Monday, 21 May 2012
A Threat Greater Than Boko Haram By Okey Ndibe
Okey Ndibe
Columnist:
Okey Ndibe Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan extended the charade that is Nigeria’s feeble, failing fight against anarchy by replacing Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim with a new man named M.D. Abubakar. Mr. Ringim’s rustication, and the hiring of Mr. Abubakar, came in the wake of a series of gruesome bomb attacks – in Madalla and Kano – by Boko Haram, a terrorist group whose anti-Western rant is surpassed in ferocity by its death-dealing.
If the move to fire Ringim and hire Abubakar was meant to indicate a new, firm resolve to square off against Boko Haram, the orchestration fell flat on its face. From the outset, Mr. Abubakar’s headship of the police was freighted with far from reassuring controversy.
No sooner was his appointment announced than several groups rose to question his suitability. It is now widely known that the Justice Niki Tobi commission that investigated a bloody sectarian flare-up in Jos in 2001 concluded that the new IG woefully shirked his duties – to say the least. The commission asserted that Mr. Abubakar, who was the Commissioner of Police in Plateau State at the time of the bloody feud between Muslims and Christians, received the most “scathing comments” in memoranda.
Numerous witnesses at the commission accused Mr. Abubakar of being “responsible…for causing the crisis or failing to curtail its severity or extent.” The commission found the testimonies compelling. It stated: “The inability of the police to handle the situation resulted largely from the poor handling of the crisis by…Abubakar at whose doorstep the blame must be laid.” The Tobi panel stated that, in the build-up to the bloodbath, as tensions rose, the then commissioner of police continued to mislead the state government with a “false sense of security that turned out to be fatal.” The commission concluded that Mr. Abubakar was “guilty of, at best, gross negligence and at worst, sheer incompetence.”
And the foregoing represented the commission’s milder rebuke. Turning up its rhetoric, Justice Tobi and other commissioners contended that the former state police chief – now inspector general – apparently lent advantage to the Muslim combatants when he, a, reassigned some divisional police officers as the crisis simmered, b, withdrew vehicles that would have given certain police units greater mobility to reach besieged areas, and, c, shielded mosques from attack whilst leaving churches unprotected and vulnerable to the incendiary rage of Muslims. The commission suggested that Mr. Abubakar retire from the police, or be compelled to leave.
It may well be that the Tobi Commission did a huge injustice to a stellar officer, but the public has no evidence that this is the case. Was President Jonathan unaware of the cloud over the new IG when he picked the man to head an embattled, inept, demoralized and deeply corrupt police? If the president knew of the Tobi strictures, did it not seem to him pertinent that such a freighted past had to be addressed, an explanation offered to Nigerians? If Mr. Abubakar’s role in the 2001 Jos crisis was beyond reproach, the onus is now on him – and on President Jonathan as well – to put Nigerians’ apprehensions about the new IG’s record to rest.
But the matter of Mr. Abubakar’s culpability in the Jos conflagration aside, it should be stipulated that the state of affairs in Nigeria simply does not conduce to an effective tackling of Boko Haram. A sturdy campaign against the militant group would demand more than a cosmetic gesture, far more than a mere change of guards. And that, in the end, is what the swapping of Abubakar for Ringim represents.
Boko Haram’s audacity, its ability to have its violent way – taking the war to the military, the police, the SSS etc – bespeaks a fundamental malaise in Nigeria. In fact, the group is, at best, a symptom of a debilitating, horrific disease: a space that for fifty years had laid unfounded, unproven, quite fraudulent claims to being a nation. Boko Haram’s gratuitous deployment of violence is, in a profound sense, a proclamation of the hollowness of the Nigerian “nation.”
It would be a mistake, I suggest, to perceive Boko Haram as an entity sworn to nullify or erase the Nigerian nation. That’s the official line – and lie – that the machinery of the Nigerian state delights in propagating. You can’t expunge what doesn’t exist; and Nigeria, as a viable nation, does not exist. Instead, one sees Boko Haram as a violent organism spawned in part by a deceptive claim. Were Nigeria not a lie sustained since British fiat cobbled it together, it would be difficult for a monster like Boko Haram to take root here.
Truth be told, the British did not leave us a nation; at best, they bequeathed a shell to us. Yes, we had the option to take the shell and mould it into whatever we chose, including a vibrant national community. Such an undertaking would have demanded volition and commitment on the part of all of us. Rather than embrace that creative challenge, we carried on as if mere word of mouth sufficed to translate a space into a national community. But a nation, any real nation, is more than the sum of its politicians’ speeches. A nation built on sheer political rhetoric, but no corresponding positive acts, can be no more than a pathetic pretender. We are caught, all of us, in the cauldron of that willful contradiction.
Those Nigerians who occupy one political office or another are most vociferous in invoking the Nigerian “nation.” They are the most liable to vend the falsehood that Nigeria’s identity as a nation is a settled question. The reason is not farfetched; it is naked self-interest. Their lips locked on the trough, they stood – and stand – to suck and suck from Nigeria’s resources. These men and women cleave to the romance of shepherding a nation when, in fact, all they do is liberally and greedily help themselves to the common harvest. Experts in the art of dispossession and the science of gluttony, they frequently marshal the police, the military and the SSS to fend off the hordes of Nigerians to enable them to gorge undisturbed.
The protesters who crowded the streets of Nigerian cities and towns in January had finally seen through the game. Or – since they have long been aware of the game – they had finally found the proper idiom to express their disgust. Unafraid to speak, they called the so-called chieftains by their proper names: thieftains. They realized that many of the ostensible leaders are, at bottom, terrorists whose greed has caused far more misery and deaths than Boko Haram’s bombs. To the extent that they saw beyond their oppressors’ facile efforts to sow seeds of ethnic suspicion in order to split the resistance, they began to imagine a different, inspirited Nigeria.
A space can’t lay serious claims to being a nation when patent criminals are hardly prosecuted and never jailed, but – as Wole Soyinka reminded us recently – are turbaned or regaled with chieftaincy titles and other insignia of honor. We can’t be a nation when elections are turned into selection fests in which voters have no say; judges routinely sell their verdicts to the highest bidder; legislators compete with the executive in devising looting schemes; corrupt governors and presidents are shielded by the constitution; connected politicians and office holders contrive to snatch the barest meals from the mouths of the wretched of the Nigerian earth but treat themselves and their own families to opulent escapades complete with private jets and carousals on foreign beaches; one Nigerian is grudgingly handed a monthly minimum wage of $120 while another – called a governor – carts away $2.2 million each month in a scam called security vote.
My Endorsement For Igbo Leader?
Last week, a certain Omunekokwu Eze wrote a piece published in at least two newspapers and titled “Who will step into Ojukwu’s shoes?” The writer quoted me as praising Governor Peter Obi of Anambra for taking extraordinary care of the late Ikemba Nnewi. I want to assure my readers that the said words ascribed to me were never mine. I am appalled that Mr. Eze would credit me with words I never wrote and sentiments I don’t hold. I find the whole exercise sickening.
Please follow me on twitter @ OkeyNdibe
(okeyndibe@gmail.com)
Comments
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@ Okey,you must be an idiot
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 7, 2012 - 06:36.
@ Okey,you must be an idiot for saying the North wannted to assasinate GEJ throw the Occufy Nigeria
Unbelievable
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North still control the real sector of the economy
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 2, 2012 - 11:38.
The reality is,you gready,selfish and ignorant southerners were all born in jealousy you will leave in it and die in it,becouse we have gone far far ahead of you and there is nothing you can do about it.better be loyal to us and enjoy life.
From the comments made so far
Submitted by American Igboman (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 15:09.
From the comments made so far about the contents of this article we can see how unbelievably divided Nigeria is between Northern contributors and Southern contributors.And in truth that is the real situation with Nigeria.It is also sad to note that no matter how vocal the opposition to tyranny is in Nigeria the Govt isnt moved in any way,instead they are emboldened to achieve greater levels of corruption and tyranny.What will be the result of this state of affairs in say twenty years,what will our grandchildrens Nigeria look like?
@Okey Ndibe
Submitted by Anonymous1 (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 14:58.
On Omunekokwu Eze, I don't understand your argument because he quoted what you wrote in a newspaper and on SR.
Did you mean that he used your words wrongly to support his argument? If so, then you were right.
Whats more?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 07:56.
Whats more needed to be told? Okey et al has continue to laid bare for our conscience to understand and our wisdom to appreciate the illusive transformation in the false contraption called Nigeria. We are wedged together and laid bare to suffer ignominy in the hands of few marauders whose delight rest on opulence and pillaging. Should anyone expect succor from these Lords of Manors then such should be prepare for wanton of penury. Its only when we are receptive to activeness that we can halt our progression into precipice.
Whats more?
Submitted by AbdRoheem (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 07:54.
Whats more needed to be told? Okey et al has continue to laid bare for our conscience to understand and our wisdom to appreciate the illusive transformation in the false contraption called Nigeria. We are wedged together and laid bare to suffer ignominy in the hands of few marauders whose delight rest on opulence and pillaging. Should anyone expect succor from these Lords of Manors then such should be prepare for wanton of penury. Its only when we are receptive to activeness that we can halt our progression into precipice.
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:18.
Okey is asking a similar question some of us are asking about how the whole Nigerian lawyers elected the present chairman as NBA president when he was party to the sentencing of Saro Wiwa of blessed memory. The new IGP, The NBA head and indeed, all of us, should not forget the law of retributive justice
We all have to join hands with President Goodluck and his Government to gradually correct the stinking state of the nation, now that they the aggrieved northern politicians failed in their bid to use the oil subsidy removal to assassinate the President who does not enjoy the support of the West.
We should start now to
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:17.
We should start now to suggest, criticise constructively and advise the President the Members of the National Assembly and the Judiciary on how best we can unravel and render useless the remaining neo colonialists who were affixed by the colonial powers to ruin our economy.
Like I said few weeks ago on my face book, Naira value must change from present value to one naira to one British pound and two American dollars because these are poor countries who have used information war to turn everything in their favour.
All we need to do is to 'blablabla'(a secret) before later on ban certain imported foods, merchandise and decree that all Nigerians should eat eba, pounded yam, cassava bread for the next ten years.
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:17.
They will smuggle but with the strengthening of the police with all unemployed school leavers and with proper orientation, we will start to dream of making planes instead of always living on borrowed time talking like a car without exhaust pipe. The uncalled holy war going on secretly between the southerners, (right from cape Verde through to Maputo, and to Mogadishu) and their ancestors they ignorant refuse to connect and when sometimes when they do they give credit to the paper tigers, is even tougher than Boko Haram but because we have eyes we cannot see, we believe falsely that accidents, earth erosion, untimely deaths, etc., are part of life. Capital No.
Would you as a parent or guardian who groomed your son to become the best Governor in the world feel happy living in a ghetto?
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:16.
IBB and company and their Boko Haram are saying that all Nigerians must embrace Shariah and Islam which is outdated and has not worked even in middle east, europe, far east, etc., just because the present crop of southern leaders are blindfolded with all kinds of toys called properties, instead of waking up to stop this stupidity which appears like another re colonization spring taking place to cremate the african child behaving as a nincompoop.
President Goodluck Jonathan is qualified for the award of The Jagungbade of Africa.
Would come your way again but remember me always and no power can destroy you in the name justice, honesty and sincerity. Its me the Nigerian born current Satguru Maharaj Ji.
We should start now to
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:15.
We should start now to suggest, criticise constructively and advise the President the Members of the National Assembly and the Judiciary on how best we can unravel and render useless the remaining neo colonialists who were affixed by the colonial powers to ruin our economy.
Like I said few weeks ago on my face book, Naira value must change from present value to one naira to one British pound and two American dollars because these are poor countries who have used information war to turn everything in their favour.
All we need to do is to 'blablabla'(a secret) before later on ban certain imported foods, merchandise and decree that all Nigerians should eat eba, pounded yam, cassava bread for the next ten years.
They will smuggle but with
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:15.
They will smuggle but with the strengthening of the police with all unemployed school leavers and with proper orientation, we will start to dream of making planes instead of always living on borrowed time talking like a car without exhaust pipe. The uncalled holy war going on secretly between the southerners, (right from cape Verde through to Maputo, and to Mogadishu) and their ancestors they ignorant refuse to connect and when sometimes when they do they give credit to the paper tigers, is even tougher than Boko Haram but because we have eyes we cannot see, we believe falsely that accidents, earth erosion, untimely deaths, etc., are part of life. Capital No.
Would you as a parent or guardian who groomed your son to become the best Governor in the world feel happy living in a ghetto?
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:14.
IBB and company and their Boko Haram are saying that all Nigerians must embrace Shariah and Islam which is outdated and has not worked even in middle east, europe, far east, etc., just because the present crop of southern leaders are blindfolded with all kinds of toys called properties, instead of waking up to stop this stupidity which appears like another re colonization spring taking place to cremate the african child behaving as a nincompoop.
President Goodluck Jonathan is qualified for the award of The Jagungbade of Africa.
Would come your way again but remember me always and no power can destroy you in the name justice, honesty and sincerity. Its me the Nigerian born current Satguru Maharaj Ji.
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:11.
Okey is asking a similar question some of us are asking about how the whole Nigerian lawyers elected the present chairman as NBA president when he was party to the sentencing of Saro Wiwa of blessed memory. The new IGP, The NBA head and indeed, all of us, should not forget the law of retributive justice
We all have to join hands with President Goodluck and his Government to gradually correct the stinking state of the nation, now that they the aggrieved northern politicians failed in their bid to use the oil subsidy removal to assassinate the President who does not enjoy the support of the West.
We should start now to
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:11.
We should start now to suggest, critisise constructively and advise the President the Members of the National Assembly and the Judiciary on how best we can unravel and render useless the remaining neo colonialists who were affixed by the colonial powers to ruin our economy.
Like I said few weeks ago on my face book, Naira value must change from present value to one naira to one british pound and two american dollars because these are poor countries who have used information war to turn everything in their favor.
All we need to do is to 'blablabla'(a secret) before later on ban certain imported foods, merchandise and decree that all Nigerians should eat eba, pounded yam, cassava bread for the next ten years.
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:10.
They will smuggle but with the strengthening of the police with all unemployed school leavers and with proper orientation, we will start to dream of making planes instead of always living on borrowed time talking like a car without exhaust pipe. The uncalled holy war going on secretly between the southerners, (right from cape verde through to maputo, and to mogadishu) and their ancestors they ignorant refuse to connect and when sometimes when they do they give credit to the paper tigers, is even tougher than boko haram but because we have eyes we cannot see, we believe falsely that accidents, earth erosion, untimely deaths, etc., are part of life. Capital No.
Would you as a parent or guardian who groomed your son to become the best Governor in the world feel happy living in a ghetto?
Okey Ndibe on New IGP
Submitted by MAHARAJ JI (not verified) on February 1, 2012 - 02:09.
IBB and company and their Boko Haram are saying that all Nigerians must embrace Shariah and Islam which is outdated and has not worked even in middle east, europe, far east, etc., just because the present crop of southern leaders are blindfolded with all kinds of toys called properties, instead of waking up to stop this stupidity which appears like another re colonization spring taking place to cremate the african child behaving as a nincompoop.
President Goodluck Jonathan is qualified for the award of The Jagungbade of Africa.
Would come your way again but remember me always and no power can destroy you in the name justice, honesty and sincerity. Its me the Nigerian born current Satguru Maharaj Ji.
The Agenda is on
Submitted by Artic Warrior (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 20:04.
Ha Ha Ha Okey
Submitted by Igbiki (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 19:37.
Ha Ha Ha Okey, Peter Obi your arch enemy? Omunekokwu Eze is either Peter obi's pyseodonym or na im send the man.
He is looking for a stamp of approval from one of Anambra's most outspoken and straight forward sons. But he cant eat his cake and still have it. Akalusia ngene, ekulu ngene nua. Akulusia abana, asua abana nni.
We are happy to have someone like you Prof.
Read Niki Tobi Report
Submitted by Lawal Ishaq (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 18:18.
I suggest you try and study the so-called Niki Tobi Report please. You will change your opinion.
''... Truth be told, the
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 16:45.
''... Truth be told, the British did not leave us a nation; at best, they bequeathed a shell to us...''
Truth be told, the British did not leave us a nation and they did not bequeath a shell to us.
on aburi we stand
Submitted by finedudu (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 16:36.
its only the aburi accord that really understands the hyranic nature of 9ja and has addressed the issues on way forward long before now.... on aburi accord we stand.
best writer in nigeria
Submitted by prince victor (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 15:41.
the article has been objective to a reasonable extent. okey quoted a commission of enquiry chaired by the honorable justice niki tobi. you cant summarily dismiss the reports of a commission of enquiry. the reputation of the honorable justice has never and will never be called into question because he is the finest judge nigeria has ever produced. the commission of enquiry indicted the current IG of workingin favor of a particular section so the inductive argument is that he will act similarly to what he did last time but i hope and pray that am proved wrong. the statement that alleges that the findings of the commission of enquiry is based on sentiment is a sentimental statement itself. no one can prove that the commission was fingered or programmed to indict the IG and if such assertion cannnot be proved, from where does have its foundation? obviously in sentiment.
Okey got it wrong!
Submitted by ndinigwe (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 15:21.
Donald Tal, Is it not better to appoint someone that is not tainted, accepted by all and no controversy? Those men are in abondance in the Nig Police. Why this abubakir who doesnt command the respect of all??
@ Jade
Submitted by kako-KUMO (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 15:19.
I am sorry, Jade, seems like its you who have problems discerning issues from the bottom up. If Okey has never written anything good about Nigeria government, it may be that the Nigeria govenment really has not done much worthy of Okey's praise. I think you just elbowed the respected professor like someone who talks nineteen-to-dozen.
GREATEST
Submitted by Dr. Ndubisi Okoye (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 15:05.
Okey Ndibe! What can I say or tell you?
You are the greatest writer we uhave even better that other Nigerian great writers. I like you and will continue to read your writing.
Peter Obi A Drug Pusher and Criminal to be leader?
He must lead a gang of thieves not humanbeings. A drug pusher will always be a drug pusher. Peter Obi was my mate in CKC and was a very bad student. At UNN he made the worst result in the whole schole because he was selling drug. I can release his records here.
Dr. Ndubisi Okoye aka BisiOye
GREATEST
Submitted by Dr. Ndubisi Okoye (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 15:04.
Okey Ndibe! What can I say or tell you?
You are the greatest writer we uhave even better that other Nigerian great writers. I like you and will continue to read your writing.
Peter Obi A Drug Pusher and Criminal to be leader?
He must lead a gang of thieves not humanbeings. A drug pusher will always be a drug pusher. Peter Obi was my mate in CKC and was a very bad student. At UNN he made the worst result in the whole schole because he was selling drug. I can release his records here.
Dr. Ndubisi Okoye aka BisiOye
FRAIL LOOKS
Submitted by TEXTEX (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 14:56.
Frail you look, just like your ideas in this biased writeup. Was the present NSA not indicted in various reports to have had sympathy to Niger delta militants(at leas one of the reports was released on this medium). And you didn't see that Mr Frail Looks. I weep for you people.
Well Said!
Submitted by tonsoyo (not verified) on January 31, 2012 - 14:18.
Well said Prof, nothing surprises me about this President again...his actions are reprensible and sometimes disgusting.
This President who appointed a man that has once been recommended for dismissal as the head of the same organization also appointed Parry Osayande who has been in charge of Police Commission for years to head its Reform.
You will start to wonder what the IQ of the President is. The same man has been in charge of Police, if he has any good ideas why the need for reform? If you are going reform why apointing the same man who has supervise the sorry state of the Police to head the reform?
We have a problem in Nigeria.
