BOKO HARAM
What Jonathan must do now –Evah
By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
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•Evah
Photo:The Sun Publishing
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Understandably, tempers have been running high since the
Christmas Day unprovoked attack of a Catholic Church at Madalla in Niger
State by the dreaded Boko Haram. While the families and relations of
the victims are already counting their losses, the nation is yet to find
a bearing in its elusive search for an enduring solution to the
lingering crisis.
Fiery activist and national coordinator of the Ijaw
Monitoring Group, Comrade Joseph Evah, in this interview, warns of the
dire consequences of the activities of the group, saying it could lead
to the break-up of the country if the situation is allowed to degenerate
further. He heaped the blame for the wanton destruction of lives on the
northern political leaders, who, according to him, are just merely
paying lip service to the matter. Excerpts…
Boko Haram wants war
We have realized that there are people who want this
country to break up. For the Boko Haram group to have attacked a church
on Christmas day, it means they want a religious war. This was what
Ojukwu resisted that led to the civil war. And if there is retaliation
in other parts of the country, definitely it will lead to civil war.
Yet, some people will say that people should not retaliate. The question
is: Do those people perpetrating this evil have conscience? Are going
to be the one to beg that Nigeria should not break up? If some people
want Nigeria to break, must we continue to beg them for us to remain
one? Who are the people benefiting most from the unity of the country?
If these people are no longer interested in the Nigeria marriage, are we
supposed to beg them?
Northern leaders fuelling the crisis
Northern leaders have not done anything. They are the ones
fueling this crisis. In fact, the whole world should hold the political
leadership in the North, including the vice president, governors,
senators and David Mark responsible for the crisis. If Jonathan as Vice
President and the governors of the Niger Delta could identify the
militants in the region, why can’t the northern governors identify the
people behind Boko Haram and resolve the crisis? They are just deceiving
us and we are not going to beg them.
When militant activities were on in the Niger Delta, the
political leadership knew the people causing the problem. And because
Yar’Adua begged Jonathan to talk to those bombing oil pipelines, they
were able to meet with MEND, opened channels of discussion and brought
the violence under control. So, if the governors of the North, the vice
President and David Mark are claiming they don’t know the people they
are representing, they should be ashamed of their position. The senate
president and Namadi Sambo should be asked to go to Borno to discuss
with the people causing this crisis. Governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger
State cannot claim he does not know the people perpetrating the violence
in the country. He cannot say that he does not know the sponsors. If
they claim they don’t know the children who voted them into their
various offices and then open channels of discussion with them, they are
not worth to be councillors. They cannot charge the President to go and
discuss with their own children. It is not possible. When Niger Delta
militant activities were on, it was the political leaders in the region
that met with the militants and resolved the violence. In the same way,
the vice president, David Mark and northern governors should go and
dialogue with their children and give us peace in the country.
Yar’Adua was the Chief Security Officer of Nigeria when he
asked Jonathan to relocate to Niger Delta. So, you must know the people
you are representing. It is laughable for the Chief Security Officers
in the North to charge the President to go and discuss with the people
they are representing. As far as we are concerned, northern leaders are
the ones causing all this trouble, and it is obvious they are doing so
to rubbish the Jonathan government. If the country breaks up, the
northern leaders should be held responsible. They cannot tell us they
don’t know the people whom they claimed voted for them during the
election.
Reprisal attack
We are not contemplating reprisal attack. We just believe
that the northern political leaders represented by the Vice President,
the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and
all the governors will talk to their conscience and work together to
restore peace in the country. If they cannot do that, they should all
resign their positions.
Break-up imminent
We the Niger Delta people are not going to break-up the
country. The way they are going, they are going to break-up the country
and we are not going to beg. If they break-up the country, we don’t want
our man to be captured as prisoner of war. So, the president should
immediately relocate to Port Harcourt or Yenagoa pending when Namadi
Sambo, the governors and the ministers will solve their problem and then
we go back to Abuja. It is because of the fear of break-up that we are
telling the President to relocate now.
They want to overthrow Jonathan
The Federal Government is not the same thing as the
President. The Vice President, lawmakers, judiciary and ministers are
also part of the Federal Government. When we have a problem like this,
it is only those who are representing the people that can address the
issue. The Senate President and the Vice President are from the North.
The head of the judiciary and the governors are also from the northern
region. Why are they telling us that they don’t know the people causing
this problem? They are just deceiving us. They should go and discuss
with their children and let us know what they want. It is the northern
leaders that are causing the problem because they want to overthrow
Jonathan’s government, and we cannot accept that.
Sacking security chiefs will be suicidal
The present situation is like the pre-civil war era before
General Aguiyi Ironsi was killed. Those sponsoring Boko Haram in the
final analysis plot to kill Mr. President. So, he must not listen to the
blackmail to change the security chiefs. He should learn from Aguiyi
Ironsi’s death and not change his security chiefs or the NSA (National
Security Adviser). If Jonathan changes the security chiefs and the NSA,
he will be on a suicide mission; he will be a quick target to kill.
The problem is not about security but it is a political
agenda. Those who vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable if Jonathan wins
the 2011 election are behind the bombings and they are ready to destroy
the country or force Jonathan to expose himself to danger and get
killed. This is exactly like the period of Ironsi when the North felt
cheated and political leaders sponsored massacre of innocent citizens
from the South and later succeeded in killing Ironsi because he was
blackmailed to accept wrong decisions.
No new security chief will come and do magic if the
northern political leaders are behind the bombings. The vice president,
senate president, governors and ministers are all aware of this agenda
to take over the presidency forcefully from Jonathan. That is why they
are pretending to tell us and the rest of the world that the sponsors
are faceless. Since the beginning of the bombings, no businessman from
the North, no academician, intellectual, retired military officer or
former head of state from the North and traditional ruler has taken the
pain to condemn and mobilize themselves to talk to their children (Boko
Haram). So it is funny for all these institutions that I have mentioned
to tell the world they don’t know the whereabouts of the Boko Haram
members or sponsors.
Declare state of emergency in northern states
I want the president to take three steps to save the
situation. First, the President should declare state of emergency in at
least two states in the North like Obasanjo did. If Jonathan declares
state of emergency for instance in Niger and Plateau states and sack the
Houses of Assembly, politicians in the other states will be forced to
treat the Boko Haram issue seriously. Now the political class is
pretending that they don’t know who Boko Haram members are to engage
them in dialogue. But a state of emergency in two states will change the
language of the political class.
Secondly, President Jonathan should relocate the seat of
power to Rivers or Bayelsa State for his safety. This idea is not new.
When Babangida’s life was threatened during the Major Orkar coup, he
relocated to Minna to manage Nigeria from Niger State and he travelled
to Abuja whenever he liked. Babangida relocated from Lagos to Minna to
manage Nigeria until the security situation improved. The situation is
now ripe for the President to also adjust his safety measures. Babangida
knew that 85 per cent of the Orkar coup plotters were from the South.
So he relocated. Now that the current bombers are from the North, the
President should also relocate to Bayelsa or Rivers, and whenever
another President is elected he can relocate the presidency to his
village or state.
This matter is becoming uncontrollable. Is it when the
President is killed that there will be need for relocation. Are we
expecting what is happening in Rwanda to happen in Nigeria? Is it the
relocation that is more difficult or the break up of the country? These
people are ready to bomb the plane of the President; they are ready to
bomb the villa. Do we need to get to the level of Rwandan crisis before
the President relocates to a safe place?
The third step is for Jonathan to challenge the Vice
President to relocate to the desert the manner the great Yar’Adua
challenged Jonathan to relocate to the creeks of Niger Delta. Yar’Adua
is one of the greatest Presidents Nigeria ever had. I want Jonathan to
follow his footsteps and let Vice President Sambo relocate to Borno or
Bauchi State to meet with Boko Haram. He should be accompanied by the
Senate President, state governors and ministers from the North the
manner Jonathan was accompanied by the political class to Oproza to meet
with Niger Delta militants that were blowing up pipelines and
kidnapping oil workers. It was that meeting that changed the Niger Delta
violence story. What is the Vice President doing in the villa at this
point in time? Why is he hiding in the villa? It is shameful to hear the
Vice President, Senate President, governors and ministers, who claim
they are representing the North, tell us that they don’t know Boko Haram
members. They are liars. How come they only know how to share political
appointments and also share oil money but they don’t know their
children’s activities? They should cover their faces in shame and resign
from their political offices and stop pretending. We want them to open
dialogue with Boko Haram. I’m in support of dialogue in any dispute or
expression of anger by any part of Nigeria but for the political leaders
from that zone to tell us they don’t know the brains behind the
violence shows that it is the northern political class that is
sponsoring it to get rid of Jonathan.
We are asking Jonathan to take these three measures to
save the situation. If he fails, then citizens from the South should be
prepared to defend themselves and to carry out counter attacks. We
hereby ask citizens from the South to relocate to the South and citizens
from the North to relocate to the North. If the North doesn’t want
Nigeria to remain as one nation, we are more prepared for that
separation. Let everybody go their own way. We don’t need war to divide
the country but if they want war, we are also prepared. The agenda of
the northern political class is to kill President Jonathan so that they
can take over like they did to General Ironsi before the civil war. But,
I tell you, Nigeria will burn to ashes.
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