Insurgency in North-East: Blame games, no result yet

Secondly, despite what the military has been telling us and wants us to believe, the situation on ground does not show the nation’s armed forces are matching their words with action. Does anybody dispute this? Is it disputable that Nigeria has so far lost a total of 16 local government areas to Boko Haram: 9 […]

Secondly, despite what the military has been telling us and wants us to believe, the situation on ground does not show the nation’s armed forces are matching their words with action. Does anybody dispute this? Is it disputable that Nigeria has so far lost a total of 16 local government areas to Boko Haram: 9 in Borno State, 2 in Yobe State and 5 in Adamawa State?  The total landmass occupied is the equivalent of three states of the federation. It would then amount to madness to sing the Lord’s song in this strange land!
Does anybody argue whether the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is at stake or not? The question is: Whose responsibility is it to restore it, and what is the government doing in tangible terms to achieve that?
Does anybody also argue that Nigeria never lost any portion of its territory since it became a nation in 1914? We should ask our dear President Goodluck Jonathan if he wants and be happy to go down in history as the first and maybe the only Nigerian commander-in-chief to have ever lost territory to anybody since beginning of Nigeria as a nation.  Of course he still has a chance to reverse this legacy of shame.
Whether politicians are cashing into the situation to make cheap political gains is very immaterial now because at this critical stage in Nigeria’s history, trading insults is a waste of time; rather, we should be thinking on how to muzzle efforts to recover our lost territories, unless, of course, the people of the North-East of Nigeria do not matter to the rest of the country, particularly the government at the centre.
At a time like this, when Nigeria is not engaged in any international war, thousands of our people are internally displaced while thousands more are refugees in neighbouring countries.  Even many top federal government officials can no longer return to their homes. Is this not worrying or rather disturbing to our leaders?
Being concerned about these issues should be the focus of the Nigerian government rather than disparaging concerned citizens (whether in opposition or ruling parties) who expressed their displeasure over the now ever-increasing audacity of the insurgents to rain heinous acts against ordinary and defenceless citizens.
How do you reconcile that despite the extremist Boko Haram sect revving up its deadly attacks on communities around the troubled North-East region, and federal government’s seeming helplessness in stemming the attacks, the National Council of State on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, said it was satisfied with the government’s effort in checking the insurgency in the country.
The Council, which advises the federal executive on policy making, has as members, President Goodluck Jonathan (chairman), Vice President Namadi Sambo (deputy chairman), all former presidents of the federation and all former heads of the government of the federation; all former chief justices of Nigeria, president of the Senate, speaker of the House of Representatives, all the governors of the states of the federation, and the attorney-general of the federation.
How do these people’s minds work? As said by the Akwa Ibom State governor who spoke with the media after the council meeting, “A major issue discussed today was the issue of the security of the nation. We received a report from the national security adviser on the security of the nation. He briefed council on the current war on insurgency and explanations were given on issue of Chibok girls.
“Council was satisfied that the Ministry of Defence and all the agencies have taken the right steps, and the president is on course, and we are very hopeful that sooner or later, Nigerians will hear good news.
“But we urge Nigerians to be patient, that the issues of terrorism are not issues that could be finished within a day of two.’’
Except they know what we don’t know and do not want to tell us, how could this gang that call themselves ‘the council’ commend the president and security agencies for a job well done so far when the situation, rather than improve, deteriorates  every day?
Was it a fair assessment to have given the president and his security chiefs a ‘high five,’ just as the Boko Haram sect has continued on rampage, killing, maiming and sacking towns and villages?
As said by Okupe, the president will not be distracted by negative comments from a few  people “whose only concern is politics rather than nation building, but he (Jonathan) will continue to work assiduously with security chiefs and community stakeholders to restore peace to northern Nigeria in the shortest possible time.” The problem is that it is taking a little longer to achieve this, and our leaders should be told that Nigerians are worried over the now ever-increasing audacity of the terrorists to kill and destroy.
Must we play politics with every issue? Except there are people who want this menace to go on, shouldn’t all hands be on deck to address the issues involved?
So if the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, in his view, believes that the insurgency had remained largely protracted due to the crisis of leadership in the country, could he be faulted on that assessment? Does the situation on ground prove him wrong? If the federal government does not want anybody to cash into the crisis for political gains they should wake up their ideas and at least be proactive in engaging these miscreants who are becoming more emboldened by the day.
If somebody was not known to have taken any hard position on terrorists and terrorism in the past and now decides to do so, what is criminal in that?
Has the problem been solved to say it was late for such decision? If the situation in the North-East was effectively contained by the federal government, can we be talking of people wanting to gain political mileage from the unfortunate killings and kidnappings in that part of the country? Abeg, the federal government has no explanation for its failure, not even the inability to tackle this book haram scourge.
Whether or not Atiku’s comments in the past may have contributed to the escalation of terrorism in the North-East is not the issue at present. President Jonathan is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the chief security officer of the nation-state called Nigeria, and he should take responsibility for the failure to stern the increasing boldness and dastardly acts of the terrorists rather than fold his hands, blaming everybody but himself. People are dying every moment in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, so we want results, not excuses.
Ifeanyi Izeze lives in Abuja: [email protected])