amnesty for the group, I find it hard to understand what it means. Would western education suddenly become good if they have an amnesty? Nigerians must not let primitive sentiments blind them to logic and common sense. Why must the president come from your village? Why must he always be “our” man? Why must the country be made “ungovernable” for anyone who does not speak “our” language or worship “our” God?
Now, the individuals groups who choose to oppose the government by violent means must know they have no legal right to do so. The people of Nigeria must know that the constitution does not assign any region a turn to hold any office. President Jonathan must not command his troops with fear. He must not let sentiments expressed on pages of Newspapers stop him from discharging his duties decisively. He must get rid of security chiefs whom he does not trust and appoint those in whom he has confidence. His government must not hide the sponsors of this violence irrespective of their tribe or religion. And he must remember the words of Abraham Lincoln to the Southern rebels on his inauguration as President of the United States: “You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.” Mr. Jonathan must rise to his feet and send a clear note of warning to those who swear to tear down our nation, and whatever happens this nation under God shall defeat her enemies.
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