Bin Laden Saga – one terrorist down

Thanks to politically orchestrated crisis in northern Nigeria, the status quo has just been stamped on the Nigerian people without remorse. Winners have emerged out of questionable mandates and with overwhelming votes and they are struggling rather unsuccessfully to deflect the arrows of criticism away from their corrupt version of miracle mandates in spite of […]

Thanks to politically orchestrated crisis in northern Nigeria, the status quo has just been stamped on the Nigerian people without remorse. Winners have emerged out of questionable mandates and with overwhelming votes and they are struggling rather unsuccessfully to deflect the arrows of criticism away from their corrupt version of miracle mandates in spite of low voter turn-out. No political theory explained the swing votes that torpedoed all political calculations which enabled a party which lost in one area within a week winning landslide victories just a week later. But answers abide in the dangerous and volatile ethno-religious politics that was played 50 years after the first attempt began to build a nation.

But it is certain that things will never be the same again in our country. Thanks to those with abiding faith in the unity of Nigeria. We are like the phoenix, with an uncanny ability to reinvent ourselves from the seeming ashes of destruction. It would seem that we have passed the worst threats to our nationhood for now, except for those who believe that a promised judicial enquiry will mark the beginning of the era of taking inquisitions seriously. Winners have been crowned and the losers are now left with the option of returning to their trenches, hibernate or quit. Let us hope that those with abiding faith and capacity to restructure our nation will not quit on us.

And for the few who have won real mandates, time to keep faith with promise and rekindle the lamp of hope. Party time and felicitations over, it is time to hit the ground running and only those who have drawn a clear-cut governance plan will be able to impact on their communities positively. The glossy counterfeits who were forced on the people will continue to buy time with evil machinations and distractions. Very often empty barrels, their loud noises will be heard on the national clime just for the nuisance value. But they will have no hiding place; government houses will be very hot for them and so, they will need to buy new official cars to make the constant commute to their liaison offices in Asokoro and Maitama. Because, come to think of it this time around, the might and brute force of the police are unlikely to shield them from collective anger. People have tested their anger, in spite of the ethno-religious colorations finally giving to the revolt, a seed has been planted and paupers of all persuasions will be united by their common destiny and that should be scary to the rulers.

At the federal level, it is difficult to gauge the elasticity of people’s patience and tolerance of a government that promised nothing and therefore cannot be held accountable for anything. Those who were teased with breaths of fresh air by the manipulations of electrical power as prove of improvement in generation and distribution are jolted out of their revelry. And as they rushed to the filling stations to tank up their generators, they are rudely confronted with embarrassing queues and artificial scarcity. A government takes action at such instances, but one with a stolen mandate trades blames and points accusing fingers of sabotage. Truth is, this is a continuity that has taxed Nigerians more on fuel than any other for the last twelve years.

Fuel scarcity, apart from giving the world’s seventh producer of crude a bad name is worse now because the president and the petroleum minister are Niger-Deltans; the best eleven of their regional team anointed to end decades of northern marginalisation of their riding. One can only hope that this is resolved quickly so that the dangers associated with fuel scarcity is averted. Certainly from all indications; Nigerians are preparing to pay more this year and in the years to come for their God-given crude than they have previously. It’s just a question of time. Elections may be fought and won by whipping up primordial sentiments, governing needs planning and excellent execution, pure luck cannot do it.

Unfortunately, it is the manipulated Nigerian who loses when things like this happens. Last week as they queued for fuel, whatever inducement allowances were paid them prior for the elections have been spent on transportation. The pain does not end there; they will also have lost a few more to spoilt food with the blackouts. With excess cash mopped up after the polls comes the increase in crime and criminality. Those who distributed money, bread and other things to campaign against ‘northern political hegemony’ will wake up to see that we are all in this together.

But away from all these was the killing of Osama bin Laden, America’s most wanted fugitive. Bin Laden’s name, it was later revealed though not on America’s most wanted, ranked top in the minds of all those who watched the horrendous crashing of two loaded planes into the twin towers on 9/11. Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind, remains a suspect in death as we will never have the opportunity to hear his side of the story. The lies and half-truths which followed the announcement of his execution has left more questions than answers and is bound to keep global conspiracy theorists busy for time to come. Thus, for good or bad, bin Laden remains an enigma whose execution questions the morality of all the wars fought in the guise of his name over the past ten years. This argument diverts global attention from the two most dangerous terrorists on my watch list. The one that neither America nor its powerful allies have succeeded in capturing – and its names are poverty and inequality. If, as the statistics say, it cost more than $1.3 trillion to track this man down over ten years; and that his death is unlikely to make the world any less safer, then frankly, one could perhaps conclude that one phantom terrorist down; the real culprits yet to be captured.