Boko Haram: Beyond prayers

After completing my shopping, I reached for my MasterCard debit card when the elderly cashier attending to me asked in a sorrowful tone: “Are you from where they kidnapped all those girls?” She must have apparently overheard my light-hearted conversation –in Hausa- with a friend who stood nearby, but that is not even the issue […]

After completing my shopping, I reached for my MasterCard debit card when the elderly cashier attending to me asked in a sorrowful tone: “Are you from where they kidnapped all those girls?” She must have apparently overheard my light-hearted conversation –in Hausa- with a friend who stood nearby, but that is not even the issue here.  
What struck me first was the deep concern etched on the face of this particular genial elderly American woman. I went numb at first in part because I never expected the question from her. It is, of course, true that the abduction of the girls has remained a topical issue on almost all the American media networks, like it is in other parts of the world.  Ranking Republican politicians have also contrived to put the issue on the front burner.
Some TV pundits here have even expressed the belief that how to confront Boko Haram will rank high among the critical issues for all the candidates jostling to succeed Barak Obama in the next American presidential elections.
The general mood and quality as well as the intensity of discussions on how to tackle Boko Haram in America contrasts sharply with the criminal apathy, crass incompetence, and shameless politicking that characterized the fight against the sect by Nigerian authorities at the onset. It took the abduction of the girls from Chibok and the response of the international community to galvanise the government into any form of action.
We can never forget that only a few weeks prior to the abductions, over 40 teenage school children in Yobe state were also slaughtered and burnt as they slept in their dormitories! That infamous tragedy failed to generate any form of frenzy in Aso Rock in a manner that would have assured Nigerians that we had a responsible government in place. I can also never recall the president, or any of his representatives, visiting any of the parents of the slain students to offer even the barest semblance of psychological support.
But there I stood, thousands of miles away from Chibok, in a mall located in one of the quieter towns in the state of Delaware, before this inquisitive American as she waited patiently for my answer. Regaining my poise, I responded that I was indeed from that part of the world where Boko Haram have continued its deadly harvest of death and destruction almost on a daily basis.
I agreed with her that the pain and anguish currently experienced by the parents and relations of the abducted girls was unimaginable. I urged her to pray for a speedy end to the insurgency and the return of peace to my country and she quickly told me that she prayed for the safe return of the girls every day. Coming from a nation where many appear to have lost their senses of humanity the attitude of this American was instructive.
Whether we like it or not, we cannot forget the well publicised attitude of the First Lady to the abductions in a hurry. Nor can we forget the embarrassing narrative from the PDP Spokesman Olisa Metuh, on the same incident and others before it.
Whether we also like it or not, the subsequent attempt by the Christian Association of Nigeria to create a dichotomy among the girls on the basis of the religion they practiced was disgraceful and highly disturbing but not entirely surprising. It fit snugly into the sort of narrative we have become accustomed to from Wadata House. Even so, it was a great betrayal of the girls. It was hardly what they needed in captivity.
And that narrative is strengthened each time Mr. President chooses the pulpit to make important policy statements or declarations. A clear distinction must be made between the political dais and the pulpit. The issue of the religion we practice must remain a personal issue and must never be allowed to drift into the realm of statecraft unless if it is part of a grand strategy by the President to further alienate those who belong to a different religion than himself.
Given the discredited religious ideology of Boko Haram, and its total rejection by mainstream Nigerian Muslims, the president inevitably plays into their hands with his now habitual tendency of choosing church premises to make such important policy statements. I can hardly recall any previous Nigerian leader, dead or alive, who has done so. Even the military Heads of state we had never did so.  
By now, it should be abundantly clear that only a unified Nigeria can possibly confront or win the war against Boko Haram and its psychopathic leaders. There is nothing wrong in requesting apex institutions of the various religious groups in the nation pray for peace and an end to the general insecurity in the land but our politicians and elected leaders should stay clear of the process.
They should be preoccupied with making the government work by making it very visible in the miserable lives of millions of Nigerians presently. They should be concerned with providing the requisite funding and equipment for our security forces. They should be scrambling to fill the leadership void which has become very visible due to petty politicking.
The recourse to the pulpit by the president whenever Nigerians expect exemplary leadership amounts to a dereliction of duty and must be discouraged. The war against Boko Haram is already big enough, and except we accept the joke that the sect has better leaders than those in Aso Rock, we can be under few illusions that only the most comprehensive strategy, devoid of petty politics, will suffice. The fight against the sect is not something that can be wished away by a prayer. God only helps those who make serious attempts to help themselves.
The President must stop the stomach-churning tendency of blaming every other person except himself and his party for the alarming state of affairs in the country. I am tired of the notion that Boko Haram is the platform of the North to reclaim power from the South.
I am also tired of the illiterate theories that have attempted to equate the Boko Haram insurgency with the militancy that preceded the present detente in the Niger Delta because the two are not the same. It is not every time that I agree with the Plateau state governor David Jang, but I concur with his view that the President needs to deal decisively with all those using Boko Haram to undermine his presidency!
If the president has a dossier on all such people, let him immediately haul them before the law if he can prove it. What Nigerians need is responsible leadership and not pretentious prayers for political expediency or foolish conspiracy theories from those who should know better.