Now that help has arrived

In fact, it is the highest form of cluelessness not to ask for help while help may be found. In times like this, a nation must learn to identify where national pride is suspended for national survival to take over. You need to survive to rebuild and restore. Rather than discuss whether it is right […]

In fact, it is the highest form of cluelessness not to ask for help while help may be found. In times like this, a nation must learn to identify where national pride is suspended for national survival to take over. You need to survive to rebuild and restore. Rather than discuss whether it is right or wrong to seek foreign assistance in bringing back our girls, we should be asking for that help to be stretched further. For instance, can we, as citizens in a plebiscite ask for foreign supervised elections to rid us of the government that destroys the seeds of nationalism and in its stead raises the flag of sectionalism? One wishes that that is a possibility.
The question is when we do finally get the help we need, would we allow it to help us solve the problems once and for all or would we, through clueless mismanagement bungle it and even jeopardise the safety of our helpers? Yes, it’s a shame that we have had to call for foreign help after evidently helping at least two of our own neighbours – Liberia and Sierra Leone to restore hope. But when it came to Boko Haram insurgency, we have failed to exterminate one snake and allowed it to litter and scatter across such an expanse of land that we can no longer control it. What more, our government is still in denial preferring to push the kite that this is a sectional army designed to regain political power.
Can our government succeed in providing the enabling environment for foreign insurgency experts to function? Since the shameful intervention in Somalia in 1992/94 western powers, with the exception of France have learnt not to put boots on the ground intervening in any of Africa’s unending internecine skirmishes. So, it is stupid to expect foreigners to fight our wars for us. They may provide the logistics, the training and if possible the technological surveillance needed to locate these girls and if possible, talk them into handing them over, perhaps as Shehu Sani suggested in return for their own commanders held in various jails in the non-occupied territories.
It is also true that today the only way out of this mess is negotiation. Things have gone far too complex to pretend otherwise. The fact that, in the last couple of days, the insurgents have carried out daylight raids on Gamboru-Ngala and blown up bridges without resistance says a lot about the tactics and manoeuvrability of the insurgents.
It hurts to say that the insurgents are better coached in guerrilla warfare tactics than the national army. To say that tantamount to sedition but it’s the truth. In the past months, the dominant headlines have been attacks by the insurgency and one unverified claim by the police that it foiled further explosions around the federal capital. This government has consistently lied thus far, for so long that it has lost the trust of majority of the people it governs. For it to regain that trust and confidence, it would have to do something monumental to truth and make it transparent for all to see.
It is painful to state that not many people would believe the later after all the lies, tissues of lies and retractions by the overwhelmed security forces. While propaganda is a good weapon of war, those who use it must be careful to ensure that they can substantiate it. Fact on the ground is that those trillions of Naira invested in security have ended up in private pockets and left the army high and dry. The army cannot say this without being accused of sedition, but it is glaring.
The national cabinet is not cohesive in this fight. Its spokespersons are neither coordinated nor properly briefed. Abuja is in disarray when it comes to information management. It was before this period, it is now and perhaps would keep bungling all the way through. It’s a national shame, but it is a practical reality that we either live with it or jettison. The command to stop protests is premised on the fear that unchequered protests may lead to a national spring of sorts.
Now that the experts are here, they need to work first on winning the battle for hearts and minds. First, get the president and his cabinet to stop talking; set up an information high command under the direction of people who are trained to talk in a way that does not stoke the embers that alienates the people. Next, open lines of communication that ensures intelligence gathering untainted by local security. No citizen with credible information would give to the local security except they are prepared to commit suicide. It is evident that the local guys are snitches who reveal the sources of their information either flippantly or for pecuniary benefits. If this fails, so help us God.