I don’t envy President Goodluck Jonathan. Nobody should wish even his worst enemy to be in the president’s seemingly precarious situation. Nobody assumes the presidency to preside over the decimation of the same people he swore on oath to protect. Nobody works so hard to contest election and win the highest political diadem in the land only to watch the gradual but systematic devastation of the country.
Ikechukwu Amaechi
But politicians all over the world have thick skin. It is even more so in this clime where quest for public office is not necessarily for altruistic reasons. And if the idea behind the unrelenting carnage in the country is to wear Jonathan out, the evil minds behind the plot seem not to be succeeding. That explains why he can afford to dance in Kano less than 24 hours after dozens of innocent Nigerians were massacred at his backyard in Nyanya, on Monday.
But the country is in a big mess. And nothing shines the light on the hopelessness of the situation more than the abduction of over 129 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, last week by armed bandits and the spurious claim by the military that it had rescued 121 of the girls.
It took a denial by the principal of the school and the anguished parents of the girls for the military High Command to retract its earlier statement. The Defence Headquarters spokesman, Maj. General Chris Olukolade, was forced to say the truth.
“In the light of the denial by the principal of the school, the Defence Headquarters wishes to defer to the school principal and governor’s statement on the number of students still missing and retract (the) … earlier statement while the search continues,” Olukolade said.
So, if only 20 of the abducted students have been seen, why would the military claim otherwise? As if that was not bad enough, the girls were said to have escaped from their abductors, rather than being rescued by the military. So, how many of such claims in the past were specious? Could that explain why even when the President and his military commanders claim that Nigeria is winning the war against insurgency, the terrorists would drive in convoy to unleash mayhem in states under emergency rule?
Truth be told, there is nothing to be proud of being a Nigerian today. The country needs help, so do Nigerians.
All hands must be on deck. All men of goodwill must join hands in combating terrorism otherwise we are all doomed. I have heard of the conspiracy theory which claims that the Boko Haram phenomenon was a creation of the Northern political elite with the sole aim of forcing Jonathan’s hand in 2015.
Maybe!
But the fact still remains that Boko Haram became a reality long before Jonathan became President. If this school of thought really exists, it should have dawned on its philosopher kings by now that the only thing that can stop Jonathan from contesting the 2015 Presidential election is death. And it is not likely that Boko Haram bombs will ever reach a man who, even before he goes in to take his bath in preparation for a trip, the entire stretch of road that he will use to the airport and the airport itself are shut down. So, how will the Boko Haram get near Jonathan to scare him aware from the presidency?
In any case, the decision to contest or not to in 2015 is not Jonathan’s alone to take. His wife, the First Lady, Patience, who covets power even more than the President, will never allow the husband “abdicate the throne” even if Boko Haram succeeds in smuggling the bomb into Aso Rock. Moreover, the Ijaw nation that sees in Jonathan a God-given, lifetime opportunity to govern Nigeria, will never agree that Jonathan comes home in 2015 without running for the presidency, his personal inclination notwithstanding.
So, assuming that this conspiracy theory is correct, are the conspirators so daft that they can’t see the futility of their evil plot? Are they so dippy and stupid that they can’t appreciate the fact that at the end of the day, and whatever the cause they claim to be fighting for, human life is being wasted senselessly?
I was in Abuja on Monday when the bomb went off in Nyanya, killing, according to government account, 75 people and injuring hundreds more. Most, if not all the victims were innocent Nigerians who went to the motor park to board a buses that would take them to their places of work. Nyanya is one of the most densely populated suburbs of Abuja metropolis. At the time the bomb exploded, the motor park was a beehive of activities. So, whoever planted that bomb wanted maximum destruction and maximum destruction he got. And you ask: For what purpose?
I couldn’t go to the bomb blast site but I went to the National Hospital and the General Hospitals in both Asokoro and Maitama where most of the victims, both the dead and the living, were taken to. I saw terrified Nigerians who came wailing to seek information about their beloved ones. I saw mangled bodies of Igbo, Hausa Fulani, Yoruba, Ijaw, etc., Moslems and Christians, agnostics and atheists. The bomb did not discriminate. It simply decimated Nigerians.
Therefore, whoever is orchestrating this butchery hates Nigeria and is a common enemy. And the only way to overcome is to collectively fight this mutual enemy. That is why the finger of blame that both the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are pointing at each other is inane.
The President called an expanded Security Council meeting on Thursday and left out the APC Governors. How can such attrition help in solving the problem at hand?
I got an interesting call from a friend in London on the day bomb ripped, literally, the soul of Nyanya. He was emphatic that the exacerbating insecurity in the country is the handiwork of fifth columnists who are playing a sinister game. He thinks the ultimate goal is to have a change of government through the barrel of the gun. “Ikechukwu, I have been there and I know what I am saying. I know the signs. Let these bomb blasts continue and you will see what will happen,” was his response to my incredulity. At that point, I didn’t know what to say again because he is in a position to know what he was saying.
But my take on the whole saga is this; whoever is responsible for this carnage and for whatever reason does not mean well for the country. Moreover, it cannot lead to any of the touted outcomes. For instance, if the idea is to Islamise Nigeria as Boko Haram claims, it is not possible. If the goal is to stampede Jonathan out of office or to intimidate him out of the 2015 Presidential election, again, it won’t work. And if it is true that some fifth columists are using the bomb blasts as alibi to foment trouble, there will be no Nigeria for anyone to rule when that happens.