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The Same Old Song With A New Name

Feature Article The Same Old Song With A New Name
NOV 18, 2014 LISTEN

It is all so fresh in the memory of too many Nigerians.

No one now doubts that for more than three decades, from 1966 until the advent of democracy in 1999, Nigeria was unfortunate to be governed by ruthless military dictators who mindlessly exploited the national economy to their selfish advantage, and that of their family members and their cronies, leaving the country to bleed to death if it had to do so.


Except for those four years of civilian rule between 1979 and 1983, these military dictators took 33 good years to lay the foundation of the wrong direction governance in the country has gone today. It was during their despotic rule that the ground was tilled and wetted which ushered into Nigeria the era of rogue politicians and rogue businessmen, and foisted the political arena with the quality of politicians that have since been in control of affairs in the country.

To think that it took the military 33 years to give the democratic evolution of their country such a bloody nose!

The founding fathers of the Nigerian nation must be turning restlessly in their graves these days, seeing what their beloved country has been turned into. They were the ones who fought the political battle. Nigeria attained self rule in 1960. Six years on, in 1966, the military staged a coup de tat against the politicians which plunged the country into a civil war. And that war cost Nigeria over 3 million citizens and trillions of pounds in damage to investments.

Many people have claimed that sequential events which ultimately culminated in the civil war were ethnically provoked. That may be so. But it is a story for another day. What is important is that Nigeria fought a brutal civil war and came out of it with bruises, but somewhat clean.

It is a testimony of the rugged foundation the military laid during their reign that Nigeria's ethno-religious violence reached a crescendo during that short civilian rule of 1979 to 1983. Just one year into the Presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, in 1980 precisely, Kano, the largest city in Northern Nigeria, almost fell into the hands of Muslim fundamentalists, followers of the Islamic cleric, Maitatsine. That year, terrorists from the Maitatsine camp instigated riots in the colourful Northern city of Kano which resulted in the death of close to five thousand Nigerians.

In the military crackdown that followed, Maitatsine was killed.

The death of Maitatsine fuelled increased retaliatory violence which quickly spread across to other northern cities. The aftermath of that riot affected Nigerians for nearly the following 22 years.

In 2002, another self proclaimed Muslim cleric who was loyal to Maitatsine, Mohammed Yusuf, founded the sect that came to be known as Boko Haram in the North Eastern city of Maiduguri, capital of Borno State. He also established a religious complex and a school which attracted poor Muslim families from across Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Yusuf denounced the massive corruption he said had practically engulfed the police and government agencies. In such a way, he was able to warm himself into the hearts of many frustrated Muslims. He attracted many followers, especially among the myriads of unemployed youths who roamed the villages and cities of Northern Nigeria.

When Boko Haram, which has today metamorphosed into a seemingly intractable insurgency showed up its ugly head twelve years ago, it wasn't so much of a surprise to pundits who had keenly followed the ethnic aspirations and yearnings of many Nigerians, especially those from the North. Poverty and illiteracy were ravaging great swathes of the Northern territory. But even at that, no one thought the insurgency was going to become as hydra-headed as it has turned out to become today.

When Mohammed Yusuf was apprehended and detained, he told the Nigerian law enforcement agencies that they could kill him, the messenger, but they would never be able to kill the message. He sounded prophetic then. But today, it is difficult to see him as the revered prophet of his adherents which he was once looked upon as, because there seem to be more than one message coming from more than one Boko Haram. One message appears to come from the religious-cum-political Boko Haram. Another appears to come from the economic-cum-brigandry Boko Haram.

Nigerians need to appraise these two segments of the insurgency more closely to fully understand what the government of Dr Jonathan is into. Nigerian leaders need to come to grips with these two different characteristics of Boko Haram. Boko Haram camps are fragmented and that is why anyone who claims to be speaking for Boko Haram is not speaking for all of them. At least, recent developments have proved that. It is the reason the government of Dr Jonathan is unable to negotiate with the insurgents.

Religious-cum-Political Boko Haram

Mohammed Yusuf's religious as well as political goal was to create an Islamic state in the North of Nigeria, and if possible convert the entire nation into an Islamic country.

It was a tall dream.

Yusuf knew he had to do something about his dream, and quickly too. So, he ensured that his “religious school” became recruiting ground for would-be jihadists. Boko Haram gradually but steadily became increasingly radicalised. This led to a violent uprising in July 2009 in which their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was captured. Yusuf died in police detention.

For a while Nigerians breathed sighs of relief. They thought they had seen the last of the violence which these relatively insignificant Muslim rebels had been perpetrating in the Northern parts of the country over the years. But that was not to be.

By 2010, there were serious religious disturbances between Muslims and Christians in the Northern city of Jos, capital of Plateau State, which left several hundreds dead or injured. As a result, the insurgency unexpectedly resurged. This time, their modus operandi was marked by their increasingly frequent and more sophisticated attacks on institutions they figured as soft targets. By 2011, they had already bombed several police buildings and the United Nations headquarters in Abuja. The government instituted a state of emergency in the three most affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe at the beginning of 2012. The following year, Parliament extended the state of emergency to cover the entire northeast of the country.

Despite these and other government measures, Boko Haram has been in control of significant parts of the Nigerian territory in and around their home state of Borno since the middle of 2014. It is possible that part of their grand plan is to capture Maiduguri, the capital of the state, from where the insurgency originated. It is also possible that members of the Religious-cum-Political Boko Haram are not working in isolation. The group is known to be linked to other organisations with similar missions. The increasing sophistication of the group's attacks has led observers to speculate that it is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, which is known to be active in NigerRepublic. And if the Deputy Governor of Borno State (2003 – 2011), Alhaji Adamu Dibal, is to be believed, Boko Haram had ties with Al Qaida. The two terrorist organisations only broke up when Al Qaida realised that Yusuf was an unreliable person. Moreover, Boko Haram has been linked with the Arewa People's Congress, APC, which is the militia wing of Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF.

The ACF remains the core political body that represents the interests of the leaderships of Northern Nigeria. Known to be well-funded, with military and intelligence expertise, the organization has the capability of engaging in military action, including bombing. To that extent, in fact, the co-founder of the APC, Sagir Mohammed, was unequivocal when he publicly stated: "We believe we have the capacity, the will-power, to go to any part of Nigeria to protect our Northern brothers in distress ... if it becomes necessary, if we have to use violence, we will have to use it to save our people. If it means jihad, we will launch our jihad.”

Naturally, those words did not come as a surprise to many Nigerians. For decades, Northern politicians and academics had continued to voice their fundamental opposition to Western education. In a recent development, it was revealed that no fewer than 195,000 students have been displaced as a result of the activities of Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. A breakdown of the situation showed that 7,135 students hail from Adamawa State, 113,635 from Borno State and 73,894 from Yobe State. The revelation was made by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Chairman of the Steering Committee on Safe School Initiative, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The Minister said that so far, 267 schools have been affected by the activities of the insurgents. These are 73 in Adamawa State, 171 in Borno State and 56 in Yobe State. Okonjo-Iweala confirmed that 115 schools were completely destroyed, with 101 of them in Borno State, while139 other schools were partially destroyed. The irony of all this is that everything these Muslims are using in the propagation of their campaign, from chalk to bullet and from vehicles to bombs were the result of Western education!

If poverty alleviation measures are needed to placate the anger of these insurgents, as I presume they are, Northern leaders should realise that education is the key to poverty alleviation. When young Muslims are educated, they will be able to think for themselves. They will be able to stand against anyone trampling on their fundamental human rights. They will be able to get the government to create jobs for school leavers in need of jobs. They will even be able to create jobs for themselves, if the need arises. The most important thing is to acquire the skills. Yes. Muslim education can only teach them how to live the good life. It will teach them how to be good wives and authoritative husbands. But only science and technology will teach them how to make money in this 21st century. That knowledge is what they need in this computer age. To be computer literate is to acquire Western education. Someone should please tell the Northern leaders that!

In many towns in the North, thousands of people from the border areas between Nigeria and Cameroon continue to seek refuge from the brutal onslaught of Boko Haram. Completely brutalised and terrified, people from these border areas have also escaped to Niger and Chad. According to UN figures, from early August until now, about 700,000 people from the affected Nigerian states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa have been driven from their ancestral homes.

The questions that agitate the minds of most Nigerians now are: why does the Nigerian army seem incapable of summarily silencing Boko Haram? Why are the insurgents making more and more incursions into Nigerian towns and villages and the country seems so helpless about these violent attacks on its citizens? And of-course, what is happening to the assistance Western countries like USA, France and the UK promised the Nigerian government?

In the midst of all this confusion, is it any doubt that conspiracy theories are beginning to postulate that definitely there are links between Boko Harm on the one hand and Nigerian politicians and the military that sympathise with their cause on the other hand? Some Nigerians even think there is direct link between the Nigerian army and the terrorist group, considering the fact that most times military secrets are leaked to the insurgents who take advantage of the situation to humiliate the national army in battlefronts.

Otherwise, both the Nigerian military and the Boko Haram militants have modern military equipment at their disposal. But while Boko Haram changes its aggression tactics as if it was changing clothes, and continues to expand its reach despite the state of emergency imposed on the three affected states over a year ago, the military appears to be losing control of great swathes of the nation's territories which they are supposed to safeguard. In other words, the military is handicapped in the face of internal sabotage and cannot really go far in their rescue mission because of this handicap. So, there may be elements of truth in the suspicion that members of the religious-cum-political Boko Haram actually have the sympathy of some Nigeria's military men who want to see the North turned into pure Islamic Caliphates. Consider the territorial gains made by the insurgents and the fact that not only are they still keeping the more than 220 schoolgirls they kidnapped from Chibok in April, recently they completely over-ran Chibok and some other important cities and villages, and hoisted their Boko Haram flag in the city centres.

Indeed, developments in the war against the insurgents have made many Nigerians doubt that their fairly well-equipped army is truly willing and able to stop Boko Haram militants from continuously terrorizing the North. But they need not doubt any more. They only need to see the relevance between the days of military rule in Nigeria and what the nation is experiencing today. It is the same old song in another name. What is happening today is only a hangover from the days of military reign of dictatorship. It is not love for Nigeria. It is a war of who gets what in the scheme of things in the country, fuelled by raw impunity.

At the international level, there is no sign that the military assistance the US, Britain and France promised Nigeria months ago is happening. On 14 April 2014, President Jonathan said: “Nigeria and other countries in the sub-region will continue to cooperate and co-ordinate efforts to combat the Boko Haram menace. The Heads of State have agreed that each country will contribute one battalion of troops to the international force set up to patrol the border areas in line with the Resolution of the Lake Chad Basin Commission. France, the USA and the UK will extend technical assistance to achieve this objective.”

So far, nothing seems to be happening and Nigerians are beginning to wonder if the relationship between their country and her foreign allies is really as cordial as the authorities say they are. The excuse America gives for not selling weapons to Nigeria, for instance, remains as watery as their American soup. If I may ask: which one is more important to America – the human rights of over 170 million Nigerians whose lives are in perpetual peril of termination by a mindless group of insurgents or the human rights of a few hundreds of criminally-minded insurgents who, for no justifiable reason, are as determined as hell to ruin the lives of millions of their innocent countrymen, women and children? Now, at-least we know that truly, the heart of man can be deceptive.

Economic and Brigandry Boko Haram:

At the economic level which ex-Senate President and former minister, Dr Iyorchia Ayu addressed at the 5th Convocation Lecture of Adekunle Ajasin University, the don pointed to the fact, among other things, that the oil wealth beneath the Chad Basin is also fanning the embers of the insurgency in the North East of Nigeria. The Lake Chad Basin is estimated to have a reserve of 2.32 billion barrels of oil, and 14.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The oil and gas are flowing underground, across the seven countries that share the Lake Chad Basin: Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroun, Sudan, Algeria and Central African Republic.

Algeria which had self rule in 1962 has an area of 93,451 km2 or 3.9% of the total area of the Basin, with 3.9% of the country in the Basin. Cameroon which had self rule in 1960 has an area of 50,775 km2 or 2.1% of the total area of the Basin, with 10.7% of the country in the Basin. Central African Republic which had self rule on 1960 has an area of 219, 410km2 or 9.2% of the total area of the Basin, with 35.2% of the country in the Basin. Chad which had self rule in 1960 has an area of 1,046,196 km2 or 43.9% of the total area of the Basin, with 81.5 of the country in the Basin. Niger which had self rule in 1960 has an area of 691, 473 km2 or 29% of the total area of the Basin, with 54.6% of the country in the Basin. Nigeria which had self rule in 1960 has an area of 179,282 km2 or 7.5% of the total area of the Basin, with 19.4% of the country in the Basin. Sudan which had self rule in 1956 has an area of 101, 048 km2 or 4.2% of the total area of the Basin, with 4.2% of the country in the Basin. That brings the total area of the Basin to 2, 381, 635 km2.

To push up its production levels, a country like Chad is not only tapping oil within its territory but also from Nigeria, using 3D drilling. So far, prominent businessmen and politicians in both Nigeria and Chad, in association with French oil companies, have invested heavily in oil and gas exploration and exploitation within the area. This accounts for why people like former Governor Sherriff was there in Chad to “receive” President Jonathan when he recently visited his Chadian counterpart, President Idris Derby, and all Nigerians went mad!

These businessmen are the principal financiers of, and arms suppliers to, members of the Economic and Brigandry Boko Haram.The group's destabilization of the north-eastern part of Nigeria benefits these investors because it delays exploration and production on the Nigerian side of Lake Chad. This is also why Boko Haram is made up of Nigerians and a large number of Chadians from the provinces of Lac and Hadjer Lamis. These provinces share a long border with north-eastern Nigeria around the Lake Chad region and provide Boko Haram with trained Chadian fighters.

The drying up of Lake Chad, once the largest water body in Africa, is also affecting the economic and social lives of over 30 million people in the seven countries around the lake. This has resulted in the migration of many farmers and herdsmen. It has also engineered local conflicts between Cameroonian and Nigerian nationals. For instance, fishermen have been fighting farmers and herdsmen in an attempt to stop them from diverting water from the lake to their farms and livestock.

The drying up of Lake Chad and subsidiary rivers has also created a large population of unemployed and discontented youth who have become a reserve army easily available for recruitment by Boko Haram. In this regard, it is important to note that members of the Economic and Brigandry Boko Haram have never attacked any territory in Chad. Rather they have a cluster of bases in Chad from where they launch their terrorist activities in Nigeria. Moreover, President Idris Derby of Chad is said to have cordial relations with the insurgents. So, here we are, singing the same old song with a new name. We know we have to find a solution, some kind of solution, to these problems if we must have peace.

Simply put, Nigerian leaders must somehow now find a way to anchor in their search of democratic values even if that means reconstituting the Lake Chad Basin Commission or giving the body new mandates.

*Mr Asinugo is a London-based journalist and columnist

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