Xmas Bombs: ACN Carpets Jonathan Government

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the federal
government of wasting valuable time and resources
on the meaningless fuel subsidy debate while neglecting the Boko Haram
crisis that has continued to consume the lives
of innocent citizens.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, a day after dozens
were killed in a seemingly coordinated attacks across three states,
the party said if the government had spent half of the
resources it had devoted to the fuel subsidy issue on the Boko Haram
crisis, and had organized as many consultations with
stakeholders on Boko Haram as it had done on fuel subsidy, the crisis
would have been resolved by now and hundreds of
precious lives saved.

”There is no point in mincing words: This government has got its
priorities wrong and has acted in a manner that suggests total
disregard for human lives. Or how else does one explain a situation
where citizens, including security agents, are being hacked
down daily by the Boko Haram insurgents and all the government is
doing is to waste time and resources on the phantom fuel
subsidy issue?” ACN queried.

The party said, for the umpteenth time, that the only way out of the
Boko Haram crisis is engagement, as it should by now be crystal
clear to all advocates of force that no amount of force can crush the
insurgency.

”The engagement must be preceded by a meeting of national
stakeholders on security, which will harness the experience and wisdom
of
key people, including former heads of state, traditional and religious
leaders, as well as past and present security and intelligence chiefs
in seeking a lasting solution to the problem. We have called for these
measures on at least two occasions in the past and we hereby
reiterate them, as the government’s approach of using force has failed
woefully, while citizens continue to die,” it said.

ACN also said it is time for President Goodluck Jonathan to show
leadership and emulate his predecessor, who showed rare courage
by engaging the Niger Delta militants through the very successful
amnesty programme, after all attempts to crush the militants failed.

”For now the federal government has got the diagnosis of the Boko
Haram wrong, which means it is basing its solutions on a wrong
premise.
Though some will have us believe otherwise, the Boko Haram crisis is a
reaction to some perceived acts of injustice and corruption, which
makes it a social and political crisis rather than an ethnic or
religious one. Some even see it wrongly as a North-South-South agenda.

”It is also important to learn a lesson or two from the resolution of
the militancy in the Niger Delta. While the Niger Delta militants
complained
of massive neglect of their communities, impoverishment of their
people and destruction of their flora and fauna, the Boko Haram
insurgents have
raised the issues of injustice, poverty and corruption, and the
extra-judicial killing of their leader and members. All that a
courageous leadership
needs to do is to see which of the demands of the insurgents are
reasonable and can be addressed to usher in peace, while ignoring the
demands
that are clearly unreasonable. After all, the amnesty did not address
all the grievances of the Niger Delta insurgents, but has helped to
reduce militancy
to the barest minimum.

”Those who say no reasonable government will talk to terrorists are
not being realistic. They have forgotten that the Boko Haram people
are Nigerians
first and foremost. Secondly, nowhere in the world has force succeeded
in crushing an insurgency. Thirdly, even if force succeeds in the
interim,
achieving lasting peace will require dialogue. It is therefore
important that we seek an alternative to the use of force in resolving
the Boko Haram
crisis,” the party said.

It also criticised those who are saying there is no one to act as a
middleman in engaging the Boko Haram people, saying the government
should use as
conduits for peace those who have links to Boko Haram, instead of
criminalising, arresting and killing them as it is presently doing.

ACN advised leaders to stop making inflammatory statements, and
security chiefs to stop boasting about the exploits of their men
fighting Boko Haram,
adding that such statements can only
attract reprisals.

The party also advised the government to worry less on the so-called
international dimension to the Boko Haram crisis, saying all
indications are that the
insurgency is home-grown, and that once it is addressed, the so-called
international influence will be cut off.

Meanwhile, ACN has strongly condemned the senseless bomb attacks on
Christmas day, in Madalla Town in Niger and Jos in Plateau state,
which left many
dead,
saying no grievance in the world can be justified by the killing and
maiming of innocent citizens.

”We urge those behind these killings to sheath their swords and take
the path of dialogue to resolve whatever their grievances may be,”
the party said.