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Welcome To The National Conference Brought To You By Boko Haram By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

Welcome to the National Conference. My name is Ibrahim Yaya. I am the 20th spokesman of the Jamu’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad otherwise known as the Boko Haram.

Welcome to the National Conference. My name is Ibrahim Yaya. I am the 20th spokesman of the Jamu’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad otherwise known as the Boko Haram.

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After a careful study, we’ve decided to embrace the call for a National Conference. We’ve concluded that we only have two options. It is either we call for a National Conference by ourselves, while we can still talk to each other, or we wait until we cannot talk to each other and have the United Nations call a National Conference for us.
 
We, the Boko Haram sect, have chosen not to wait.
 
We believe that Nigeria as it is presently constituted is structurally flawed. We don’t know if it is working for you but it is definitely not working for us. We can no longer pretend that all is well. We can no longer continue to waste time, taking one step forward and two steps backwards. The next generation of our children must not be saddled with living a lie. We have a vision of a society we want to live in and we intend to create it In shaa’Allah.
 
So, we have started the talk. We speak loud and clear. We know that you have heard our voice. And we welcome you.
 
We understand that the world we see is different from the one you see. We are not going to apologize for that. We have placed our cards on the table. We want to see yours. We want those of you who have written your constitutions to bring it to the table. We want those of you who have designed your flags to bring it out of the closet.
 
It’s an insult to say that making Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan is our mission. We don’t care if it is Sambo or Sango that is president; we are committed to our mission. It is sheer ignorance to say that Northern elite, whose tails are behind their legs in fear of us, are the ones sponsoring us. When last did they see the Kalashnikov rifles? Couldn’t you all see that the likes of The Sultan of Sokoto are fighting to stay alive and relevant in the face of the avalanche that we represent? His suggestions on how to restructure the North to consolidate his powers are medicine after death. And for the experts who blame poverty as our source of fuel, you’re being rude to Allah and the four-century-old mission he gave us. Are we the only people who are poor?
 
What we want is very simple. We want to live in a country where the Quran is our Constitution. We want pure Sharia law. We do not want this adulterated diet Sharia you gave us. We want the real stuff so that our children can grow in a sanitized society. We do not intend to keep compromising until it is uncertain what we stand for. 
 
We have been presenting what we want. Some of you many not like them. We understand. Some of you who cannot stomach it may have to stay away from our heartlands. Tough luck! We do hope you will respect our rights to follow our hearts’ desires based on our value system.
 
Mind you, there are some people within our heartlands, including that 71-year old general who wants to fight for Nigeria again, who are against us and against this conference we have called. When you hear the general talk about the Doctrine of Nigeria’s Settled Issues, he is just foaming in the mouth. He has lost his soul and simply wants to protect his privileges in the corrupt enclave called Nigeria.
 
We don’t want to continue to live a life of lies like him. We have a vision that we want for ourselves. And we want it now. Our vision will leave him less powerful and less able to manipulate the rest of us. And that is why people like him in our midst are uncomfortable. In our new world, people like him will have to repent before they can find a place in it.
 
We recognize that since the onset of Nigeria, we have not really been asked what kind of society we want. The colonialists negotiated with few elite members of society. These negotiators did not consult us. Their eyes were set on the spoils of colonial masters’ leftover that they would inherit. We were not surprised that their experiment failed. The military that came in also became lords over the rest of us. They also negotiated with another group of elite when their own experiment failed. What we have today is another creation of the elite without the consent of the people.
 
We cannot continue to live in that bondage. We are adults now and we want to sit on the table and have our own say.
 
We are keeping all options on the table. Nothing is sacrosanct. We are not afraid of anything. We don’t have to remain in Nigeria and nobody must stay in it either. We are not interested in your oil if that will poison our spirit. We will make it by ourselves if only you infidels get out of the way for us to be great again like our forefathers.
 
The career politicians who are currently in the National Assembly do not represent the vision of this society we intend to create. Being a product of the imposed Nigerian society, they have no moral authority to represent us, neither do they have our interest at heart. Leaving a serious issue as the National Conference to these politicians is like using the nose as a flute. Waiting for another four years to try and vote in the right people who will tackle the issues in question amounts to denying the reality of Nigeria’s flaws and the flaws in the current system that will always produce its own kind.
 
Those of you afraid of a National Conference have always said that it is a recipe for disaster. Oh well, disaster is already upon us. We might as well plunge in and fix things.
 
Even those who do not care are beginning to behold the National Questions. “There is a National Question when citizens of the same country do not have the same rights in their homeland. There is a National Question when some citizens of a country are not free to live in peace anywhere they so wish. There is a National Question when some citizens of a country are not able to get permanent employment in some parts of their country. There is a National Question when Cultural Rights, Social Rights, Economic Rights, Civil Rights, Religious Rights and Political Rights of some citizens of a country are being trampled upon.”
 
For those of you who are Christians, let me use your doctrine as stated by one of your champions for National Conference to explain this: “I have always compared what our colonial masters did to the baptism of a kid. When the kid grows up, it is his responsibility to be confirmed. Confirmation is a chance for the kid to accept, reject or modify all the vows his parents undertook on his behalf when he was a child. The confusion we are currently in has a lot to do with our refusal to pass through the process of confirmation. Another analogy is that of couples who are living together without wedlock. The conservatives would say 'living in sin'. Going by that definition, we Nigerians have been living in sin since that fateful day in 1914 when Lord Fredrick Lugard amalgamated the Northern and Southern Protectorates and let his girlfriend call it Nigeria. That was how our nation was born - without a purpose, without a history, and without the consent of its citizens.”
 
We, Boko Haram, intend to continue this discussion with anyone who wants to participate. We will keep pushing for our demands to be met, as forceful as we can. You can hate us all you want. You can try to annihilate us with foreign powers. But Allah is on our side. The more of us you kill, the more you inspire many more to join our cause. Our madrasas are many and our supply of suicide bombers is unlimited. And our reach is equally unlimited. Our voice will be heard in the North, South, East and West. So you either come to the discussion table right now or get used to hearing our voice.
 
Nothing can stop us until we achieve our ultimate goal. Nothing!
 
Allah Akbar.
 

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