Jonathan's Proscription of Boko Haram
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shina7...@yahoo.com
Jun 6, 2013, 5:37:44 PM6/6/13
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Dear Forumites,
Please permit me to offload my recent worries triggered by the news of the proscription of Boko Haram as a terrorist group. This followed the state of emergency in three northern states.
My worry is this: Why did Jonathan wait till now to get to this critical point after countless innocents have died gruesomely?
First hypothesis (the most popular): He's afraid to step on political toes. Or, even clueless about the whole security conundrum (if it really is that in the first place).
Second hypothesis: The security predicament is really beyond his utmost and sincere efforts. Terrorism has, since 9/11, assumed a gargantuan global dimension beyond the capacity of a single state.
Third hypothesis: Everything is really part of Machiavellian statecraft from the beginning (or triggered at some point by some ingenious calculation within the dynamics of realpolitik). I mean, 2015 is fast approaching and his candidature is already a point of debate. What better way to capture the besieged imagination of a grateful nation than the frantic motion of security alertness so suddenly since 2009?
Is the third hypothesis too far-fetched? Then, why wait till now for proscription? I'm just exercising my fundamental human right to be curious.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
Please permit me to offload my recent worries triggered by the news of the proscription of Boko Haram as a terrorist group. This followed the state of emergency in three northern states.
My worry is this: Why did Jonathan wait till now to get to this critical point after countless innocents have died gruesomely?
First hypothesis (the most popular): He's afraid to step on political toes. Or, even clueless about the whole security conundrum (if it really is that in the first place).
Second hypothesis: The security predicament is really beyond his utmost and sincere efforts. Terrorism has, since 9/11, assumed a gargantuan global dimension beyond the capacity of a single state.
Third hypothesis: Everything is really part of Machiavellian statecraft from the beginning (or triggered at some point by some ingenious calculation within the dynamics of realpolitik). I mean, 2015 is fast approaching and his candidature is already a point of debate. What better way to capture the besieged imagination of a grateful nation than the frantic motion of security alertness so suddenly since 2009?
Is the third hypothesis too far-fetched? Then, why wait till now for proscription? I'm just exercising my fundamental human right to be curious.
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
Jun 7, 2013, 12:16:36 PM6/7/13
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan has explored various options in addressing the Boko Haram crisis,the last before the state of emergency being the dialogue and amnesty option spearheaded by Northern elders and even by Bishop Kukuh and supported by a Catholic bishop.
He has therefore run the gauntlet of the various contrastive positions on Boko Haram, with Northern leaders being divided over its meaning for the region, in particular, and for Nigeria,in general, some describing it as caused by poverty, Sanusi, Central Bank Governor, describing it as related to lopsided allocations in favor of the South South, where the President is from, while some Northern states are starved, others describing the Islamic terrorist evangelists Boko Haram as equivalent to South South Niger Delta militants fighting in relation to the despoiling of their environment by the country's reliance on oil from the region as its main means of revenue, militants fighting in a very different manner, devoid of the murders and efforts to supplant the government that Boko Haram is known for and with whom the state came to an understanding with, a tired and ridiculous conflation of Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants Buhari, the main Northern Presidential aspirant, was unwise enough to identify with recently.
Buhari dedicated himself to using the crisis as a political tool, describing Boko Haram as a government initiative, a view once shared by a spectrum of opinion in the North, along with beliefs that Boko Haram attacks are actually attacks by Christians and non-Muslims trying to discredit Muslims.
There was also a significant degree of resentment over the presence of law enforcement officers in the North addressing the crisis, partly due to the negativities at times demonstrated by these officers, the fact that informing on the terrorists often led to fatal counter attacks against informants and general frustration over the restrictions created by the military presence.
Having explored the implications of various shades of opinion, and suggestions of tackling the problem, particularly coming from the North,such as replacing the National Security Adviser with the Sokoto prince, Dasuki, and offering dialogue and amnesty to the terrorists, and the terrorists were foolish enough to respond by escalating attacks, Jonathan then let hell loose on them, with the various arms of government and the Northern Governor's Forum and possibly the broad mass of opinion in the North behind him.
Nobody can now reasonably assert that the self described Muslim champions were not given a chance to come in from the cold and live normally.
Reports also indicate, with significant certainty, that the terrorists are being routed from their various strongholds, particularly in Borno state and in forests where they maintained camps, their ammunitions depots being steadily discovered and dismantled, as with the recent discovery in Kano.
The Boko Haram war is a fight on ideological, military and political fronts and all fronts must be adequately addressed if the war is to be won.
The multifaceted character of the war may be seen as reflected in the pace of movement towards addressing it conclusively.
In terms of assistance from other countries, the Joint Task Force that was permanently stationed in parts of Northern Nigeria to address the crisis is a multinational task force, and I seem to understand Nigeria as working with the countries bordering Northern Nigeria to block flight of terrorists to those countries.
Right from the escalation of terrorist activity after Jonathan assumed power, the crisis has been further problematised by ambivalence within Northern Nigeria in relation to the current government in the wake of disappointment over the failure of the North to produce the President.
I see the crisis as changing the landscape of Nigerian politics and even the sociology of Northern Nigeria, for the better.
Within Northern Nigeria, it has led to significant soul searching about the future of the society in terms of relationships between modernity as represented by Western civilization and Islamic civilization, to questioning of relationships between the average person, on one hand, and the state, traditional leadership and the Northern political and economic elite, on the other, and to challenges to such traditional Islamic institutions as the Almajiri system of education, seen by some as a centre of recruitment of socially disadvantaged youth for the terrorist campaign, some advocating its termination, another view suggesting a modification, or replacement with something else.
The relationship between Northern Nigeria and the rest of the country has been significantly tried by the extremist group describing itself as speaking for the North, compelling people to question where they would want to belong and if the festering elements that have metamorphosed into this deadly group should continue to be condoned.
The cries that a military strongman like Buhari is required to resolve the crisis have been quelled. Notions of the North being a victim of sabotage have been dissipated by the rope given to the terrorists .
I see this crisis as almost equivalent to a second Nigerian Civil War with a different kind of borders, insidious borders,almost invisible, a difficulty of demarcation inscribed at the level of mind, space and action that made strategy more delicate and the eventual victory more decisive.
thanks
toyin
He has therefore run the gauntlet of the various contrastive positions on Boko Haram, with Northern leaders being divided over its meaning for the region, in particular, and for Nigeria,in general, some describing it as caused by poverty, Sanusi, Central Bank Governor, describing it as related to lopsided allocations in favor of the South South, where the President is from, while some Northern states are starved, others describing the Islamic terrorist evangelists Boko Haram as equivalent to South South Niger Delta militants fighting in relation to the despoiling of their environment by the country's reliance on oil from the region as its main means of revenue, militants fighting in a very different manner, devoid of the murders and efforts to supplant the government that Boko Haram is known for and with whom the state came to an understanding with, a tired and ridiculous conflation of Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants Buhari, the main Northern Presidential aspirant, was unwise enough to identify with recently.
Buhari dedicated himself to using the crisis as a political tool, describing Boko Haram as a government initiative, a view once shared by a spectrum of opinion in the North, along with beliefs that Boko Haram attacks are actually attacks by Christians and non-Muslims trying to discredit Muslims.
There was also a significant degree of resentment over the presence of law enforcement officers in the North addressing the crisis, partly due to the negativities at times demonstrated by these officers, the fact that informing on the terrorists often led to fatal counter attacks against informants and general frustration over the restrictions created by the military presence.
Having explored the implications of various shades of opinion, and suggestions of tackling the problem, particularly coming from the North,such as replacing the National Security Adviser with the Sokoto prince, Dasuki, and offering dialogue and amnesty to the terrorists, and the terrorists were foolish enough to respond by escalating attacks, Jonathan then let hell loose on them, with the various arms of government and the Northern Governor's Forum and possibly the broad mass of opinion in the North behind him.
Nobody can now reasonably assert that the self described Muslim champions were not given a chance to come in from the cold and live normally.
Reports also indicate, with significant certainty, that the terrorists are being routed from their various strongholds, particularly in Borno state and in forests where they maintained camps, their ammunitions depots being steadily discovered and dismantled, as with the recent discovery in Kano.
The Boko Haram war is a fight on ideological, military and political fronts and all fronts must be adequately addressed if the war is to be won.
The multifaceted character of the war may be seen as reflected in the pace of movement towards addressing it conclusively.
In terms of assistance from other countries, the Joint Task Force that was permanently stationed in parts of Northern Nigeria to address the crisis is a multinational task force, and I seem to understand Nigeria as working with the countries bordering Northern Nigeria to block flight of terrorists to those countries.
Right from the escalation of terrorist activity after Jonathan assumed power, the crisis has been further problematised by ambivalence within Northern Nigeria in relation to the current government in the wake of disappointment over the failure of the North to produce the President.
I see the crisis as changing the landscape of Nigerian politics and even the sociology of Northern Nigeria, for the better.
Within Northern Nigeria, it has led to significant soul searching about the future of the society in terms of relationships between modernity as represented by Western civilization and Islamic civilization, to questioning of relationships between the average person, on one hand, and the state, traditional leadership and the Northern political and economic elite, on the other, and to challenges to such traditional Islamic institutions as the Almajiri system of education, seen by some as a centre of recruitment of socially disadvantaged youth for the terrorist campaign, some advocating its termination, another view suggesting a modification, or replacement with something else.
The relationship between Northern Nigeria and the rest of the country has been significantly tried by the extremist group describing itself as speaking for the North, compelling people to question where they would want to belong and if the festering elements that have metamorphosed into this deadly group should continue to be condoned.
The cries that a military strongman like Buhari is required to resolve the crisis have been quelled. Notions of the North being a victim of sabotage have been dissipated by the rope given to the terrorists .
I see this crisis as almost equivalent to a second Nigerian Civil War with a different kind of borders, insidious borders,almost invisible, a difficulty of demarcation inscribed at the level of mind, space and action that made strategy more delicate and the eventual victory more decisive.
thanks
toyin
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EUGENE NWOSU
Jul 16, 2013, 5:44:13 AM7/16/13
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EUGENE NWOSU
Jan 31, 2014, 8:52:39 AM1/31/14
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