If, in view of her new claim to democracy, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) wishes to fulfill all righteousness; or is attempting to buy time; she could go ahead to negotiate with Boko Haram. But, I doubt if this would serve any useful purpose. I can hear someone saying that after all, we negotiated with the Niger Delta militants, so why not Boko Haram? Yes, but the situations are not the same.
If, in view of her new claim to democracy, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) wishes to fulfill all righteousness; or is attempting to buy time; she could go ahead to negotiate with Boko Haram. But, I doubt if this would serve any useful purpose. I can hear someone saying that after all, we negotiated with the Niger Delta militants, so why not Boko Haram? Yes, but the situations are not the same.
The Niger Delta issue is about resource control and justice for an apparently chronically marginalized people. In the main, we are all agreed that a problem exists in the Niger Delta, because it is so obvious that it cannot be denied or wished away, the only thing that we tend to differ on is how to solve it.
Hence the demands of the militants, as violent as they have been expressed, has been clear. The militants could be reasoned with and it was in the best interest of Nigeria to resolve the issue. On the other hand, the demands of Boko Haram are an entirely different kettle of fish. Their demands are of a religious nature, an issue that almost every Nigerian holds strong, inalienable feelings and beliefs about.
Secondly, the demands and aspirations of Boko Haram, strike at the very heart of the basic freedoms granted to every Nigerian by what is arguably her constitution, namely, the freedom to freely hold beliefs, and enter into associations, of their choice.
Thirdly, the Boko aspiration to Islamize northern Nigeria will only lead to chaos. We should not forget that northern Nigeria is not, and had never been a religiously or ethnically homogeneous area. Northern Nigeria has always comprised of diverse ethnicities and religions, most of whom have historically fought attempts to dominate them religiously or politically, by the northern Emirs.
Hence, any attempt to encourage Boko into thinking they can achieve their pipe dream will only raise old animosities and what we will get is a replay of the Jos scenario all over Northern Nigeria. Even, if they are able to achieve their dreams, the question is, and will Boko be content to stop at the bounds of northern Nigeria? The experiences of one Boko, of yore, should suffice here; this Boko it was who boasted that he was going to continue the jihad of Usumanu Dan Fodiyo, by dipping the Koran into the sea. He sadly, met a tragic and ignoble end before he could achieve this and that which threw Nigeria into a convulsion, subsequently.
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that all my fellow citizens of the proselytizing faiths should understand is that: the day will never come, when all of us will become Christians; neither will that day ever come when we will all become Muslims! Hence, we are better off learning to live with each other in the love and respect that each of our religions preaches, rather than embark on the self destroying path of trying to convert each other willy-nilly.
Additionally, religion is a very divisive and emotive issue, whose excesses we should be trying to contain now, before things get wholly out of hand.
Fourthly, Nigeria remains one of the few places in the World where the polio virus still thrives, no thanks to the Boko mentality which preaches against children having the polio jab, on account of its western origins. Meanwhile, these same Bokos did not object to their own grand children having the jab, while they were preaching to their followers to shun the vaccine.
Most sad and ironic in all this tragicomedy is the fact that Nigerian Doctors have led teams that have eradicated polio in other African countries- Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia, to mention but a few. Boko Haram, and other such groups, are driven by a bigoted, fundamentalist, theocratic ideology which takes a narrow, anachronistic and parochial world view. They view the world in terms of in-groups and out-groups.
According to their own interpretation of the Sharia, a set of laws they wish to impose on northern Nigeria, the world is divided into two, the Dar al Islam (House of Islam) and the Dar al Harb (House of Pagans). In their own view, the only business that someone in the Dar al Islam has with someone in the Dar al Harb is to subjugate, convert or kill them, excluding women and children.
Unfortunately, they do not observe this clause, each time they go on their killing spree. Furthermore, who gets classified into any of these two “Houses” is, in practice, on their own whim and not according to the provisions of the Sharia; which has mercifully bestowed second class citizenship, in the form of a dhimi, on some groups it recognizes as the “People of the Book” (Dar al Kitab).
In their opinion, the Nigerian state is kufur (unbelieving) and they are therefore not bound by any agreement they reach with it. If they observe any agreement with a kufur, it is more out of convenience than honor.
Hence, trying to reach an agreement with such a treacherous and irrational organization is an utter waste of time. How, and what, do you negotiate with an organization which parades a corps of highly (western) educated leaders; who then go on to preach to their followership that, western education is poison? This organization is crazy, dishonest and set in its beliefs, to be amenable to any rational change.
Another factor to consider is that religious fundamentalist are shrewd, manipulative and calculating people who are merely testing the waters to see what the Nigerian state will take. It should not be forgotten that attempts to introduce / extend the remit of Sharia laws dates back to the constituent assembly of 1977. The attempt was vigorously resisted, with a walk out by some northern delegates ensuing, after whom a compromise was reached; which allowed for the introduction of Sharia law into the Nigerian constitution, but with applications only in matters relating to personal and family issues. With that compromise, a modest success was achieved, in that; they were able to lift the profile of Sharia laws, from the regional (northern Nigeria) to the national level. While they bided their time, the groundwork for the eventual application of full Sharia laws did not stop, and of course attempts were going on in other directions to consolidate their gains.
One of these attempts was the clandestine and daring plan to smuggle Nigeria into the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1986, or thereabout, right under the nose of a Christian External Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, and a military Vice President, Ebitu Ukiwe; both of whom knew nothing about the scheme until it broke in the press. When Ukiwe was asked about this decision, he let the cat out of the bag by admitting that the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) never discussed any such matter as joining the OIC. With the outcry that ensued over Nigeria’s secret entry into OIC, they had to step back and accept a lower status i.e. “Observer”; but at least they had gained a foothold in the organization, no matter how insignificant it may sound.
The next opportunity to raise the Sharia issue was at Abacha’s constitutional conference, popularly known as the Confab. This generated a lot of controversy, until a compromise was reached to settle for the status quo. They again laid low and bided their time, until the erstwhile Governor of Zamfara state took the lead and introduced full Sharia law, in brazen contradiction of the Nigerian constitution. Unfortunately, the chief guardian and guarantor of the Constitution, and the FGN, switched into mute mode, in the hope that if they kept silent long enough the matter will “die a natural death”. Alas, it did not and other hitherto timid governors took a cue from the Zamfara example. The tragic consequences that their action left in its wake is now a matter of historical records.
The Nigerian state, if she is to be taken seriously, should rise up to the Boko challenge through intelligence and intelligence-led operations and not through futile negotiations with an organization that does not recognize her, in the first instance.
The current stop and search approach and the culture of punitive expedition by the army is also unhelpful. An insurgency, of the urban guerrilla type, as we are facing can only be won through hearts and minds. It should be realized that the greatest assets that an insurgency has is the populace from among which it operates.
No one so aptly expressed this point better than Jerry Adams; when, in response to the British government claim that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) does not have grassroots support, he said, to paraphrase him, that if all our supporters – housewives, farmers, artisans etc suddenly threw all our weapons into the street today, then the IRA is finished.
When the Nigerian Army, who is sadly yet to outgrow her congenital occupation army mentality , and develop a national army outlook; drags innocent people from their houses and shoots them in cold blood to avenge attacks on her patrols, she is not helping to win hearts and minds. She will get no information on Boko, no matter how hard she appeals. Mr. President also needs to ask and receive satisfactory answers to some pertinent questions, namely, under what circumstances did the leader of Boko come to die in Police custody?
Who and what are the affiliations of this man? Where is the funding for this organization coming from?
Finally, and by the way too, how is the FGN going to be sure that whoever they are negotiating with genuinely represents Boko? The problem with these type of organizations is the tendency to have them split along the lines of hawks and doves, because of the holier than thou mentality that often tend to pervade their leadership. Usually, militant groups that can be negotiated with do have some kind of political front or a channel of communication with them; do we have such in the case of Boko? Well, may be their faceless, well-connected, wealthy and powerful backers in high places will do?
Oluremi Olu
Openshaw, Manchester, United Kingdom
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