Opinion
Opinion: Boko Haram And The Northern Elements That Launched A Campaign Against Ihejirika
By Jude Ndukwe
The recent revelation by the military that “some prominent individuals and political groups who hail from Borno State in particular and the North East generally” are employing marabouts and other unethical means to reverse the gains made so far in the fight against insurgency is not only worrisome but also a confirmation of what many Nigerians already know about the whole saga of Boko Haram being nothing but a fraud perpetuated by a wicked cabal who turn brothers against brothers for the singular and selfish purpose of feathering their own nests while the crisis last.
Indeed, there is nothing new in what the military has revealed. Events of the past have always pointed to the fraud that the insurgency is. From Borno to Adamawa to Yobe, northern elders are yet to tell Nigerians the truth about how they have been conspiring with Boko Haram while frustrating the efforts of the military over time.
Initially, discerning Nigerians had thought that the only reason some of these heartless northern elders had embarked on this wicked mission was to use it as a political tool to discredit the government of former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, make him look weak and incapable of reining in the terrorists so that the end result would be his defeat at the polls, but with this recent outcry from the military, it is now clearer that the intention of these prominent individuals and political groups from the North East is beyond political calculations, it is also for filthy lucre!
With the vigorous but futile and spurious attempt by the same military to try and “clarify” its earlier statement on this issue, it is obvious that these same elders have held the current crop of military leaders by the jugular. Unfortunately, rather than try to clarify its statement, the military ended up strengthening its earlier lamentation and worsened the situation. It is becoming more frightening that with the way things are going, our military will soon be totally emasculated and surrender to the seeming superior firepower of the Borno and North East elders. For the army to have balked at the barking of the Borno Elders Leaders of Thought (BELT) sends a dangerous signal in the fight against terrorism.
There are many questions to ask. Who are those who make up the BELT? Why are they so concerned about the earlier statement of the military indicting some elders in the North East? If they are not involved in sabotaging the efforts of the military against the terrorists, why did they rush to stampede the military in “clarifying” its statement? Are they the only elders in Borno or the North East? Are some people afraid of having the searchlight beamed on them, getting them exposed and arrested for aiding and abetting terrorism for their own selfish gains? How connected are these people to the highest authorities of the land that even our military seem to be cowed just by their sneezing? What political party are these political groups working for? Why would the military not arrest such persons or groups which it claimed it was aware of their sabotage rather than issue a lame statement that would soon be “clarified”? Many questions begging for plausible answers!
It is now clearer why these same northern elements launched a vigorous, relentless, expensive and expansive but fruitless campaign against former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, under whom the Boko Haram terrorists had their ever worst nightmare till date. One had wondered why anyone, particularly the northern elders, would want to so castigate a man who gave the terrorists a run for their money. One had thought such organized brutish attack against Ihejirika was borne just out of nepotism and tribalism, but with this latest saga, it has become more obvious that it extends to profiteering from the barbaric commercialization of sheer wickedness that has led to the avoidable and needless spilling of the blood of the innocent, harmless and helpless members of our society! Rather than warn and give these vampires, whether their forum is consultative or elderly, the opportunity to reverse the gains of the military, Ihejirika, in a no nonsense manner, went after them, smoked them out from their hiding places and got them scattered and scampering for safety where there was none. The drivers of the respective forums in the north east became highly disenchanted and disappointed. As we say in our local parlance, Lt Gen. Ihejirika was “bad market” for them. He would deal with them before warning the remaining ones rather than warn before threatening to deal with them and then clarify the threat later as it is the case now!
This brings us to the issue of terrorism and insurgency as a commercial venture incorporated with the sole aim of defrauding Nigeria politically, financially and otherwise. This also reminds us that the issue of the Chibok girls and other related issues might just be a scam after all.
Finally, what would anyone gain by subjecting a whole region in our nation to the barbaric and spineless killings of people mostly women and children even in places of worship? Rather than blame others for their woes, the north should do a soul searching and find out why it has become its own worst enemy. Why is it the most backward region in Nigeria? Why, in spite of its long hold on to power for so long in the history of our nation, they still have the highest number of illiterates, diseased and poor? And upon that, they have inflicted upon themselves this misery called Boko Haram to finish off the little or nothing they already have? Why? Until the north flushes out the dubious “prominent individuals and political groups” among them responsible for its unchecked descent into abyss, north’s inhumanity to north will totally obliterate that region! God forbid!
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Jude Ndukwe, Abuja
Twitter: @stjudendukwe
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