In
December of 2011 after the Christmas Day bombing, President Goodluck Jonathan
missed the opportunity to address the Boko Haram issue head-on. Instead of resolving
the terrorist problem the administration decided to zero in on taxing average
and/or regular Nigerians with the Fuel Subsidy scheme on January 1st, 2012.
Shock and Awe policies were rolled out to conflate the oil barons and marketers
with ordinary Nigerians and the Islamic fundamentalism with oil subsidies.
Those
of us that stood up as Occupy Nigerian Movement protesters have been vindicated
over and over again with the exposed corruption in the Petroleum sectors reaching
up to the National Assembly membership and the explosion of terror in West
Africa. Hopefully, with the eventual declaration of emergency against those
that have perpetrated carnage on our homeland, other fights would emerge such
as those again corruption, impunity, and unemployment. These scrutiny and
measures of accountability should not be reversed for opponents of the regime.
Carnage in
Northern Nigeria (article written in April 2011)
Amnesty
International, one of the premier human rights organizations characterized the
incidents in the northern areas of the United Nations of Nigeria as riots and
demonstrations. Thus equating the carnage to the demonstrations in Bahrain,
Yemen and Syria where people are currently using peaceful and civil means to
petition their governments. This mischaracterization is appalling because what
took place in northern Nigeria was hundreds of bloodbaths, lynching, burning of
innocent human beings, arson, and gross destruction of properties by Dictator
Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters. With nearly 250people dead and close to 50,000
fellow Nigerians displaced, give it up to the perpetrators of inhumanity to
remain indifferent. They have mastered the skills of committing mass murders
while simultaneously cloaking in victim hood. Similar butchery was the primary
reasons behind the Nigerian and Biafran genocidal wars.
Contrary
to revisionist historians after the 1966 coup, counter coup d'état, and
extinction of some southeastern officers from the ranks of the Nigerian Army,
our union was still standing. It was days of similar mass massacres like the
world have just witnessed from April 17-18th 2011, that has continued
sporadically from 1960’s until now, that forced the hands of the
South-easterners to head back home to peace and safety. In the process they realized
that their safety could not be protected in some parts of the Disunited Nations
of Nigeria and were forced to declare independence in 1966. Unfortunately these
shameless killings have continued unabated since then. The Nigerian and
international press always report about these barbaric incidents as though they
began after 1999 when the civilians took over from the military.
However,
Enough is Enough! How can northerners continue to preach “One Nigeria” only
when they are holding on to the presidency? The sad reality is that they have
controlled and/or occupied the said position for about 40years within our
so-called 50years independence. In their time as rulers, the Northern Military
Industrial Complex (NMIC) alias Army Arrangement have legitimatized corruption
and mismanaged our national resources. The northern elites have set the country
backwards about twenty-five years if not more with their incessant coups and
dictatorships. This retardation in developments has been felt in every nook and
cranny of the United Nations of Nigeria. With the marginalization of the Niger
Delta and the assassination of Dr. Ken Saro Wiwa the veils were finally lifted
off the eyes of the South-south. The south west including Awoist (who would
like to focus on the prediction of Chief Awolowo that a Niger Delta man would
become president someday) are beginning to understand that while the
Southeasterners might allegedly play you wayo, some northerners are very
willing to exterminate their fellow Nigerians.
It is
one thing to contest the votes/elections and the tabulations of the result but
quite another to execute regional killing orgies. These ghastly acts were done
to intimidate the masses who came out in droves to cast their votes all over
the country. In the north, President Goodluck Jonathan got more than 25%
(http://www.inecnigeria.org/results/states.php) of the votes in nearly a dozen
states. So the vitriolic Congress for Progressive Change CPC) supported
murdering quads wanted to silence the segment of the northern population that
have realized that the Presidency is not the panacea to their problems. The CPC
supporters wanted to terrorize the Independent National Election Commission
(INEC) who conducted a commendable election. These killing thugs wanted to
suppress the announcement of the election results. Why did CPC supporters not
wait for the pronouncement of the outcome before going out to threaten and
arrest our national security?
Where
were these hooligans, their parents, and their sponsors when Dictator Sani Abacha
took the whole nation hostage and ostracized Nigerians from the African and
global communities of nations? We could not participate in the African Cup of
Nations in South Africa and we were suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations
not for resisting imperialism but due to authoritarianism. Where were these
miscreants when Dictator Abdulsalami Abubakar handed the presidency to Dictator
Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999? Why was there no protest when Mr. Obasanjo and his
pal Professor Maurice Iwu gave the post to President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007?
But they have the audacity to slaughter law abiding Nigerians. These nonsense
needs to stop right now, we have to break the cycle of massacres, we cannot
compensate our way out of these man made tragedies.
Notwithstanding the concerns of
Amnesty International the Nigerian government has a responsibility to use
adequate force to defend law abiding citizens. While the observance of peaceful
protest should remain sacrosanct the carnage that we have just witnessed in
Nigeria should be prevented and suppressed with commensurable force to
safeguard the lives of innocent law abiding citizens. The union of the United
Nations of Nigeria cannot remain sacrosanct for long when it is a death
sentence in northern Nigeria to be suspected of southern ethnicities, an
Ancestor worshipper, a Christian, and a Muslim who votes for a Christian. My
own sister (a Christian, an Igbo and Ijaw) supported and campaigned for
Dictator Muhammadu Buhari, so what would the murderers do in her case?
Moreover
the fact is that people like Mr. Buhari and former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar had sown the seeds of violence before the elections. They purposely
used languages like “lynching” and the “inevitability of violence” to ginger up
their supporters in preparation of the Saturday April 16, 2011 elections.
Hence, Buhari did not see the need to call off his supporters from the streets
while the killings went on for more than twenty four hours. Alhaji Abubakar
wants to pay lip service to the so-called revered indivisibility of our nation
when the lives and property of southerners and fellow northerners who voted
their conscience is not guaranteed in the United Nations of Nigeria. Our people
are nonchalantly orphaned, our parents are rendered childless through
brutality, and others are maimed. The sanctity, safety, and respect of lives
should be our primary sacrosanct obligation and not nationhood/religion.
Moreover,
the Nigerian federal and northern state governments need to bow their heads in
shame because of their negligence. They knew that some in northern Nigeria
would turn to their tried and true part time of using tyrannical savagery. The
stakeholders should have prepared for the worst while hoping for the best which
many of us knew was not likely given the antecedents of some northerners. Heads
of the Nigerian security apparatus need to immediately tender their
resignations. Hopefully, contrary to press reports, Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho
the Minister of Interior was relieved of his position for the ineptitude in
providing security for our young national service coopers and the general
public in the north. The expectation is that he was not suspended due to
internal political considerations from Imo State. It would be a betrayal of the
highest order to the victims if no one takes accountability for this perennial
mayhem.
Never Again
should people be victimized in such callous ways with impunity. President
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan and the authorities need to establish the
Emergency Response Tactical Teams (ERT) in all northern states that have a past
history of perpetrating this carnage. The ERTs should train and practice the
needed skills to protect the general public and should never be deployed to
disrupt non-violent protest. These teams should be able to be organized within
15minutes of any disturbances when the lives and properties of individuals from
the United Nations of Nigeria are under attack. Our governments should mandate
the ERT to protect our visitors too. We must protect the sanctity of the
African lives.
Nnamdi F. Akwada MSW, BA is a Social
Justice Activist
