Now that the operational leadership and visible face of Boko Haram, in the person of the filth called Mr. Abubakar Shekau (aka Darul Tawheed), has finally admitted that they were responsible for the abduction of hundreds of our school girls and that they intend to ‘’sell them in the market like slaves’’, it is pertinent and necessary for us to consider some of the emerging, though uncomfortable, facts.
This will enable us to understand the nature of who and what we are dealing with and allow us to consider what the appropriate response ought to be if we really want to solve the problem. Permit me to share the following facts that have been brought to my attention:
1. That the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has told us that 90 per cent of the girls that were abducted from their school at Chibok were Christians.
2. That President Goodluck Jonathan himself alluded to this during his last media chat when he said that ‘’the majority’’ of girls that were abducted were Christians.
3. That the majority of the girls that either ‘’escaped’’ or were released by their abductors were Muslims.
4. That the Governor of Borno State refused to accept the counsel and abide by the directives of WAEC that the exams should not take place in Chibok due to the precarious security situation and instead he insisted that the exams should take place there and that he would guarantee the security of the children.
5. That the Christian Association of Nigeria has formally accused the Governor of Borno State of ‘’conspiracy and collusion’’ and they have urged him to tell us exactly where the girls are and what he knows about the whole incident.
6. That the girls that have been kidnapped are being raped up to 15 times a day by their captors and that those amongst them that have refused to convert to Islam are having their throats cut (read the testimony of one of the girls that ‘’escaped’’ on page 8 of the Vanguard Newspaper, 5th April, 2014).
7. That there was not a single adult in the school grounds watching over the 278 girls that entire night apart from one security man and that there was no electricity, no generator, no principal, no matron, no house master and no house mistress in the grounds with them.
8. That the children were all alone in their dormitories that night in the blistering heat and deepest darkness before the Haramites arrived to burn their school and carried them away into captivity.
9. That the soldiers that were guarding the school in Chibok were redeployed a few hours before Boko Haram launched their attack and abducted the children.
10. That up till now pictures of the abducted girls have not been produced or released by the school authorities or the state government.
11. That this was a predominantly christian School and that Chibok is a predominantly Christian community.
In my view, these facts are relevant and instructive. When one considers them, the picture of what really happened at Chibok on that tragic night, what the real intentions of the abductors and their secret sponsors were and what is really going on now is getting clearer by the day.
Ordinarily, whether the children are Christians, Muslims, pagans or atheists really should not matter because, regardless of their faith, we want them all back and we must fight for them all to be returned to their homes and loved ones.
Frightening dimension
However, the fact that 90 per cent of them are Christian adds a sinister and frightening dimension to the whole horrific episode and it is glaring evidence of the fact that Christian girls are now being targetted by the Islamists and that those girls are being ‘’sold in the market’’, being forced to convert to Islam and being turned into sex slaves.
Let me put it on record that I am one of those that believe that the Federal Government has failed woefully in their primary duty to protect the Nigerian people and I have enunciated that position more than anyone else in this nation in numerous essays and contributions over the last three years. However, I honestly believe that, today, the problem has become so serious and pronounced and that the conflict has reached such a critical stage that criticising and lambasting the government alone will not help. The truth is that such an approach has, certainly, not achieved much in the last three years because nothing has changed.
I believe that it is time for us to change tactics in order to achieve better results even though we must not relent in demanding that our President and his security and intelligence agencies do their job properly and provide the necessary security for our people. We also need to understand and appreciate the fact that this matter goes way beyond politics. It goes way beyond whether you are for or against President Jonathan.
It goes way beyond whether you are in the APC, PDP, APGA, Labour or UPN. It goes way beyond whether you are a progressive or a conservative. It goes way beyond whether you are a christian or a muslim or whether you are from the north or the south.
The bitter truth is that regardless of wherever you come from, whatever your faith is and whichever side of the political divide you stand, we all have a duty to get to the bottom of this matter, join forces, close ranks, find out what is really going on and bring this nightmare to an end. We must join hands with all men and women of goodwill and, together, we must fight this insidious evil that seeks to envelop our land and overwhelm our people.
To be sure, there is only one thing worse than failing to protect your people and that is when you organise and mobilise some misguided and mentally unstable miscreants to use religion as a political tool and get them to blow up, kill, abduct, rape and maim innocent men, women and children in an attempt to destabilise the country, spark off a religious war, change the status qou, pull down the government, induce a military coup, dismember our country and cow the Nigerian people into submission.
Secret supporters
That is what those who are the secret supporters and sponsors of Boko Haram are doing and attempting to achieve. They are also interested in furthering the sinister and barbaric agenda of the Taliban, the Al Nusra Front, Al Shabab, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Al Qaeda whose wish is to destroy the secular state and to establish an Islamic fundamentalist state. They wish to establish a radical new caliphate in the west African sub-region where christianity and moderate Islam is banned, where women are treated like sub-human beings and chattel and which is governed by the strictest form of Islamic Sharia law.
To this end, it is interesting to note that the evil is spreading. A glaring testimony to that sad fact is the fact that an army barracks was attacked by Boko Haram in the Camerouns on 5th April and after killing two army officers they freed all their fellow terrorists and Islamists that had been detained there.
What is going on is dangerous, bloody, vicious, heartless, brutal, deep, dark and sinister and it is a conspiracy of monumental proportions. It is a conspiracy which we have all fallen victim to. It is a conspiracy that is fuelled by secrecy and strengthened by the reluctance of those that know better and that know the truth to speak out and expose it.
It is a conspiracy that also receives massive funding and covert support from various governments and royal families in the Middle East whose support for the salfists is well known and whose wahabbi doctrines and philosophy is exceptionally dangerous. These are the type of people that we are dealing with and these are the times that we are living in.
It is good news that the international community are set to play a greater role in this fight and that they are ready to assist us in resisting terror and waging war against what is esentially a relentless and vicious global jihad.
However this is not enough. The fight is still primarily for our President and the Nigerian people to lead.
It is left for the President and his team to rise up to the occasion, tell the Nigerian people the bitter truth about all that is going on behind the scenes, remove the kid gloves, get real and fight the Haramists and their sponsors with all that he has got.
If he refuses to do it or if he is cowered into not doing so by the moderate and dovish voices that appear to be around him, he can be rest assured that sooner than later this country will break up and he will go down in history as the last President of a united Nigeria. Worse still, if he is not careful there may well be a military coup which will not be welcome by any right-thinking person and which everyone dreads. We must assist him as best as we can to ensure that this does not happen.
I have little doubt that the President knows who those that are behind Boko Haram are: it is now time for him to exercise his full powers, expose them and deal with them in a brutal and savage manner.
It is time for him to show strength and to lead us into this war against terror boldly. It is time for him to be a Commander-in Chief that we can all be proud of. It is time for him to use his full power and to detain and interrogate all those that he suspects may be linked to the terrorists.
It is time for him to rise up to the occasion and to crush the evil and the forces of darkness that have challenged our way of life, everything that is dear to us and indeed our very existence.
It is time for him to use every method known to man to vigorously fight the insurgency, including better intelligence gathering and the usage of ‘’black ops’’, ‘’wet boys’’, covert operations and maximum co-operation with various foreign and international intelligence and security agencies.
It is time for him to ruthlessly bomb the notorious and Boko Haram-infested Sambisi forest …and burn it, together with everything and everyone that is in it, to the ground. It is time for him to exercise the right of ‘’hot pursuit’’ and to pursue the Haramites into the Camerouns, Chad, the Niger Republic or anywhere else if and when it is necessary for him to ever do so.
It is time for him to prove to the world that the Nigerian people are not insensitive cowards and that we know how to fight and to protect our own. It is time for him to rise up and to exercise the full powers and authority of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is time for him to do whatever it takes to bring our girls back home and to let us hold our heads up high once again.
*Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Aviation. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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The summary is as follows:
ReplyDelete1. This carnage is being fueled by individuals within and possibly outside Nigeria.
2. Jonathan probably knows them but should be bold enough to expose and deal with them.
3. There's a grand design to Islamize Nigeria
4. If Jonathan does nothing, then there could also be a grand design to have the Military take over or simply break-up the country.
I for one believe Jonathan's body language supports number 4.
I quite agree with u.A dog attacks only when it is certain that it's victim is weak and can smell fear.Same principle for all predators and their prey.
DeleteI pray God gives Jonathan the boldness,strength and confidence to name names.The whole world knows he is afraid to mention boko haram sponsors.
Nigerians are ready to give him all the support ,if only he can mention and purnish this people regardless of who they are.
FFK, please deliver the above 4 points to GEJ whenever you go to Aso rock for lunch.
DeleteWe stand with you in this one FFK.
ReplyDeleteWhy. Do we always attach religion to the BH people? How many amlysis were done to know the religious pattern when mosques were bombed? The facts is that these people are criminals and should be dealt with using maximum forces available to the president.
ReplyDeletePerhaps our president should consult former president Obasanjo on the necessary steps to take to deal with this BH sect......Jungle justice comes to mind.....just saying
ReplyDeleteIf division will bring peace so be IT.
ReplyDeleteFFK. You are so on point
ReplyDeleteFrom the FFK episode, it appears the BH targets the Christian girls, the would-be mothers of another generation of Christians so as to achieve their purpose of islamizing Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteGod kindly intervene speedily as you did in the time of Moses.
You are so right FFK. If Jonathan thinks that negotiating with Boko Haram is the way to bring peace, he is a foolish man. If he doesn't do something now, even his own life and that of his family will be in jeopardy. Everybody's lives will be in jeopardy. If we don't fight boko haram until they are all dead, then we should just kiss our lives and freedom goodbye. It is the beginning of sorrows if we don't eliminate book haram. Let all Nigerians rise and fight now. Our lives are in jeopardy!!!!
ReplyDeletei just want to ask the Mr FFK(CAN spokesman) do you know all the school children which were massacred in Yobe were muslim? please why dont you stop your write up that is distracting us.coz in all ramification,i believe this animals(bokoharam) are after the whole Nigeria and not any religion or tribe
ReplyDeleteWe will continue to repeat this, it is unislamic to force anybody to profess the religion. CAN is just playing politicts just as so many have been doing elsewhere in the world. These criminals who called themselves Muslims does not represent the teaching of the Qur'an. They are cultists who shouts Allahu Akbar. Anyone can. FFK and CAN should remember that sinister is not a virtue. God will expose allthe ppl behind this global Jihadii movement.
ReplyDeleteThe Christian community should not be deceived by the Moslem community. All these are grand design which all of them are part of. They know that the number and strenght of Christians are by far above theirs. So they divided themseves into two, those who will pretend they want peace will get information and other materials needed by their Jihadists. Finally all othem are involved. If not, they knows how to end this madness. look at the role of Borno state governor and the likes. Which muslem man or woman have provided information against these jihadists? Please let the Christians join hands and ignore these tricks from muslems. Whatever be the outcome let all of us bear it. If they don't want Crusade/War they know how to stop it. For now, they are all enemies trying to capitalise on our spirit of forgiveness...
ReplyDeleteThis is an award-winning article. Well done FFK.
ReplyDeleteIt is a known fact of world history that people e.g. Hilter, Pol Pot etc often try to dominate fellow men through sundry means, ethinic cleasing, genocide, terrorism etc. It is unfortunate that any crime or fatality that occurs in a muslim dominated area is autmatically taged as Jihad, while if it were other counter parts, it is not termed as holy crusade Rwandan genocide was not termed as crusade but rather a political and government sponsored killing that led to the genocide. Hilters decimation of Jews was not termed as Crusade but instead as ethnic genocide, if you wish, I can take you on a long walk down the history lane. When American drones levels civilian houses in Pakistan it was'nt called Christian crusade but rather a mistake. It is unfair to try to suggest that "....They wish to establish a radical new caliphate in the west African sub-region where christianity and moderate Islam is banned, where women are treated like sub-human beings and chattel and which is governed by the strictest form of Islamic Sharia law...."
ReplyDeleteIslam encourages Education, societal development, women empowerment and recognizes them as mothers of society etc. Infact if you read early history of the arabian pennisula you will see that they made much advances in the sciences, art medicine etc. FFK has no idea about caliphate.
Several heiniuos atrocities have under the very watch of this government befallen the nation. Muslims and Christians alike. But for alarm raised by international community, it would have passed like any other. To suggest or make allusions of any form that Christains are target would be very unfair to the many muslims who have died as a result of the ruthless act and vice versa. If this were to be the case, then it is possible that the case in Yobe state was some retaliatory measures against muslims.
In any state where the goverment is weak in enforcing rule of law, all sorts of vices and evils can emerge. We are all aware of the origin of this Boko Haram - a means to a political end and would embark on a technique to do so.
I often thought of a word to describe the member of the monstrous sect Boko Haram but then FFK has it -"Haramites". Every Educated english speaking muslim will agree that Boko Haram members are "Haramites" i.e. do what is sinful and forbidden but not "Islamic Jihadist". However, I often exercise caution in point accusing fingers and proposing a conspiracy theory except its backed with hard facts.
I have often acknowledged the sentimental stir in the writings of FFK. He is truly a great writer.
ReplyDeleteIt is a known fact of world history that people e.g. Hilter, Pol Pot etc often try to dominate fellow men through sundry means, ethinic cleasing, genocide, terrorism etc. It is unfortunate that any crime or fatality that occurs in a muslim dominated area is autmatically taged as Jihad, while if it were other counter parts, it is not termed as holy crusade Rwandan genocide was not termed as crusade but rather a political and government sponsored killing that led to the genocide. Hilters decimation of Jews was not termed as Crusade but instead as ethnic genocide, if you wish, I can take you on a long walk down the history lane. When American drones levels civilian houses in Pakistan it was'nt called Christian crusade but rather a mistake. It is unfair to try to suggest that "....They wish to establish a radical new caliphate in the west African sub-region where christianity and moderate Islam is banned, where women are treated like sub-human beings and chattel and which is governed by the strictest form of Islamic Sharia law...."
Islam encourages Education, societal development, women empowerment and recognizes them as mothers of society etc. Infact if you read early history of the arabian pennisula you will see that they made much advances in the sciences, art medicine etc. FFK has no idea about caliphate.
Several heiniuos atrocities have under the very watch of this government befallen the nation. Muslims and Christians alike. But for alarm raised by international community, it would have passed like any other. To suggest or make allusions of any form that Christains are target would be very unfair to the many muslims who have died as a result of the ruthless act and vice versa. If this were to be the case, then it is possible that the case in Yobe state was some retaliatory measures against muslims.
In any state where the goverment is weak in enforcing rule of law, all sorts of vices and evils can emerge. We are all aware of the origin of this Boko Haram - a means to a political end and would embark on a technique to do so.
I often thought of a word to describe the member of the monstrous sect Boko Haram but then FFK has it -"Haramites". Every Educated english speaking muslim will agree that Boko Haram members are "Haramites" i.e. do what is sinful and forbidden but not "Islamic Jihadist". However, I often exercise caution in point accusing fingers and proposing a conspiracy theory except its backed with hard facts.
The President must consider the fact that every citizen is under his guardianship. He once admitted that FG has handled the matter with kid's glove. If the crisis were to be in the south-south, it would have been a very different issue. Yar'adua put an end to the militant crisis that plagued the nation through techniques I personally dont subscribe to. GEJ should do same, this time around by using brute force. Personally he is not patriotic enough. He is less concerned with the crisis that rocks the North state. The ex-govenor and all those politician should be brought under the microscope of the Law. Instead, he is comfortable that
ReplyDelete1. it can be tagged as a religious crisis and thus tagged Islamist extremists
2. they are mostly northerners who are affected i.e. they are not one of his
It pays of politically. He gets support of entire "christian community" and the south East/south south. but a true nationalist would see otherwise. They are not Islamic Jihadist, they are Anti-Islamic Anti-Jihadists and Haramites. They are not trying to establish an Islamic state but a "Tyranical Order and anti-parallel government".
As for the person who accused the entire "muslim community" as eneimies etc, may prayer for you is that May God remove the bitterness you have against the "muslim community". On the contrary "muslim community" is entirely embittered about the massive killings, kidnap and brutalities. They continually pray that God should expose and put a shameful end to the Haramities and all their sponsors except they repent from their evil ways.
Personally I wish to ask you, do you have a forgiving heart....
The Christian community should not be deceived by the Moslem community. All these are grand design which all of them are part of. They know that the number and strenght of Christians are by far above theirs. So they divided themseves into two, those who will pretend they want peace will get information and other materials needed by their Jihadists. Finally all othem are involved. If not, they knows how to end this madness. look at the role of Borno state governor and the likes. Which muslem man or woman have provided information against these jihadists? Please let the Christians join hands and ignore these tricks from muslems. Whatever be the outcome let all of us bear it. If they don't want Crusade/War they know how to stop it. For now, they are all enemies trying to capitalise on our spirit of forgiveness...