JNI, insecurity, and the president’s ‘regrets’

I am still suffering from that till today.” – President Goodluck Jonathan addressing the Yoruba Unity Forum Last Friday – the same day that a series of coordinated bomb blasts rocked the over four hundred years old Kano Central Mosque killing over two hundred innocent Nigerians who had congregated for the weekly Jumma’at prayers; President […]

I am still suffering from that till today.” – President Goodluck Jonathan addressing the Yoruba Unity Forum
Last Friday – the same day that a series of coordinated bomb blasts rocked the over four hundred years old Kano Central Mosque killing over two hundred innocent Nigerians who had congregated for the weekly Jumma’at prayers; President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan came clean on the one issue that has troubled and deeply agonized him since his re-election in 2011. The president spoke to the Yoruba Unity Forum in Ibadan at an event planned no doubt to enhance his electoral fortunes next year.
The President was not referring to the over two hundred Nigerian teen-aged girls snatched almost a year ago from their school dormitories in Chibok, as they prepared for examinations. His regrets did not stem from the embarrassing reality that under his watch, over eighty teen-aged boys were equally butchered in two separate attacks for daring to dream their version of the Nigerian dream by acquiring a decent education.
His lamentation also had nothing to do with the painful fact that under his presidency, more and more Nigerians have died due to his deliberate actions and inactions. The existing state of insecurity and helplessness was what in fact triggered a reaction from the normally conservation Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) Chaired by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar over the weekend. The JNI was vehement in its statement that Nigeria was being currently misgoverned to the brink in its immediate reaction to the most recent bombings in Kano.
As if to confirm the views of the JNI, even as I write this, reports filtered in of a further twin bombing in the troubled city of Maiduguri. Damaturu in neighboring Yobe state, was also said to be under siege by the Boko Haram insurgents since the early morning with no one sure of how the battle would unravel.
If the battle for Damaturu takes the normal pattern that Nigerians had become accustomed to, then the army would retreat sooner, rather than later. Another endless stream of internally displaced citizens would be abandoned to their fate. Certainly, Nigerians regardless of their fate or creed, least of all the JNI, expected better from the central government entrusted with the necessary wherewithal for their protection.
Nigerians are also firmly within their rights to expect matters to do with their general security to be among the priorities of their Commander in Chief even in an election year because his votes could depend on it if they are allowed to count. Besides, of all the bombings that have occurred over the past several years, there has not been a single high profile conviction available to the government despite all the resources available to it including the luxury of hooded SSS operatives.
Even the much publicized trial of the alleged master-mind of the Nyanya bombings repatriated from the Sudan Republic appears to have been botched with embarrassing finger-pointing between the SSS and the Nigeria Police. Under the prevailing circumstances, therefore, it did not come as a surprise that the JNI was so stringent in its views on the handling of the insurgency.  
In spite of all these, the president’s deepest regrets, expressed in the demeanour of an emperor, rather than a democratically elected leader who believed in the principle of separation of powers, was that all his efforts to tinker with the process of electing the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, in favour of a politician from the southwest were unsuccessful.
The appearance before the Yoruba Unity Forum in Ibadan was all about 2015 and the crucial Yoruba votes expected to decide the winner of the presidential race. And once again, the president proved that he saw nothing wrong in playing the ethnic card. With this particular president, issues or proven track records of performance and ability to deliver in office should count for very little. The goal in Ibadan was to goad the normally politically astute Yoruba to vote once again for him like sheep in 2015 and on the basis of pure sentiments.      
But in his address before the Yoruba Unity Forum the president appeared to have forgotten something, or perhaps it was not convenient for him to remember. Zoning effectively died in the PDP in 2010 the same day the hijacked party leadership was persuaded to pave way for him to re-contest in 2011. Then, as at now, zoning existed in the PDP before President Jonathan and his handlers chose to ignore it.
Zoning died a second time the moment he emerged the de-facto consensus candidate for the presidency on the platform of the PDP IN 2015. So which zoning was the he referring to in Ibadan last week? If Jonathan killed zoning in the PDP, Tambuwal merely helped to bury it by his emergence as the Speaker.     
What we expect from the president on the campaign trail is how he intends to deal with issues concerning the socio-economic well-being of Nigerians particularly the alarming security situation in the country. and while we are on that subject matter, we can hardly deny the allegation by the JNI to the effect that the bloodiest attacks by the insurgents frequently coincided with the periods the ineffective ‘state of emergency’ in the three affected states in the Northeast were about to end, or are due for renewal. It is now a matter of trust. Can Nigerians trust this president and this government?
That singular allegation of the JNI in particular, along with all that preceded it, should trouble the president more than his ability or inability to foist a Speaker from the South- West on the nation if he actually gives a damn, that is. Unless we delude ourselves, the hint at a direct correlation between increased attacks and bombings by Boko Haram, and agitations by the authorities for the extension of the state of emergency in the three states most affected by the insurgency despite a lack of tangible evidence of its effectiveness on the ground, is the clearest evidence yet that the long muffled allegation of conspiracy theories among the common folk, is beginning to gain currency in serious quarters.   
And those allegations are ever likely to become louder when the government routinely spares half a battalion of soldiers to protect the erstwhile Governor of Borno state Ali Modu Sheriff each time he makes his frequent jaunts into Maiduguri.
Surely, the government does not believe that people are too blind to see that Sheriff’s high profile visits to Maiduguri – at the same time neighbouring towns in the region have fewer troops to defend them – are linked with fast unfolding scenarios ahead of the general elections in 2011 and the need ‘capture’ Borno state for the PDP?
If they also respected the intelligence of average Nigerians more than they currently do, they don’t also expect us to have forgotten too soon that the same Sheriff is yet to conclusively clear himself of the weighty allegations about his involvement with the Boko Haram sect since its inception.
The whole thing boils down to the matter of trust. It seems fewer and fewer Nigerians are willing to trust this president or this government. Their scepticism – especially for those already accustomed to his preference to enthrone and empower the minority over the majority in the Nigeria Governor’s Forum or the composition of the national confab, are not likely to have been dispelled by another statement he made in Ibadan in relation to his plans for the implementation of the recommendations.
He unwittingly invited discerning Nigerians, especially those at the wrong end of his stick, to read between the lines on what awaits them if he is re-elected next year.