Thursday, 17 May 2012
My Neighbor, The Terrorist By Okey Ndibe
Okey Ndibe
Columnist:
Okey Ndibe Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan finally made his most direct response thus far to Boko Haram’s plague of violence. The president’s declaration of a state of emergency in designated local government areas in four states – Borno, Yobe, Plateau, and Niger – has earned a spectrum of reactions running from guarded praise to derision.
Mr. Jonathan should be given his due. The man has done, for now, his best. But the situation is so dire that his best is clearly far from enough.
Before our very eyes, parts of Nigeria have been transformed into mini-Baghdads and Kabuls. If you stand in a crowd in many a town in the northern part of Nigeria, chances are that the man or woman standing next to you is, quite literally, a ticking explosive. In traffic, the car in front of you or behind you, or to your right or left, may well be a vehicular bomb seconds away from detonating.
In such a situation, life is nasty, brutish and (potentially) short. Worse, circumstances of such extreme volatility and unpredictability mean that fear – a crippling brand of fear – is a constant companion to life. The psychological cost to citizens compelled to live in a constant state of fear is incalculable. If people perceive themselves to be under a death sentence, or believe that death lurks round the corner, then hyper-fear is bound to emerge as society’s condition and most significant emotion.
I got an illustration last week during a telephone conversation with a friend who resides in Abuja. Asked how he and his family were coping in the aftermath of the horrific bombing of a church on Christmas, this friend said they were holed up at home. “I don’t think any of us will go to a crowded place any time soon,” he said.
Those who trade in the tools of terror relish such responses. They win when their would-be victims cower in the (merely relative) refuge of their homes.
When the terrorists of September 11 flew hijacked planes like missiles into New York’s Twin Towers, then President George W. Bush appealed to Americans to be vigilant, but to go about their normal business. He made the point that the terrorists would have won only if Americans radically altered their routines in reaction to the terror attacks.
For the most part, Americans heeded their president. It is, we must admit, a different matter when the Nigerian president – or some other government official – implores citizens to be at ease. The US responded to September 11 by instituting a series of counter-terrorism measures within and outside their border. The country is technologically equipped and boasts some of the world’s most knowledgeable anti-terrorism experts. It was able to identify, and cut off, some of the sources of cash for their nemeses. Last year, America’s special forces tracked down Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout and killed him.
No such luck, flair or resources for Nigeria. Last Thursday, Mr. Jonathan held an emergency meeting with his top security team. Emerging from the meeting, Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Ringim waxed with sobering truth. “Well, we are all worried,” 234next.com reported him as stating. “Terrorism is not an easy matter at all…as you are aware, it is a very new phenomenon here.” Mr. Ringim continued: “We have not had this kind of thing before and we are just having it now, so we are all scrambling to find our feet and face it squarely, that is what we are doing.”
That’s a confession that Nigeria’s security agencies lag behind the Boko Haram aggressors. It would be unfair to blame Mr. Jonathan or the current inspector-general for Nigeria’s state of unpreparedness. Nigeria is paying the price for years of negligence. We should have modernized our police years ago. We ought to have instituted high standards of equipment, personnel and training for our main law enforcement agency. Instead, we permitted the Nigeria police to develop into a caricature, its officers adept only at disrupting traffic with their ubiquitous roadblocks and haranguing road users to “drop” compulsory tithes of N20 and above.
Nigeria is a heedless country, its leaders and citizens impervious to the lessons of their own troubled history. We fought a war that claimed more than a million lives, but continue to behave as if we didn’t. Nigeria has had a long history of bloody sectarian flare-ups, but neither the police nor the other arms of the security services took the time to develop an effective manual for tackling the scourge.
Here we are, then, on the cusp of what could trigger another chilling war – and we are bewildered, perplexed, clueless. Mr. Jonathan’s selective declaration of a state of emergency is as unlikely to contain the Boko Haram threat as a man who uses his spittle can stop a raging fire. Yet, that may well be the best that the president can do – for now.
234Next reported Mr. Ringim’s assurance that the police “had made a lot of gains in combating the [Boko Haram] menace.” In the police honcho’s words, “We are prepared more than ever before and I want to assure you on this.” To underscore his confidence, the IG stated: “If we had not done what we did in Yobe, if we had not done what we did in Kaduna, indeed if the Nigerian Police Force had not done what we did in Kano…the story would have been a different one.” And then this: “l assure members of the public that the Nigerian Police Force and indeed all other security agencies are now ready more than ever before to face the challenges.”
I doubt that many Nigerians are tempted to take the IG’s assurance to the bank.
It being a New Year, there’s a sentimental part of me that so desperately wants to hope that the tag team of the police and the other security agencies will figure out the Boko Haram puzzle. But there’s hope, and there’s delusion. If it is true that Al Qaeda has linked up with Boko Haram, given that many young men recruited by the group are more than happy to martyr themselves for the prize of seventy-two virgins, and given the penchant of Nigerian officials for issuing assurances that can’t be backed with action – one must remain skeptical.
It’s comforting that Mr. Jonathan spoke about unspecified forthcoming measures. It’s true that evil exists in the world, including the evil of those who kill in God’s name. Yet, we should not altogether dismiss the notion that Boko Haram is, in part, a monster birthed by a country where a gluttonous few have driven the majority to a state of animalized degradation.
As Jonathan weighs how to proceed, he would do well to confess that he’s overwhelmed by the scale and character of the incubating disaster. He should then become a voice championing that long-deferred national conversation to discuss whether Nigeria means enough to sustain the faith, loyalty and commitment of its constituent groups.
I wish all my readers a dream-fulfilling New Year.
Email: (okeyndibe@gmail.com)
Please follow me on twitter @ OkeyNdibe
Comments
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Okey, God Bless you. Keep up
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 8, 2012 - 05:38.
Okey, God Bless you. Keep up with the good work.
Steve U.
Thanks Obi E
Submitted by Igbiki (not verified) on January 4, 2012 - 22:55.
Thanks Obi E. You said it all.
Okey, you are the Moses that we need
Submitted by Obi E (not verified) on January 4, 2012 - 15:42.
Okey Ndibe, thank you very much! We need voices of sound logic and reasoning. You fill that void!
The analytical inconsistencies in all our government releases on this Boko Haram, were adequately fleshed out and exhaustively discussed in this write up.
With people like you stepping in to fill the aging shoes of Soyinka and Achebe, I can say that we still have a Moses. Please stay on course and don't become Reuben Abati or Fani Kayode.
Another splendid work of art! Keep it coming. Sometimes, all I can do is take psychological refuge in some of your insightful views on issues of national importance. That by itself is a form of healing.
Thank God we have a brilliant and focused young man in Omoleye, he is doing what Napoleon could not do with this SR.
You Are Right Sir
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 23:04.
Have you come across reports so stunning as this?
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/01/01/sunday-morning-gossip-and-intel-...
and
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/11/14/nigeria-targeted-for-destruction/
Please circulate and let it go viral. We are facing cunning enemies who are bent on our destruction as a people, a nation and a race.
When you read the above, then what is happening in this country will start to make sense.
DERI, SINCE WHEN? - 2
Submitted by ENYI OHA (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 15:31.
IN THESE PROFOUND INITIATIVES, THE IGBOS HAVE BEEN LEADING THE INITIATIVE IRRESPECTIVE OF COLLECTIVE REDUCTIONISM AND OCCASSIONAL INDIVIDUAL APPROBATION BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO LACK THE LIVER TO STAND FOR ENDURING VALUES-ADAKA BORO, SARO WIWA, AWOLOWO.NO WONDER OPPORTUNISM IS CHEAP BUT THE IRONY IS THAT WHEN DEALT THE WRONG CARD,THEY CRY FOUL LIKE IN JUNE 12.SO MY DEAR DERI, IF BUHARI COULD SUGGEST A CONFERENCE TO RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA WHEN TENSION MAY HAVE COOLED DOWN,OKEY PALES INTO INSIGNIFICANCE.NOW WHAT ARE YOU(DERI) DOING TO TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE AND SELL THIS AGENDUM TO THE GOVERNMENT OF GEJ?I ASSURE YOU THAT A RESTRUCTURED NIGERIA WILL MAKE THE IGBOS LESS ODIOUS TO YOUR SENSIBILITIES AND OBVIATE YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED FOR COLECTIVE REDUCTION.HOWEVER, YOUR SENSE OF HISTORICAL RECOLLECTION IS COMMENDABLE. THE ONLY CHALLENGE IS FOR YOU TO BE MORE CONSTRUCTIVE WITH WAYS FOREWARD FOR NIGERIA INSTEAD OF YOUR PULL HIM DOWN(PhD)IN MISDIRECTED ABUSIVE LANGUAGE.
@ProudNigeria
Submitted by Hamilton (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 15:24.
Mr.ProudNigeria, there was no boko haram in 1975.
Illiteracy breeds religious bigotry. The uneducated mind is susceptible to easy manipulation.
Have you ever seen an educated Northerner rioting or killing others over religious issue?
Mr. Know-it-All, search your mind. Yes, Boko Haram is against western education, but what did you do before it came to that extent. The Talakawas in Kano and Kastina who benefited from Abubaka Rimi grass root educational policy are today, managing public and private enterprises in that part of Nigeria and elsewhere.
If you integrate Konranic education along with English, Arithmetic, Social Studies, Civic at elementary level, these Kids will grow up knowing that religious is a part of life and not just life itself. Thank you.
DERI, SINCE WHEN? - 1
Submitted by ENYI OHA (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 15:08.
DERI, I AM SURPRISED YOU DID NOT HEAP COLLECTIVE ABUSE ON THE IGBOS. NOT THAT YOUR JAUNDICED OPINION MATTER EITHER WAY. BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT THE VAST MAJORITY ROOT FOR JUSTICE, EQUITY, FAIR PLAY, REPUBLICAN DEMOCRACY, RULE OF LAW AND FREEDOM.THERE IS NOTHING OKEY WROTE THAT IS NEW;THE IGBOS GAVE THE SOUTH SOUTH A POLITICAL VOICE IN 1994/95 ABACHA CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE,13% DERIVATION, ROTATIONAL AND NOT OSCILLATORY PRESIDENCY, ABURI ACCORD, ETC.WE VOTED MASSIVELY FOR GEJ, HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING HIS GOVERNMENT AND ARE PREPARED TO SUPPORT HIM MORE IF HE CAN MUSTER THE WILL TO LEAVE A LEGACY OF RESTRUCTURING NIGERIA INTO THE SIX GEOPOLITICAL ZONES AS THE FOUNDATION FOR TRUE POLITICAL AND FISCAL FEDERALISM.THIS IS THE DESIDERATUM FOR MUTUAL COEXISTENCE IN A MULTI RELIGIOUS AND MULTIETHNIC COUNTRY LIKE NIGERIA.
@ Deri, Wonders they Say shall never end.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 14:55.
Wonders they say shall never cease to be happening. Fuel subsidy removed, Deri praising Okey Ndibe. I thought this guy hated everything connected with the Ibos. This guy has for the past one half year relentlessly attacking and gloating the killing and death of Ibo people. I am an Ibo man from the ND, I feel nauseated each time I read your comment whether good or bad comment. An attack on any Ibo person, whether from Nssuka, Asaba, Ikwere, Agbor, Enugu, Aba, Ogwashiuku, Umunede, Anioma or Opobo is an attack on my person. You made a comment on this forum that those of us from the Ibo speaking area of ND are there by boundary adjustment. I don't think I will like been in the same political zone with you.
@Hamilton
Submitted by ProudlyNigerian (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 13:52.
@Hamilton,what u r saying is Western Education is the solution to the current BH scourge we r facing in Nigeria? Don't b ridiculous,man. Where have u been?! Open ur eyes. Do u even know who they are and what they want? Indeed,the meaning of Boko Haram is "Western Education is a sin". Need I say more? Pleez,talk not on what u know nothing about in d future.
We don't begrudge GEJ for being @a loss about what to do. Its not his fault this is beyond his intellectual capacity to resolve. All we ask is that he seeks HELP from useful sources,not from those sycophantic, ignorant yes-men on his payroll.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!!!
I love your write-ups Mr.
Submitted by Ekweonu Nonso (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 07:10.
I love your write-ups Mr. Okey..is really informative and educative.Thanks
my brother okey ndibe..Thank
Submitted by okonkwo kenneddy (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 07:09.
my brother okey ndibe..Thank you for the battles you wage for the good of all of us..You are such a great teacher and brother..Always fearless,always frank,always on the side of the downtrodden ...Thank you okey.
Its with articles like this that, we can defeat boko haram
Submitted by Deri (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 03:39.
Thanks for once-I have been waiting for an article such as this for a long, long time from Okey. Now that its finally here, methinks you deserve a thank you note and a hug, from good old Deri! Thanks once again!
Where is arna Jack Yakubu
Submitted by Otile (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 03:34.
Where is arna Jack Yakubu Gowon? Why is this man playing dead now, is it because he cannot arrogate to himself military leadership again? Has he lost his voice for good? To keep Nigeria one for oil is a task that must be done. Kafir.
RE: U re an agent of
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 03:32.
regardless of whether the columnist is on one payroll or the other, the Boko Haram issue is still a serious one. And its time that the government realised that Nigeria is in a tight spot, I think that's the main message of the column. There may not be as much terror as described but there is terror nevertheless.
@Hamilton danks! Hence Normadic education for the Fulanis
Submitted by Deri (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 03:25.
1991 April In Katsina, several lives are lost. Sh?ite sect in Katsina led by Malam Yahaya Yakubu stirs up trouble. At the end of April, in Tafawa Balewa (Bauchi State) over 200 lives are lost, and property and 20 churches are destroyed.* 1991 October 14- 15 . In Kano, the attempt of the Izala sect to stop Rev. Bonnke from preaching becomes violent Thousands of lives are lost and property destroyed. *1992 February 6th and then May 15-16 Zango Kataf, Zaria, Kaduna State Communal clash becomes a religious clash, with lives and property destroyed Funtua (Katsina State). Kalakato religious sect assaults a village head. 50 lives are lost and property destroyed .*2001 October 12-14 In Kano, there are anti-American riots, because of USA intervention in Afghanistan. At least 350 are killed.Afam Chukwunwike. I am now a catholic. What about you Yom Yom-a Moslem or a catholic
your report is hear say
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 02:43.
Mr Okey Ndibe your write up is hear, you are not in Nigeria!!!
Police Trust Fund ...
Submitted by Uche J (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 02:28.
One mr Martins, another Obj-man (this Obj and corruption limited!), who was charged for embezzling the Police Trust Fund is moving freely in Nigeria.
All the former IGs of Police known for defrauding the Nigeria Police Force are walking freely with their loots and accompanying accolades of National Awards.
So, Okey, the problem is not whether the problems precede Jonathan; it is that PDP, with Jonathan a major player, has erased the logical relationship between crime and consequences exposing the Country to all characters of criminality.
BOKO HARAM
Submitted by Temitope (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 02:01.
It is very sad where we have found ourselves in Nigeria. The most alarming thing is that there is even no solution in sight to this boko haram menace and many other ills going on in Nigeria. The country is all messed up and rather than address the boko haram monster all the president could do is over double the price of petrol. This further shows that we just don't have a government and we all have to take our destinies in our hands.
U re an agent of
Submitted by Umar (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 01:24.
U re an agent of destabilisation. Wht do u mean by saying the next man or woman standing next to u in some state in the north is a bomb. U re distoting d facts and blowing d problem in d north out of propotion by comparing it with iraq or afghanistan.i learnt u re under d oayroll of those that predict ed d break of nigeria by 2015.
Another civil war is looming and it aint funny!
Submitted by Elmango Meat (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 01:02.
Goodluck is doing his best!
For the first time a manager of a backwater state who got to the substantive post by default; as a result of his boss being indicted of corruption, found himself deputy president to an incapacitated boss that admitted coming into power by means of a botched election, eventually kicking the bucket, becomes Nigerian acting and finally President.
Now the real test begins.
From one blundering indecision to another, Nigerians have been exposed to political experiment conducted by a Professional Zoologist who admits 'he looks slow' in decision making. Are we talking Amoebae here? When he acts, BH counter acts with even more forceful national unity threatening countermeasure.
I am not sure how Rueben Abati is able to explain away his boss, that is not my headache, my concern is another civil war is looming and it aint funny!
Its all about mental and psychological emancipation.
Submitted by Hamilton (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 00:27.
Sir, Boko Haram is chickens coming home to roost. The educational policy designed to frustrate poor families in the south, is today, a boomerang in Senator Jubrin Aminus face. As Executive Secretary of NUC he argued successfully that free education at all levels would widen the existing educational gap between the north and south, and therefore, should not be implemented. That policy succeeded in creating generations of uneducated, easily manipulated religious extremists in the north – a cesspool for boko haram adherents and recruitment reservoir for those who want to impose a state religion on us.
What is called for now is a coherent national education policy, with full support of the federal government, similar to what Action Groups did in the Old Western Region similar to the educational policies implemented by the Late Abubakar Rimi in Kano State in the second republic that won his administration a UNICEF Award. Details at Hamiltonatlarge.blogspot.com
