21st March, 2013
By Joy Igbokwe
“I have lost my nose. There is a deep gorge in my stomach, I am placed on drip. I am feeling the pain. I may die any moment from now. Only God will avenge what these people have done me. I will never forgive them” – victim of Kano massacre.
The bloodbath on Monday, 18 March, 2013 in Sabon Gari, Kano, an area reserved for non indigenes, remains the greatest height of provocation since the Boko Haram insurgency started nearly four years ago. At the last count nearly 4000-5000 Nigerians and non Nigerians have been killed in different parts of the North by Boko Haram. We have seen these attacks on targeted groups and strategic locations like the United Nations, Police, Army, churches, primary schools, markets mosques, clubs, car parks, homes, motor parks, etc. These provocations emanate from wickedness, callousness, greed, petty jealousy, illiteracy, political irresponsibility, hate, ethnic preoccupation and lack of consideration for other Nigerians.
The only reason why these idiots and morbid blood thirsty prodigals have killed nearly 5000 Nigerians is because an Ijaw man, President Goodluck Jonathan succeeded the late President Umaru Yar’Adua when the latter died as a result of protracted illness. The massive and senseless killings in the North did not come to me as a surprise. I am a living witness of the fierce power struggle that shook the world when President Yar’Adua became incapacitated to perform his duty as President. It was extremely difficult if not impossible for these fools at forty to come to terms with the obvious and painful truth that our constitution stipulates that whoever is the Vice President will succeed the President in case of incapacitation.
To these shenanigans and gold diggers it is near impossible to accept Goodluck Jonathan and the feeding bottles forcefully thrown away. To compound the problem of those who think that they and their forefathers own Nigeria, Jonathan again was elected President in 2011. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Before the election of President Jonathan in 2011 the country was inundated with threats from the likes of Dr Datti Ahmed, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, and others that there would be violence and Nigeria would be ungovernable if Jonathan is elected. Since the massacre started these two men and some arrested agents of Boko Haram are still walking the streets of Northern Nigeria as free men.
Tell me, if somebody like former President Obasanjo was still in power, will these murderers be having a field day today? These cowards came up with Sharia politics during Obasanjo’s tenure but did not go far with the useless politics because they were afraid of death. These cowards knew they could not face Obasanjo. If Obasanjo was still in power today he would have taken war to their doorsteps. He would have declared State of Emergency in Borno and Kano and their Boko Haram governors thrown out. But President Jonathan is not a retired General. He is a civilian president in a democracy.
This nation is at war with itself and all the country’s army, police, Air force, Navy, SSS, NIA, DIA, etc. are sleeping. This country is not at war with any country right now and therefore there is no reason why they cannot help to checkmate this criminal insurgency. But what seems to be playing out is that you do not know who is who in this game. All our security agencies are heavily polarised via North-South divide. We have today Boko Haram police, Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS, VIA, DIA, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Governors, Ministers, Senators, House of Reps, Commissioners, LGA Chairmen, Speakers and so on. Where do you begin? Where do you start?
President Jonathan should seek help from outside. If he uses all the oil money to do this, let it be. When there is no life nothing else matters. America, Israel, China, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and even South Africa can be of help. My friend Bayo Oluwasanmi says “we cannot drive a car by looking at the rear mirror. We cannot use shoes for hammers, newspapers for umbrellas and a finger nail to tight a screw.”
The criminal war and massacre in Nigeria is a struggle for political power, a struggle for the control of the presidency and a struggle to control Nigeria ’s oil wealth. Struggle for power is no tea party. It is struggle for survival. President Jonathan must seek help abroad and spend all the money if our security agencies are failing. My take is that if we do not like the face of President Jonathan, an Ijaw man from Niger Delta, then we should be man enough to remove our eyes from Delta oil money.
We are waiting for details of those slaughtered in Kano. We are waiting like a patient bird. Nobody has a monopoly of violence in Nigeria and any other place in the world for that matter. Only a fool will underrate the capacity and strength of others who have been tested and trusted.
Finally, let me make a point clear: there are no leaders in the North any longer. The children have taken over. But the Holy Book says “woe betide a nation whose leaders are children”. Northern Nigeria is a disaster zone, a zone without conscience, without hope, without life, without economy, without leader, without soul, without heart. Northern Nigeria is now Thomas Hobbes’ State of Nature where life is brutish, nasty and short, land of blood and tears, land of a trillion evil forests, land that devours its inhabitants, the devil’s enclave.
Now, what do we do? Let all the none indigenes return home-all the Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Teachers, Accountants, students, traders, Civil Servants, Youth Corps members, Transporters, Artisans, Farmers, etc return home. Only a tree stands in the face of the woodman’s axe. Those who are rejected cannot reject themselves. Please return home!
•Igbokwe wrote from Lagos.