Let’s face it; Nigeria can’t, and is structurally unfit to, fight
terrorism. A people who cannot run a democracy long thirsted for are
only qualified to be the yes-men of colonial governments, which is what
the so-called heroes of our past had done, for which they even earned
their Queen’s medals, long before we realised that the foundations that
hold our mud-built nationhood is badly done—bad is not irreparable. But
how reparable are our security lapses, since the coming of the
militants? Amnesty, yes amnesty I agree, is the easiest way to hamper
our exploding mortality rate.
As I reflected on the state of our despair in the rough hands of Boko
Haram insurgents, especially the killings in Baga town in northern
Borno when two elephants, the task force and the terrorists, fought, I
was attracted to the misadventures of the Nigerian journalist Ahmad
Salkida. He remains the only Nigerian reporter, as far as I know, who
has reported extensively on the psyche and ideology and militancy of the
sect. In a sane country, with brains for security and intelligence, our
bogus security votes may be invested in this journalist. Unfortunately,
Nigeria couldn’t protect him, hence he fled the country. Just like
that!
Of course, I too wouldn’t have given exile a second thought if I were
in his dilemma. 185 citizens killed and our world is still the same.
NTA is still airing pro-government propagandas only the imbecile watch.
The Nasir El-Rufais are still tweeting some useless budget statistics to
their ego-massaging crowds. And the Dino Melayes, drama queens, are
still screaming that assassins had come for them and that everybody is
just their antagonist. And the Femi Fani-Kayodes are still writing some
poems of the semi-literate and bragging over these intellectual
delusions. And the activists of past student unionism days are here
boasting over who spent the most days in General Babangida’s prison.
These are the activists who have chosen to fight for these people, yet
all they could offer are tweets and status updates. None makes an
attempt to ensure media coverage and exacting of the massacres; none
bothers to really task the government with upholding the sanctity of our
lives; and, perhaps, none bothers to call the attention of
international human rights bodies, which is what we are good at, to
Baga; just a few taps on keyboards and keypads from their
air-conditioned rooms and offices… dazall! Their brand of
activism is only to tweet an insult on the presidency and how their
absence in this cabinet, whereas they were no better in their days,
seems to be a loss. How we embrace their Out-of-Office syndrome as
solidarity with our kind I don’t know!
Ahmad Salkida’s latest interview with blogger Abang Mercy takes us on
a soul-depressing journey down the precipice of a misfortune initiated
by an armed circus that calls itself Nigerian security organisation. The
uncontrollable storm that is now Boko Haram militancy was, according to
Salkida, born with the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the sect,
alongside “hundreds of sect members and other innocent bystanders” under
a seeming conspiracy championed by the then Governor of Borno State,
Ali Modu Sheriff, and taken over by the Federal Government. “I guess
that crisis in July 2009 was never meant to be prevented by the
government of President Umar Yar’adua,” says Salkida, who also says he
had unrestricted access to Mohammed Yusuf and was even to meet him on
the day he was executed but for unjustified detention by agents of our
security circus. That was the beginning of a war for which the sect
reacted the wrong way, with reckless monstrosity; the killings of
innocent Nigerians, churchgoers, social development workers, dissenting
Muslims and other non-aligned citizens, all in retaliation of the
extra-judicial killings of their leader and members. They have carried
out evils which have outdone the jackboot attempts by the Federal
Government to stamp them out. I think the Nigerian security circus must
be regretting the unfortunate day they provoked a downpour whereas they
had no umbrellas. The rain, however, has beaten us enough, and, yes, we
need to find a way to resolve our differences and unscrew the lids off
our egos. You can never fight a man who is ready to die! It is a good
thing that the Federal Government hides its inability to crush who it
earlier branded “ghosts” under a bogus amnesty. But is Boko Haram being
approached the right way? Hear Abang Mercy and Ahmad Salkida:
Abang: Do you agree for Amnesty to Boko Haram as proposed by some politicians and religious leaders?
Salkida: If you read my last interviews with Abul Qaqa, he has
always said that if amnesty means forgiveness then they are the ones
that should forgive government for the wrong done to them in 2009.
According to them many Nigerians don’t see what they undergo instead it
is only what they do that is easily shown in the media. And I think
issues as sensitive as amnesty suppose to have been tabled first through
a trusted mediator who has access to the leadership of the sect before
you take it to the media. The sect as I understand heard about the
amnesty on the pages of newspapers. Abang, how would you feel if you
heard about your marriage proposition with a man from a third party and
not from the man? I think you will feel irritated at best.
These past years I have been struggling to really understand the
brand of marijuana smoked by the occupants of Aso Rock. Everything from
them has been flawed and logically dumb, from their proposed (sorry,
partial) removal of fuel subsidy to the imposition of Cassava Bread
project on uninterested citizens. How can anyone organise a wedding
fanfare without the consent of the groom—which in this scary case is
Boko Haram?
While it’s morally impossible for me to sympathise with Boko Haram,
counting the deaths it recorded in its rash of retaliation, we must
remind the members of our security circus to be wary of the manner they
kill innocent citizens. Extra-judicial killings, and the enjoyed
impunity, are the reasons we are in this mess. This is not the time for
expressive prose; this is the time to resist having our intelligences
turned into volley balls. First, which Boko Haram is the government
offering amnesty? Second, Ahmad Salkida has declared that any other,
including the so-called Abdulaziz’s, aside from Mallam Shekau-led group
is a fraud. Third, if the government proposes a genuine amnesty, what
happened in Baga? Fourth, if Boko Haram was in the know of amnesty, and
has agreed to be part of it, we need an explanation for the Baga
massacre!
I feel that Ahmad Salkida knows more than he can ever express in an
interview. And being a victim of our police/military brutalities, it’s
understandable that he does not trust our gun-toting men anymore. So
long as the soldiers and the policemen treat every innocent citizen as
suspects and those killed as collateral damages, for so long is our
fight against terrorism lost. The boy who lost his mother is already an
enemy of the state, and his aunties and sisters his supporters. That is
what ill-planned counter-terrorism showoffs cause. Let whoever labels
Ahmad Salkida a Boko Haram member do so, but this mess can only be
redeemed by the Ahmad Salkidas, not by a Cabal tasked with doing what
they are good at—arguing in air-conditioned conference rooms and hiring
small boys like us to ghostwrite their exchanges of “exotic” grammars.
May God save us from us!
By Gimba Kakanda
Blueprint Newspapers (26/04/2013)
source http://gimbakakanda.wordpress.com
source http://gimbakakanda.wordpress.com
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