Beyond A Political Kite …Before Amnesty To Boko Haram

For upwards of one and half years into the Yar’Adua Presidency, it wore the colouration of a misguided orgy of violence independently orchestrated by a handful of frustrated young people, in Borno State who, bereft of hope, on account of the seeming worthlessness of their academic credentials, resorted to self-destruct.

Then it got bloodier and bloodier every passing day and later assumed the pedigree of a well -orchestrated terrorist campaign with the capacity to incite ethno-religious war in the land.

Even now, the criminal siege lodged by the Boko Haram Islamist militant group has yet to abate, neither are the relatively unknown, even faceless foot soldiers any way close to repentance, necessary for forgiveness.

After the United Nations (UN) House, Abuja bombing, in which scores perished and yet another on media houses across the federal capital, all doubts that the armed insurgency in parts of the North, was another example of youth restiveness, vanished or so many thought. From the nature of casualties, the mode of attacks after attacks, the mass murders in highly populated public places like parks, market places  and Christian places of worship, it dawned on all well-meaning Nigerians and even foreigners alike that the country was indeed under terror attack.

A terrorist siege is like a war with ghosts, no specific target, no uniformed army, no known single geographical location and no major distinguishing identification of the enemy. The next door neighbour could be the enemy. The desk mate at work could be an informant  to the terrorist army and a political associate could be the key sponsor.

That scenario naturally places an intelligence burden on even the best army because it requires the unmasking of  the army, then going in search of its operational base, followers, source of funding and economic survival. These facts accounted for the long, rigorous, frustrating search for and eventual killing by the United States of America (USA) of the main mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the Twin Towers of New York and elsewhere Osama Bin Laden.

Here in Nigeria, the Boko Haram seem even more invincible and very deadly in their daily attacks and near frequently painted of the federal government a picture of helplessness and lack of tactical direction while also accusing the nations security community of poor intelligence gathering pedigree.

In attack after attack public reaction was the same. Condemnation of both the Boko Haram and the Federal Government and very often sweeping dismissal of the Jonathan Presidency as a weak one. By such views, an alternative in their view, would then be, to adopt conventional warfare tactics: identify the target, pound mercilessly and keep pounding until you hear noise no more, not even of a baby’s cry.

That too has its only shortcomings. Often, not all along enemy target areas are enemy combatants. Some are defenceless men, women and children often used by terrorists as humans shield, and whose survival and safety if not considered could make the victorious war commander and his supervising government culpable of war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Even President Goodluck Jonathan alluded to that when he said the Odi option employed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo was not  a civil solution to youth insurgency which went beyond mere protestations to outright militancy.

Amidst all these however, very few appreciated the actual agenda behind the senseless bloodletting, the mass murders and the meaningless attacks on Christian places of worship by the Boko Haram terror group. On the last count, no fewer than 1,500 defenceless Nigerians had perished and  still counting. Infact, the mission seemed to be , kill as many as can kill until the federal government appropriates equal or even more federal resources in amnesty to parts of the North as enjoys erstwhile insurgents of the oil producing Niger Delta.

So, when prominent Northern elders, under the aegis of the Northern Elders’ Forum, who were known to have done little or nothing to properly articulate the worries of the Boko Haram sect, nor bothered to identify its leadership for meaningful dialogue, went public demanding amnesty for the terrorists, it became clear to many that the North has resolved that only criminality pays in Nigeria. To them, what years of intellectual protest, civil agitation and meaningful dialogue cannot achieve will be hastened by a systemic, consistent and deadly blood-letting.

And like a big joke, Nigeria’s Federal Government which had repeatedly said amnesty for a faceless group like Boko Haram amounts to forgiving and doing business with ghosts, seems favourably disposed to doing exactly that. After a meeting with the Northern Elders Forum last week in Abuja, presidency sources told a shocked nation that government was considering amnesty for Boko Haram which leadership ranks and indeed membership remains unknown, except foggy are indications that group enjoys support and operational understanding with other notorious terror organisation within the West African subregion and even beyond.

The implication of that is that the federal government , may if it eventually does grant amnesty, be faced with an usually large population of Boko Haram faithful which may unsurprisingly include virtually all employed and unemployed Northern youth and their kith and kin from neighbouring Niger, Chad and elsewhere. The target, from all indication, will be to attract to the North federal resources of the kind, if not far more so, that goes to ex-militants of the oil producing areas by way of amnesty.

Interestingly, the Federal Government seems helpless in the circumstance and from all indications, amnesty for Boko Haram members, is merely a matter of days. Already, a committee has been set up to consider the request of the Northern Elders’ Forum, ostensibly, with a view to fulfilling all righteousness and making the eventual outcome a product of the Council of State and hence, Nigeria’s.

But we will be investing, inadvertently on criminality and anarchy by showing that the easiest path to national recognition and support is the ability to lodge mayhem against innocent Nigerians in whatever form. It is even more bizzaire because apart from open indignation for western education and a veiled attempt to impose Islam in the whole of the North, not a  single discussable grievance has been advanced.

Yet in parts of the south, particularly in Lagos and Port Harcourt, public places, including major traffic ways are converted to open mosques for Moslem worship without any disturbance. In Rivers State for instance, a mosque at the abattoir at the Slaughter -Woji axis has out poured it’s flock unto that ever busy road, linked only by the Woji Bridge. On Fridays, Moslem faithful stretch far beyond the bridge-head to the round-up, thus making traffic on Fridays in particular, virtually impossible.

As frustrating as that weekly experience might be, not once has it been heard that a Moslem place of worship, no matter how inconveniencing to the  public, has been disrupted, not to think of being attacked. The violent opposite is what Boko Haram has championed at peace – time, in the  name of terrorism.

So, what might be the rational for such amnesty to a group which in total defiance to the avowed constitutional secularity of Nigeria, sought to, and in a bloody manner, impose one religion on all others in the land? Is it for future political gains or out of sheer helplessness in prosecuting the war against terror. Or both?

Or is it simply what many Nigerians have always suspected, the need to compensate the Northern youth with resources sourced from the oil producing Niger Delta as a balancing economic act? If it is, as there are little facts to the contrary then, we are inadvertently glorifying evil over good. And I fear that a day will come when unemployed university graduates, law-abiding job seekers and even responsible youth groups from other parts of the country would find in blood insurgency their only opportunity to enjoy national attention.

Or what happens if say, the Odua Peoples Congress,OPC secretly produces a splinter terrorist group to fight the Yoruba heartland or the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of  Biafia, MASSOB toes same line? Would we simply crush them as Obasanjo did Odi, or as federal troops did Biafra or, not too long ago, as the Abacha junta did MOSOP in Ogoniland? Or will we adopt the now rewarding Yar’Adua/ Jonathan example of pampering criminals and mass murderers?

My Agony is that this script may well be belated because from all indications, the talk about Federal Government considering amnesty for Boko Haram is more than a mere political kite flown to feel the heartbeat of the nation. It is a mathematical certainty likely to be quicked by fears or love of 2015. And that is condemnable.

Don’t be surprised if the unrepentant Boko Haram ranks choose to reject the FG’s unsolicited amnesty offer, if for nothing else, to raise the stakes to include even the almajiri’s to benefit from the amnesty gift to the North. Don’t.

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