Five hours!

Or is there anything less edifying than a leader who rugby tackled a governor for mourning the loss of lives in his state and for stating the obvious?  Probably, but I can’t think of one.  The obvious being: Boko Haram murderers are have more gumption and do their job better than our security agents. Then […]

Or is there anything less edifying than a leader who rugby tackled a governor for mourning the loss of lives in his state and for stating the obvious?  Probably, but I can’t think of one.  The obvious being: Boko Haram murderers are have more gumption and do their job better than our security agents.
Then again, this column learned two interesting things as a result of that outburst by the president; one of them quite surprising and the other a little less so. Surprisingly, the president does give a damn about what Nigerians say. Less surprisingly, his answer to the governor strikes one as something flowing from the mouth of a political party thug itching for a fight. For when juxtaposed, the response of the president and the comment of the governor do not reasonably follow.  Here’s what the governor said:
“It is what I came to update Mr. President. The sooner we stop playing the ostrich and rise up to the challenges of the day and marshal all resources towards visualizing the antics of Boko Haram, the better for all of us. But the bottom line is that we need more resources, more boots on ground.
“In all fairness to the officers and men of the Nigerian Army and Police, they are doing their best given the circumstances they have found themselves in. But honestly, Boko Haram are better armed and are better motivated than our own troops.
“And believe me, I am an eternal optimist as I have always said, but I am also a realist. Given the present state of affairs, it is absolutely impossible for us to defeat Boko Haram,” he added.
“I made it emphatically clear to Mr. President that the Boko Haram are better armed and better motivated,” he said.
“Anybody who is following events in this country can attest to the fact that they have a very smooth sail, overrunning communities, killing people. Have we ever succeeded in thwarting any of their plans?
“They went to Konduga and did what they wanted to do. They held sway for over five hours before they left. They were in Kauri, Izge, and I don’t blame the Nigerian military. Honestly, we the leaders, should be held responsible for our failure in leadership.”
President’s response:
“If we pull out the military from Borno State,” the president said, “let us see if he will be able to stay in Government House.”
 It was a presidential farce as you’ll ever see.  I agree with Mal Mohammed Haruna who described the response as coarse:  “For the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Africa’s most populous and most influential country, Dr. Jonathan’s reaction was rather churlish, to say the least,” he said.  “No one, including Shettima I am sure, says the military is underfunded. On the contrary, there are many who would argue that for a country that is at peace with its neighbours, its military is overfunded, notwithstanding the internal insurrection it is faced with.”
 Regardless of the presidency’s ostrich shenanigans, Nigerians are having none of it and are knocking the government around, hither and yon, this way and that; and the presidential aides return with more than equivalent retaliation,  often with malicious intent,   sometimes resulting in a kerfuffle; e.g. the presidency’s failed attempt to tag SanusiLamidoSanusi as Boko Haram sponsor.
Yet, nothing’s quite coming off yet. As a result, Nigerians are unanimous in asking the leaders to focus and stop the killings.  Following are a selection of such views.
Timawus Mathias wrote: “That we are losing to the insurgents like Governor Shettima noted is the fault of the leadership which must resolve all the systemic defects that thwart the war effort, failing which the military will continue to be subjected to disgrace, and innocent common folk, annihilated. Yes Shettima. We are in a state of war. But it is no longer against Boko Haram, but insurgents; and you wish you had good luck on your side.”
ZainabUsman wrote: “ For a start, genuine efforts must be made at restoring the trust of residents in the North-East in the Federal Government. Symbolic gestures by the President to sincerely console victims of brutal murders would alleviate some of the widespread sense of alienation in the region. Greater efforts must be made to address lapses and incompetence by the security agencies in order to lay conspiracy theories to rest. Proper investigations of leakages in the security infrastructure must be made to understand why combat troops in the firing line are under-paid and under-equipped.”
AdamuAdamu asked: “ But for what crime were those Gulak women being punished, and where we could run to in order hide our shame from the evidence that picture constituted against us: the tears and forlorn, red-eyed lament of frightened, mournful, wounded womenfolk—our disconsolate, vulnerable undefended weaker sex: women widowed and children orphaned, with their present ruined and a future of death or hopeless desperation before them, the symbol of a community endangered and abandoned? “
Finally, a question which carries a great deal of weight is: for a state which is under a state of emergency, for a state which is subjected to constant surveillance of security agents and for a state which expects an attack at any second from the merciless terrorists, why would it take four hours to kill school children and five hours to annihilate a village without any intervention from our military?