The Chibok saga: Confusion, idiocy or official negligence?

As we move from political confusion to official idiocy, one cannot help but worry about the fate of the abducted Chibok secondary school girls and their grieving parents, guardians, relatives and friends. From official nonchalance to political point-scoring to outright falsehood about having “freed” some of them; and criminal indifference regarding the actual numbers abducted, […]

As we move from political confusion to official idiocy, one cannot help but worry about the fate of the abducted Chibok secondary school girls and their grieving parents, guardians, relatives and friends. From official nonchalance to political point-scoring to outright falsehood about having “freed” some of them; and criminal indifference regarding the actual numbers abducted, we are now witnessing pure comedy and official nonsense.
For the president and the ruling party, it was business as usual as they focus on 2015 and rallies all over the place. The military was claiming to be on top of the situation, totally oblivious of Cabral maxim: Tell no lies, claim no easy victories. Abba Moro, the Minister of Interior, could not tell Aljazeera how many girls are still unaccounted for. To Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Nweala, it is all about some people wanting to win the next election. According to her “We tend to notice that when the electoral cycle comes in, all these things heat up. What we are going through now is democracy in raw form, because people are fighting for power and they will use anything to get there … and to win the election.” Kema Chikwe, PDP women’s leader and former minister, even doubts that any abduction took place, and asked “Who saw it happened?” However, the most ridiculous icing on the hypocritical cake must go to the first lady, who seems to believe the girls are in Borno State Government House with Governor Kashim Shettima and his wife. Having never bothered to read our Constitution, she seems to believe that we are a “kingdom” over which she and her husband rule, and many humour her out of fear and greed.
Not to be outdone, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, has set up a committee, to be sworn-in today, (22 days after the abduction) to advice on the rescue effort. Millions would undoubtedly be wasted while the girls “wait” for the committee’s findings, report and white paper.
At one level we probably deserve this mediocrity and sycophantic submission to authority. Too many are willing to worship the Boss, from Babangida, Abacha and other the military ones, to Obasanjo and the present one, afraid to point out their mistakes. Recently, it has gotten so bad that any dissent is seen as enemy action. “Mr President” is always right and everything is seen from the angle of opposition to his (unstated?) 2015 ambitions. Even the counter-insurgency became a victim to this narrow vision. The real fight is seen as one to ring him back next year and it is only now that he himself is beginning to see the dangers of subordinating the fight against Boko Haram to his, and the PDP’s struggle to retain power.
The rains on Sunday (in Abuja) confined me indoors and I had to watch the so-called “Media Chat” and was shocked by his statement that “Terrorism is not a phenomenon that you think within a state of emergency of six month or one year you wipe it out.” This is very true except that he has had since 2009 to realise this and to handle it appropriately. After spending about N3.5 trillion on security, are we just now realising that fact? What was all the money spent on?
In any case, as the Executive President and Commander-in–Chief (and de facto Chief Security Officer) he should now be focussing on winning the war against the insurgents, and seeking the support of those his own hangers-on who are wrongly blaming others for the problem. Mixing two wars leads to success in neither.
In addition, it is important to recognise that the current propaganda against a large section of the country seen to be opposed to his 2015 ambitions must be handled with care and not be allowed to dominate and compromise the counter-insurgency efforts. The president’s sacking of Ahmed Gulak last week shows that he can be sensitive to threats close to home. It is time he prevails on his spokespersons and self-appointed champions to be more circumspect in their utterances.
Handling his wife, the Dame, is another matter. No man should be told to ask his wife to watch her utterances, and I won’t even begin to go that way. But when an unelected citizen, with no role under our Republican Constitution begins to summon government officials and give them marching orders, something is patently wrong. Just being the wife of the president does not give her the right to be summoning public officials and issuing orders. Unless some grateful “GEJ volunteers” at the ongoing National Conference were to be bold enough to submit a proposal to include the “Office of the First Lady” with executive powers and appropriate funding into the “new” Constitution. (Come to think of it, such a provision would have ensured some sort of smooth transition following the death of Umaru Yar’adua, or the incapacitation of Danbaba Suntai. But that is another matter.) Right now, as things stand, the roles, funding and exhibited powers of Dame Jonathan and other first ladies are illegal and getting out of hand. I’ll wager that some delegates would be bold enough to propose appropriate changes to the Constitution and the Electoral Act to empower these spouses.
Right now, the focus should be in finding and freeing these girls and reuniting them with their families. And while we are at it, we should reconsider all talks of amnesty and “dialogue” with people who commit such heinous acts. This is not Islam and has nothing to do with its teachings. This is pure terror in the service of anarchy, nihilism; and we must all stand up and say “No more!” Government itself should focus on ending this, and not concentrate its resources on ways of retaining power come 2015.