When Goodluck Turns To Badluck

Nigerians have seen bad and had times before.  The major one was the Biafran Civil War which saw the death of millions of Nigerians, destruction of properties and the maiming of many more.  Before the Biafran War, and of course, before the oil boom, Nigerians were driven into self-imposed exile as they sojourned in many West African countries to seek a living.

Millions of them sojourned in Ghana and many married Ghanaian women and had children with them. That was the more reason why when Nigeria struck oil in very large quantity, Ghanaians trooped to that country.  And that is why the 'dzi wo fie asem' mantra has no room here. Nigerians are our brothers and so what concerns them concerns us too.

Immediately after the Biafran War, armed robbery reared its ugly head in the most populous African country.  People acquired weapons during the war and decided to make a living through armed robbery.  The introduction of death by firing squad did not deter these criminals. Many innocent Nigerians lost their precious lives through armed robbery. At a point the government trained Mobile Policemen to deal with the armed robbers but very sadly that did not solve the problem.  Even with the military in power, these armed robbers defied all odds and operated openly. As the soldiers killed these miscreants, more joined the trade, terrorising Nigerians on daily basis.

When God smiled on Nigerians and they discovered oil in very large quantity, things changed for the better. But in no time, the oil boom turned out to become an oil doom.  Politicians capitalised on the new-found wealth to siphon the nation's money for their own private use.  Corruption became rampant and the people cried to high heavens for help but the situation grew from bad to worse and now it is at its peak.  During the oil boom, Nigerians did not see any reason to sojourn in any African country to seek greener pastures anymore.  Life was fine, very fine.  In fact, some even proposed that the government should create a Ministry for Enjoyment (sic).

Then cocaine trade came knocking on the doors of poor Nigerians.  Even university students who were supposed to be in the lecture halls ended up in prisons in Malaysia, US, UK, etc for dealing in cocaine and other hard drugs. Those who were caught at home faced the firing squad but the drug trade continued to boom.  What is happening in Ghana today as far as the illegal drug trade is concerned is a child's play as compared to what was happening in Nigeria in those days.

Nigerians have known religious violence before, but not on the scale and form Boko Haram has taken the country to ransom.  When I heard that Mr Goodluck Jonathan (or is it Badluck Jonathan?) was going to run for the presidency again, I wondered whether this man has advisers. In other jurisdictions, Mr Jonathan would have stepped down long ago. It is an undeniable fact that Nigeria can boast of the largest and well trained army in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of Naira of the taxpayer's money is used in maintaining the army.  As a Federation, each state can boast of one or more military barracks.  It presupposes that whenever an insurgency erupts in any state, the state governor is always the first to deplore troops before the Senate even sits to deliberate on the issue.

Today, Nigerians are asking:  'Who can save us from the Boko Haram manslaughter, now that the Jonathan-led administration has woefully failed to subdue Boko Haram?'  I don't have an answer but what I know is that Goodluck Jonathan cannot, and I repeat, CANNOT save Nigerians from Boko Haram.   It has been nearly one year since more than two hundred school girls from Chibok were kidnapped by the Boko Haram maniacs but there is still no hope of their release.  The 'Bring Back Our Girls' campaign has come to nothing.  Jonathan sits in his office as the Commander-in-Chief of the mighty Nigeria army, unable to unravel the riddle.  What is the guarantee that he will do better when given another four years?  In a conventional war, when a general loses a battle he is replaced.  Nigeria needs a new leader else the situation will be worse.

But come to think of this, when terrorists killed seventeen people in Paris recently, forty Heads of State flew to Paris to take part in a march of solidarity.  About one million five hundred thousand people took part in that march.  The three terrorists were killed in a gun battle and one lady terrorist slipped through the fingers of the security operatives.  It has been twelve years since the Boko Haram insurgency, and by the first half of 2014, two thousand fifty-three poor people were killed by the group in ninety-five attacks in seventy villages.  

As at the time of writing this piece, more than two thousand human beings were gruesomely murdered by Boko Haram in Baga, a town near Borno State that lies in the north-eastern corner of Nigeria near Chad. This happened when forty world leaders were marching in Paris. Today, more than five thousand souls have been lost in Nigeria through Boko Haram and still counting.

Why are the world leaders silent on this serious issue?  Are Africans not human beings?  If two hundred school girls were kidnapped in France what would the world leaders do?  When I saw an African President among the forty Heads of State who joined the march, I asked myself:  'What is the African Union doing to help Nigeria fight the Boko Haram menace?'  If African leaders had listened to Dr Kwame Nkrumah when he proposed the Africa Rapid Reaction Force (A.R.R.F), the situation would not have been as it is today.  If we sit unconcerned and allow these barbarians called Boko Haram to gain more grounds in Nigeria, they will expand their tentacles to other African countries and create an African Caliphate.  I shudder to broach this topic.

If Al Qaeda could seize northern Mali and shed blood there, they can as well invade any African country.  The Akans say if you see your neighbour's beard on fire you should fetch water and put it by your side. The BNI should get some moles to spy on Islamic preachers in our mosques because that is where the fundamentalists begin their evil deeds by brainwashing the youth.  

Those who are willing to follow these hate preachers are recruited and later trained on terror tactics.  I know optimists will say as for Ghana we are peace-loving and so we will not entertain that nonsense.  That, to me, is wishful thinking and suicidal.  Our Zongos are inhabited by mainly poor Ghanaians as well as foreigners and that is what the hate preachers like.  Don't forget that these terrorists are sponsored by rich nations and so they can easily entice the unemployed youth in our Zongos with money and other goodies to join them.

I had the opportunity to listen to Sheik Mohamed Yussif, the young founder and leader of Boko Haram who was killed by the Nigerian security forces.  The guy started his movement in a small mosque in Maiduguri and later expanded his mosque to contain more members who grew by the day because of the way he preached the Koran.  In no time he had branches in Adamawa and other towns in northern Nigeria.  

All this time, the state governor and federal authorities looked the other way and gave him the chance to operate with impunity.  It was when he started arming his group and attacking churches that they realised how serious he was.  Today, even after the death of Sheik Mohamed Yussif, Boko Haram has grown to become one of the most dangerous terror groups in the world.

Here in Ghana, we have the Al Tijaniya and Alssuna Muslim sects competing with each other and preaching different sermons, all based on the Holy Koran.  There have been some few skirmishes between the two groups in recent past.  The danger is that if care is not taken, Boko Haram members may worm themselves into one of these groups and thereby poison their minds with their hate preaching.  Muslims all over the world see each other as brothers and they are very hospitable to their fellow Muslims.  When these fundamentalists enter the Zongos they will undoubtedly be welcomed.  In the beginning they will pretend to be very sober and nice guests.  But when they get the opportunity to preach at the mosque, it is there that you will know how acidic they are. A stitch in time saves nine, the sages say.

In times like this when the harmattan is so severe, the best cigar to go for is hand-rolled  Puro Santa Clara. Interestingly, even though Puro Santa Clara is produced in the Dominican Republic, the tobacco is imported from Cameroon.  Close your nostrils while I puff away, that is if you are not a cigar connoisseur like this irreverent Earth Angel Gabriel.

By Eric Bawah