It is a general knowledge
that the Boko Haram insurgency predates the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Many people believe that the terror group was a remnant (break-away) of the deadly Maitatsine group of the 1980s. The Maitatsine revolt resulted from various efforts by the Northern extremists  to radicalise various segments of Northern Nigeria.
Originally, the group operated under the name Shabaab, the Muslim Youth Organisation in 1995 under the leadership of Lawan Abubakar, who reportedly left for the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia for further studies.
Mohammed Yusuf took over the leadership of the group at the exit of Lawan. Apart from opening the group to political influence and popularity, Yusuf also reportedly established many schools where many poor percentage across Nigeria and neighbouring countries of  Chad and Niger had access to education.
The move provided the platform for the recruitment of unemployed youths to fight the state. The ulterior  political motive of Yusuf took a centre stage when he embarked on intensive mobilization of followership. The almajiri system in the North allegedly made the mobilization easier. Before long, the activities of the group became violent and forcing the administration of Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to order the military to contain the  group which his government descried as ‘dissidents.’  In the process, Yusuf and his alleged sponsor, Alhaji Buji Foi, who was the Commissioner for Religious Affairs during the first tenure of former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State were arrested by the military and handed over to the police. The two suspects died in controversial circumstances in 2009 while in the custody of the police.
Abubakar Shekau who assumed the leadership of Boko Haram after the death of Yusuf, reformed that sect with deadly motive and made it a political tool in the hands of viable politicians in the North. Shekau also strengthened the sect with its international connections with Al-Quaida.
Unfortunately, Boko Haram that started as a child’s play is today a harvest of death in Nigeria, unleashing mayhem through senseless killings, bomb blasts, rape and abductions, leaving hundreds dead and properties worth billions of naira destroyed.
Packaged  under the guise of religion, Boko Haram has now assumed a political muscle which the government and the opposition freely use to edge each other out ahead the 2015 general eelctions. Recently, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) is now using the Boko Haram issue  as a carrot on Jonathan as the race for 2015 elections begins. NEF, in a statement signed by Mr Solomon Dalung and Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, gave ultimatum to President Jonathan to bring back the abducted Chibok girls and stop Boko Haram insurgency by October unfailingly or forget about contesting in 2015.
In the words of Northern Elders Forum. “In the light of our conviction that the insurgency and related security challenges pose threat to the 2015 elections and the survival of our nation, we strongly advise President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to bring an end to the insurgency in all its manifestations and produce the Chibok girls before the end of October, 2014 … If President Jonathan fails to end the insurgency, Nigerians will be left with the only conclusion that he has forfeited his rights to ask for their mandate beyond 2015.”
It is also the thinking of the Northern elders that the military can defeat Boko Haram terrorists if the government wants to subdue the sect. Even more cardinal in their conviction is that most of these conflicts are being engineered to weaken the North politically and economically.
The Northern  elders  further accused the presidency of lacking the strong will to fight the insurgency especially in the face of what they called “deep-seated corruption and incompetence in government in the management of security challenges” resulting in the terrorists taking advantages  to perpetrate evil in the land, while the citizens live in fear of being the next victim.
The Northern elders’ ultimatum to Jonathan came on the heels of the accusation by the National leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu that President Jonathan was behind the abduction of over 200 Chibok secondary school girls in Borno State on April 14, 2014.
At the final mega rally for Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State in Osogbo, Tinubu had told the crowd that since Jonathan had told the world that he knew where the girls were kept, the President should tell the world why his governmnent was yet to rescue the female students despite the huge support he had gotten from international communities.
Both Tinubu and the Northern elders shared the same opinion that “Jonathan was incompetent to rule Nigeria.” A step further, NEF is worried that “the state of security and economic challenges of the North are deteriorating, in spite of its wealth of leaders and elders who should use their God-given privileges, power and influence to effect a reversal of these dangerous trends.”
The postulations of the Northern elders, however, have since attracted wide-spread condemnation and reactions. The Presidency tongue-lashed the elders for asking Jonathan to forget about contesting in 2015 if by October, he fails to produce the Chibok students kidnapped by Boko Haram sect in April, this year. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe  said, “we  wish to state categorically that President Jonathan does not require any threat or ultimatum from the North or group of persons to be alive to his responsibilities to the Nigerian people”.
Okupe,  in a statement, said the argument of the Northern elders that the “government is carrying out any scheme to annihilate any section of the country for political gains is preposterous, contrary to common sense, divisive and essentially a deliberate attempt to disseminate hate mentality and cause mischief.
According to Okupe, “the issue of insurgency, especially those ideologically-based on Islamic extremism, is a global phenomenon and requires tact, military capability, serious de-radicalisation, techniques and community-based counter-insurgency programmes to ensure success,”  adding that in these areas, the federal government is making progress and improving on her operational capabilities and efficiencies by acquiring more advanced weapons and technologies for military and security agencies.
Beyond drafting more  military personnel to the region to strengthen the fighting power of the armed forces, Okupe said government was working with neighbouring countries to secure the borders and limit the movement of Boko Haram, sect, as well as deploying more resources to maximize operational efficiency and target the domestic and international funding with a view to stopping the money flows into the coffers of the terrorists.
Despite the misgivings of what government was doing in the fight against terrorism, Okupe said, the President would remain focused and alive to his responsibilities  to the people of  Nigeria, adding  that with the total co-operation of the citizens and stakeholders with the government,  the “steps will help fight the threat of Boko Haram and move us closer to bringing the girls back safely.”
The former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, in his reaction, did not spare the statement credited to the Northern elders, saying their move will not stand the test of time.
“They are just hallucinating and as Nigerians, we need to understand that the abduction of these girls should not be politicised … Mr President is not  a magician to know where  the girls are but I believe he is working assiduously to get those girls. But for some Northern leaders to start giving conditions, such will not stand the test of time,” he said.
A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Aniete Okon, in his submission, said the statement credited to the Northern leaders has further confirmed their complicity in the Boko Haram insurgency.
He described the NEF’s ultimatum as unreasonable, unpatriotic, divisive and unfortunate, and called on genuine leaders, traditional rulers, political and business leaders as well as patriotic Nigerians to rise up in condemnation of those he called desperate, parasitic politicians who do not mean well for either the North or Nigeria as a whole.
A group, the Northern Alternative Forum (NAF) said the Northern elders got it wrong because Jonathan enjoys  about 75% support in the region. The NAF chairman, Alhaji Gidado Ibrahim said contrary to the claim of the elders, Northerners would not vote in 2015 based on sentiments or ethnic considerations, but on the performance of the present administration.
“We are solidly behind the president and our forum has since endorsed him for a second term,” Gidado said.
Even though that the North is crying about marginalisation and poverty in the area, a stalwart of the All Progressive Congress (APC) who would not want his name mentioned for fear of anti-party, said underneath the agitation is the fact that political power now resides in the South and not the North as the Northerners would wish.
While accusing the North of being insincere in the political equation of the country since independence, the unnamed APC stalwart said the North has presided over the affairs of Nigeria more than three quarters in the life of the nation while the South waited patiently to take its turn at the helm of the country’s affairs.
Whether or not the North dangles the carrot before Jonathan for the 2015 elections, the claim that the President is responsible for the woes of the North,  the APC chief said, “is an indictment of the gross performance of past leaders form the North to transform the fortunes of the area towards improving the lots of the people.”
He  believed that the North is calling the shots in several other sectors while Jonathan holds only the political baton at Aso Rock.
“When the North is in charge of  power at the centre, it suits them and the world ‘marginalisation’ is not in their lexicon, but when power shifts from the North  they cry to the high heaven about marginalization. Who is fooling who?”  he querried.

Samuel Eleonu

President Goodluck Jonathan