Beyond The Facts …Addressing Northern Elders Hypocrisy

Two-faced, spurious ,insincere, deceiving,false, pretentious and dissembling are all words that mean the state of being holier than one truly is. Hypocritical, sums it up. So, any one with these attributes can hardly be depended upon as an ally in any battle or project demanding integrity.

For, to venture such, would mean to embark on a perilous voyage which end  can be anything but successful.

Sadly, some Northern leaders that Nigeria today counts to enlist in the war against terror; intended to replace fear with hope, division with unity, hatred with love and more than everything else, mutual sacrifice towards same plausible ends, have now been described in one disappointing word, by one of their own – hypocrites.

Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu last Saturday practically challenged Northern regional leaders to, not merely exhibit pretentious concern over the danger, Boko Haram portends to the Nigerian – state but enlist fully in confronting the national enemy. Addressing a meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council, held in Kaduna, Governor Aliyu berated the region’s leadership for dragging its feet on the threat that the terrorist Islamic sect has become, not only to the country but indeed the Northern parts.

“We cannot drag our feet any longer. We can’t continue to double-speak in our handling of the issues, saying one thing in the open and acting differently in private. We must categorically say no to the recurring wave of bombing, terrorism and crime in our communities”, Aliyu said- quoting media reports

According to him, the North could not afford to fall into another crisis before taking necessary measures to safeguard the integrity and future of the region. Just region?

Perhaps, Aliyu chose the words that easily unite Northern leaders to act, and thought it might be coming a bit late in the day, it is still better that he summoned the courage to voice it .

How for instance, can a supposed regional leadership, be it political, religious or traditional, stand aloof and mock a presidency which some of them hate and despise, for being ill-equipped to guarantee the safety of lives and property, while, tens of thousands of their kiths and kins on the one hand and other Nigerians and foreigners on the other are daily massacred by an extremist sect which real ideology represents everything Isalm is not. And yet do nothing except blame such unnecessary killings on the inability of government  to protect lives of her citizenry.

For the umpteenth time, notable Nigerians, newspaper columnists and indeed editorials have hammered on the need to unite in battle against evil which Boko Haram represents, because none can tell the measure of harm, a stone thrown into a busy market place can cause and to whom? In their silence, Northern leaders seemed oblivious of the fact that these are economically challenging times when, various needs compete for the lean resources available and as such, the need to safeguard existing infrastructure rather than sit idly by and watch a group of ill-advised terrorists willfully destroy timeless treasures put in place by successive governments, not to mention the senseless killings thus far recorded.

Governor Aliyu was right, when, he asked his people to decide whether they “are serious about lasting peace or merely paying lip service to it, while, some of us continue to remain in our comfort zones as our society is overtaken by violence, crime and extremism”.

Looking at it strictly, the Niger State governor was being prophetic and proactive if you like, because real peace is not just about the absence of conflict,  it is indeed a collection of all other variables that illicit conflict and how they are holistically addressed. In such self-appraisal, the truth needs to be told, and who best, other than the political, religious and traditional leadership, to hear it.

Within the past 50 years of our nationhood, for instance, the North has kept political power for the most part. In the North Central geo-political zone, writes Erefagha Ezekiel-Hart  in his booklet, Nigeria: the Way Forward, Generals Gowon, Babangida and Abubakar alone held political power as Head of State and Military President for 17 years and 11 months.

The North-East zone on its part held political power for nine years 10 months and six days all shared among Belewa and General Abacha while, the North-West zone, through Gen Murtala Mohammed, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen Mohammadu Buhari and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua together held political power for 10 years, five months and 13 days.

Together, the North held on to political power for 38 years, two months and 19 days. Knowing the worth of Nigerian political power and use, the average Northerner should be comfortable, better-educated, be less restive and love Nigeria most if the various leaders had done the right things, rather leaving office for richer than the Nigerian state while, the average Northerner feels short-changed.

Ironically, many Northern leaders have repeatedly brain-washed their followership into believing that political power meant bright regional fortunes; they, the Northern politicians ­- born to rule and that power alone, shall guarantee for them a future of bliss.

In his paper, Geography, Power and Politics which he presented at the just concluded All Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC) in Benin City, the Edo State capital, last Friday, former Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Dapo Fafowora recalled how a prominent Northerner elite , one he had so much respect for as a detribalised Nigerian, once voiced same sentiments that Power must reside, perpetually  in the North because Northerners are born to rule, explains how deep-rooted that campaign has been.

Ironically, even if Northern domination of political power has failed to address positively, the fluctuating fortunes of the average Northerner, the ordinary man still remains gullible to such inciting propaganda and which now and again ignites unrest of the kind the extremist Boko Haram sect has unleashed on the nation, with worrisome casualties in the Northern parts.

It was to address that aspect, methinks, Governor Aliyu said, “there is no doubt that as traditional and political leaders, we have a great opportunity to make the much needed difference.

“We have a responsibility to act decisively to conquer poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, diseases and extremism of all forms before we can genuinely hope to achieve desirable lasting peace and stability.

Clearly, if Northern leaders had utilised political power for good of the ordinary Northerner and not just for their own personal aggrandisement, all the misconceptions that power shift away from the North to any other section of the country amounts to a direct war against the North, would not have as much uniting but negative force in violence against the region and nation, as it  has.

Sadly, that same mindset runs through some members of the various security agencies who  now, unable to make the familiar near-frequent coups, have chosen to back the Boko Haram, in  a bid to make Nigeria ungovernable, just as some disgruntled politicians under the aegis of the Northern Elders Political Forum, repeatedly threatened before the April 2011 Presidential polls, and its attendant violent reactions in parts of the North

That also accounts for why the  reported release of a suspected Boko Haram leader earlier held by the Police, but later given to officers of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) supposedly, for further interrogation, did not come to many as a surprise. Infact, Police sources said the release might have been ordered by a compromised senior DMI operative. Who could that be? And Why? All questions.

This is why Governor Aliyu’s words to his fellow Northern leaders, must be viewed seriously because a lot is indeed going wrong and unless such concerted efforts are put, in checking the excesses of the Boko Haram recklessness, what they today consider comfort zones may not be so tomorrow.

My Agony is that some supposedly professional soldiers have allowed the same familiar sentiment of the North being born to rule perpetually, to govern their actions and now see the Boko Haram induced insecurity  as the window to actualise that dream.

The Commander-in-Chief must read between the lines, now, not later.