Temple Chima Ubochi
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Religious fanaticism and hatred are a world-devouring fire, whose violence none can quench (Baha'u'llah)
What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents (Robert F. Kennedy)
he government claims it’s winning the war against insurgents, but, Boko Haram sect has just killed more than 20 persons in Sabon Gari area of Kano State on Monday July 29 through the detonation of four bombs. Why? If the government is winning the war against the terrorists, how come that about 42 Boko Haram sect members “took it on the lam”, and had the opportunity to get as far as Lagos and Ogun States before they were arrested? If the governmental forces are gaining the upper hand in the war, why then should the terrorists have all the time in the world to hijack high calibre explosives from a quarry in Yobe State?
Relying entirely on the government for our security need is a mistake, because the authorities have never been there when the people needed them most; people should continue taking the forsaken self-help route. As an additament (to some of the points made in Part 7 of this article), Oyeniyi Faleye wrote:
“As I read through the tons of articles in order to get a broader picture of the Boko Haram phenomenon, it became clear to me that reinforcing military offences against the sect might not be the best of solutions. This view seems to resonate with the position of two of Nigerian literary icons Professor Wole Soyinka and Professor Chinua Achebe who believe reprisal will probably escalate an already bad situation. And as Professor Wole Soyinka puts it at a Save Nigeria Group’s conference in January 2012, ‘We must promote neighbour to neighbour protection method. We should not give room for reprisals. Protection of our neighbours should be the first principle”. That should be the honourable and courageous path to tread while seeking to reinvent and re-indoctrinate a deep sense of community life in regions most vulnerable to attacks by the sect as well as all over Nigeria – Borno, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger etc. Simply put, a community is a group or society, helping each other. Once upon a time in the Nigerian community, everyone knew virtually everyone else. If one is new in a neighbourhood, it’s only a matter of time before one gets known by nearly everyone in that area. Then, it was commonplace to hear people exchange pleasantries and banters in the wee hours of the day while they head out for their workplaces, businesses and places of worship – be it a mosque or a church.
At weekends, you find parents especially fathers gather while they talk about everything – politics, sports, work, family, education, economy, government and all what not. This informal way of sharing information appears to stimulate emotional connection amongst the fathers including their families. Of course, children whose fathers are friends do oftentimes end up as friends. And therefore the fathers have the collective responsibilities of watching one another’s back which includes their children. Therefore, if any of the fathers’ children fell out of line it was easy to correct him/her and ensure that his father get to know about it. Hence, the parents of the defaulting child followed up while stepping in to curb the bad behaviour. This informal social connection appears to have helped many parents especially out-of-home working parents to nip certain aberrant behaviours before things got out of hand. The family is the smallest unit of a national community like Nigeria. But today, family life as you may observe has suffered mighty setbacks in last many years. The insatiable contest for gold and silver appears to have broken many families into pieces which only God can mend. Parents no longer have the time to nurture and teach their children the right path so that when they grow up they won’t abandon it. The breakdown of law and order in any society is probably traceable to absentee parentage - parents who are never there for their children to give spiritual, emotional, mental support while helping them develop a wealthy character and self-esteem. This gap between parents and their children tends to make the latter more vulnerable to influencers of behaviours such as peer pressure (around the home, school, church and mosque etc), music icons who they see as role models, the media – Radio, Television and the Internet which includes social media such as Facebook, Tweeter, Skype, YOUTube etc. However, the internet which is perhaps the most popular medium amongst young people is a double-edged sword with both positive and negative information on virtually anything you can think about – business, politics, education, religion, relationships, entertainment, sex, pornography, dating and whatever” (Sahara Reporters).
Security conscious citizens should do what this father did: The Guardian of Monday, June 17, 2013, wrote that a 60-year old businessman (name withheld) who alleged that his son was inducted into the Boko Haram sect and has killed several people in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has handed over the child to men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Hausari ward, requesting that he be killed. The son, before leaving his parents' house in April, had threatened to kill his father. Neighbours of the businessman and other residents of the area were said to have been baffled with the return of the son to the house to plead with his father to allow him refuge from soldiers and members of the Youth Vigilance Group that are massively hunting for fleeing sect members from Kirenoa and Sambisa Games Reserves Forests destroyed training camps. One of the neighbours said that after confessing all his (son) crimes, including how he participated in killing people and looting of banks, to his father, the old man declared that it was against his conscience to keep a killer-son in his home. According to him, "this was what informed the businessman to turn his son to men of JTF. The father, who is a Kanuri man, after making up his mind against housing or keeping a killer-son, approached the office of the JTF and told them of the criminal involvement of his son in killing and robbery. It was gathered that the soldiers followed the father home to arrest the son, who was shot dead, while trying to escape arrest. An eyewitness said: "When the young man was shot by the soldiers and was wreathing in pains, the old man only turned round to say Masha Allah (to God be the glory)." The old man was also said to have decided against taking up the ill-gotten wealth of his son stashed away near the family house. "Before he was handed over to the soldiers, the young man had revealed to his father and family members that he possessed two cars and had millions of naira buried somewhere near the family house. But the no-nonsense and God-fearing father said he has no interested in his ill-gotten assets and has no intentions of inheriting them in obedience to Islamic injunctions because they are haram (forbidden)”.
The point here is that everyone should be security-conscious these days; Nigerians shouldn’t leave their security entirely in the hands of the authorities who are not there for them or who created the security problems. C.V. Akuta wrote: “If ever, you have never been worried or disturbed about the security situation in Nigeria, now is the time to get seriously concerned, about the deplorable state of affairs, especially high level of insecurity. First let me start with the Ombatse, in Nasarawa State, where over 100 Nigerian Police and other security officers were massacred in a single incident. Police has identified 2 of their officers who leaked information to the Ombatse cultist, which led to the deaths of their colleagues. (I will come back to issue of police giving out information to criminals). Forty eight (48) hours before this Ombatse incident, more than twenty Nigerian Police officers were also killed in Bama Borno State, by the Boko Haram. Just last month (April 2013), about 12 Nigerian Police officers were killed in the creeks of Bayelsa State, by the militants. Sometime in March 2013, former Commissioner of Police of Kwara State, was shot dead at his residence in Enugu. Lastly, former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim is currently seeking asylum in United Kingdom, due to the threats of Boko Haram.
When you factor in the political assassinations, unsolved murder cases, high rate of kidnappings, other crimes in different parts of the country, you will then realize the danger facing all. No one is safe, this includes both Nigerians at home and abroad. Directly or indirectly what happens in Nigeria, has a way of affecting those in Diaspora. There is now a total breakdown of security. The most disturbing aspect was the fact that, 2 Police officers were discovered to have leaked information, that led to the killing of their colleagues at Ombatse, Nasarawa. This simply means that the masses will find it difficult to trust the police. If the masses cannot trust the police, how then can they give information to the police to fight crimes, without risking their lives? Police is no longer your friend, but now your enemy. The situation is worse and has resulted in self help, therefore every citizen should, ensure self and safe defence and protection of himself and immediate families. It is highly recommended for all to be at highest level of alert. Treat everyone as a suspect till proven innocent. Avoid unnecessary movements. Spy each other. Keep round the clock surveillance of your immediate environment. Join or start a neighbourhood watch group or a vigilante group. Where possible, villages, communities etc could resort to ancient cultural and traditional methods of crime fighting. Report suspicious movements to your immediate neighbours, or to the community leaders! Alert the police, along with other security services/agencies. Use your facebook, mobile phone/sms, email etc to broadcast any suspected crime. The writer suggests, a synergy between the police and the media, whereby every crime reported to the police, should be broadcasted live by various media houses. Mass media is a useful tool in crime fighting. The above is not exhaustive. Use all legal means possible to provide yourself a protection from criminals. No price is too much for your security. Also remember that, Nigerians themselves can only solve this problem, no foreign power can do it for us. Just the will is what we need. Remember, where there is a will there is a way”.
The Nigerian security forces have been having problems containing the Boko Haram menace, and then, the youths of the three states, where the state of emergency was declared, having seen the inability of the governmental forces, due to one reason or the other, to rout the terrorists once and for all, decided to form vigilante groups in order to help in fighting the terrorists whom they know personally and better.
Just as Salman Rushdie (1947) wrote in his book, Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfictions 1992-2002, “How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. Don't let fear rule your life”. Even if you are scared”; we read that angry youths are courageously confronting gun-wielding Boko Haram members in Maiduguri, Borno State, and have been combing the metropolis to smoke out the insurgents from their hide-out. The Sun once wrote that armed with machetes and sticks, the youths arrested many of the sect members and handed them over to security agents. Some of the youths were said to have apprehended gunmen believed to be Boko Haram members including sect's operations commander said to be close to the sect's leader, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau. They recovered arms and ammunition. They attacked, arrested and killed about 60 terrorists and handed them over to the Joint Task Force (JTF) troops. The leader of the youths said: "Enough is enough," noting that the residents and the state have suffered for long in the hands of the dreaded sect. In his words: "We are tired of this and we want to put an end to it. Since soldiers don't really know who the Boko Haram members are, then, we who live with them and know them very well, have resolved that we have no option than to help fish them out".
The Presidency also hailed youths in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, who were said to be fully co-operating with security agencies to hunt and hand over insurgents to the military. A statement from the presidency said: "Perhaps, most gratifying is the new development where citizens, especially youths, are now fully co-operating with security agencies to hunt down these insurgents and hand them over to the military. Without doubt, these youths are the new national heroes, who have risen up to the occasion in an unprecedented patriotic fashion to work together with their government by going after their tormentors. This is heart-warming and clearly indicative of an awakened consciousness of civic responsibility." Even the Vanguard of Thursday, July 4, 2013, wrote that the Borno State Government has asked communities living in border towns with Cameroon to form vigilante groups which would help security agencies fish out Boko Haram members in their areas.
This column wants to add by advising the civilian JTF to be guarded in everything it does, and should concentrate on what it was formed to do. It shouldn’t allow itself to be hijacked by powerful people to settle personal scores, just as Bakassi Boys outfit in Aba did later in its life, after previously serving useful purposes. St. Augustine (354-430) wrote "Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men." Although in a war-like situation obtainable in those northern states where the state of emergency was declared, it’s hard for vigilante groups to avoid committing some human rights abuses, but, they have been helpful, and as one lawyer put it “For now, we have to bear with them. Compared to what the insurgents are doing, their own (abuses) are insignificant.”
Vanguard Editorial sees the emergence of civilian JTF as particularly heart-warming, being a bold departure from the tendency of misguided elements who have sought to portray the terrorists as fighters for a particular religion and region. The "Civilian JTF" recognised the danger and damage to the economic and social livelihood of the people wrought by the al Qaeda-inspired terrorists and decided to assist our men and women under arms to bring the insurgency to an early end. The Editorial warns that no matter the provocation, “that law abiding civilians should not be allowed to take arms and join the fight against terrorists. That aspect must be left to the JTF soldiers to handle because they are professionally trained, equipped and mandated to do so. The civilians must not join in the military fray. They must stay away from harm's way. The job of a vigilante in such high-risk security operation is to provide information and extend total cooperation to the military people. Apart from risking their lives unnecessarily, a greater danger of exposing civilians to battle situations includes the possibility of some of these civilians turning into warlords. In the North, such warlords inevitably put on the religious garb. Before we know it, civilians helping to fight terrorists may fall under the influence of politicians and other foreign sponsors to float their own terror outfits. We must avoid this at all costs. We call on the "Civilian JTF" not to lose heart but to intensify their efforts to assist the military to victory. As youth, helping to win the war means they will claim a place of pride when the rebuilding process begins”.
BOKO HARAM’S HYPOCRISY
John Locke (1632-1704) wrote that "Whoever uses force without Right ... puts himself into a state of War with those, against whom he uses it, and in that state all former Ties are canceled, all other Rights cease, and every one has a Right to defend himself, and to resist the Aggressor." The detonation of bombs in Sabon Gari few days ago by the insurgents occurred on Igbo Road, Enugu Road and New Road, opposite Ado Bayero Square, and majority of the victims may be Ndiigbo. The same thing that led Ojukwu to declare the Republic of Biafra in 1967, in order to safe Ndiigbo from further deaths, after many of them were slaughtered in the north then, and Gowon’s government did nothing to stop that campaign of genocide against Ndiigbo. What Ojukwu saw then and wanted to put an end to, is still happening, 43 years after the end of the civil war (more on Ojukwu in subsequent parts of this article).
Boko Haram members, who claim holier-than-thou-attitudes, may be dirtier than pigs and are living sordidly behind the “curtains”. Thomas Paine (1737-1809) noted that "Practical religion consists in doing good: and the only way of serving God is that of endeavoring to make His creation happy. All preaching that has not this for its object is nonsense and hypocrisy." The fanatics detonated four bombs in Sabon Gari area of Kano State, where most of the non-indigenes reside, and one of the explosions occurred at a drinking joint, because, the Boko Haram terrorists see the drinking of alcohol as a sin. But, those fanatics are judging others without first of all judging themselves and their amoral lifestyles; no wonder, Winston Churchill (1874 –1965) wrote that “A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.”
Boko Haram claims to hate education, but, its leaders send their children to the best schools; the members of the sect claim they are against education, but, they use the knowledge of chemistry, obtainable through education, to know the chemical formula (substances to mix) for bomb making, they hate education, but, it was education that thought them that unprotected sex is deadly, making them regular customers of condoms to satisfy their sexual orgies; they claim to hate western lifestyles, but, they love exotic cars and modern gadgets; they claim to be pious, but, they are worse than wild dogs when it comes to sexual desire, just as Gregory David Roberts (1952), wrote in his book, Shantaram, “Fanatics have the look of people who do not masturbate but who think about it almost all time”. And as Paul Tillich (1886 –1965), wrote in his book, Dynamics of Faith, “...history has shown that the most terrible crimes against love have been committed in the name of fanatically defended doctrines”.
How then do we reconcile what this group (Boko Haram) professes and the lives its members live? Flannery O'Connor, in her book, The Violent Bear it Away, was right that “You have to quit confusing a madness with a mission”. Just as Mercedes Lackey, wrote in her book, Changes, “Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the things they are willing to do to support it”. The group is hypocritical, and have submerged its real intention of dismembering the country under the cloak of a fake religious philosophy. Major Gideon Orkar and co. envisaged such intention earlier and wanted to exorcise this part of Nigeria that has been fertile ground for religious fanaticism. Had he succeeded, that would have saved Nigeria all these “headaches” now (more on Major Orkar in subsequent parts of this article).
To be continued!
TIT BITS
THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!
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