IN RESPONSE TO WEEKEND MASSACRE OF BORNO FARMERS BY INSURGENTS, AS REPORTED BY SATURDAY VANGUARD NEWSPAPER
December 4, 2020 | News
With regards to the subject matter, and your statement that: “President Muhammadu Buhari said he had given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country's population and its territory,” and your question that: What else, in summary, can the president do to arrest the situation; let me express my opinion thus.
IN RESPONSE TO WEEKEND MASSACRE OF BORNO FARMERS BY INSURGENTS, AS REPORTED BY SATURDAY VANGUARD NEWSPAPER
With regards to the subject matter, and your statement that: “President Muhammadu Buhari said he had given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country's population and its territory,” and your question that: What else, in summary, can the president do to arrest the situation; let me express my opinion thus.
Firstly, my heart broke yet again when it was reported that at least 110 farmers were slaughtered while they were harvesting their crops in communities in Borno State. My heartfelt condolence goes to the families of these people. However, a lot of issues were of great concerns to me on this matter. One of which is the fact that a lot of media houses, particularly the Presidential spokesperson, is insisting that is it only 43 people that were slaughtered, despite reported witnesses that says it is more than 110 persons. Even at that, he said it was “43 or there about”, that means he wasn’t even sure, and we are talking about human lives here. That again justifies the fact that the Nigerian Government has a problem with telling the Truth. And as Nigerians, we do not always care until we are directly affected by something. After what has happened, our political leaders and many Nigerians will move on as if nothing has happened. We don’t even see any anger. It is just sad!
Now to your question. All that talk from the President has become a chorus that we are all familiar with. To be honest with you, there is nothing else that I expect President Buhari to do because his body language and actions since he came into power, have suggested that this Government does not seem to want to defeat the Boko Haram terrorists. It does not look like they want to defeat them. And there are so many facts, which I will get into later, to justify this notion. So, it becomes even difficult to suggest anything else for the President to do to arrest the situation. But if I must suggest. One would have expected that by now, Mr. President would have sacked the Service Chiefs and rejig the entire Nigerian Army and Airforce. As the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Buhari has not even come out to take responsibility of what has been happening, and sternly reiterate confidence in the Nigerian people that he is on top of the situation. We have not seen that from Mr. President.
It is sad that it is only in this part of the world, where public officials that have demonstrated not to be able to perform in addressing a pressing problem, are still left comfortable. And we expect things to change. It is only a fool that will keep doing the same thing over and over, and keep expecting a different result each time. Whereas in other developed societies, it is either you see them honourably resign, or they are replaced with more competent hands that can address the situation. They cannot be telling Nigerians that they have technically defeated the Boko Haram insurgents, yet innocent lives, including that of our Soldiers in the fields, are killed daily by these terrorists. Yet, nobody has been sacked or replaced. You now wonder why is President Buhari still keeping his Service Chiefs of the Nigerian Army and Airforce, with all that has been happening?
Back to the fact that this Government does not seem to want to defeat Boko Haram terrorists. Have we wondered why they are not going after the sponsors of Boko Haram? When was the last time you heard that Nigeria arrested any Boko Haram sponsor? Meanwhile, not too long ago in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Court jailed Six (6) Nigerians over Boko Haram funding. These names are all over the internet. They have allegedly transferred $782,000 (about N300million) from Dubai to Nigeria to support Boko Haram. The same UAE Court also said that from their investigations, Boko Haram uses UNDERCOVER AGENTS IN NIGERIA. They even named some of them. As a media house, am sure you know all the details more than me.
It was even more saddening that the only reported response from the Nigerian Government was from the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who said that the Nigerian Government was aware of the matter, and had written to the UAE seeking for records of proceeding, and expressed concerns whether these convicts got fare hearing. You can imagine that. How can the Government of other countries care more about the criminal activities of Boko Haram than our own Nigerian Government, if our Government really want to end Boko Haram? Why has the Government not investigated those that were working as undercover with the stated convicted persons that were transferring funds from the UAE to the Boko Haram in Nigeria? It shows there is a lot of cover up and insincerity of this Government in fighting this terror. Here we have a Nigerian Government that finds it easier to get the supposed sponsors of the #ENDSARS protesters within two weeks, but it is taking them years to find the sponsors of Boko-haram. Who are they fooling?
Remember how Chad President led their Chadian troops to kill more than 1,000 Boko Haram fighters in Lake Chad. We have heard stories of Nigerian Soldiers being underfunded/under-equipped and you wonder why? Is it for the Nigerian troops to be killed, or not be able to adequately fight the terrorists? Remember the reports of barely two years ago, of about 100 Nigerian soldiers that were killed in a Nigerian Army Base by Boko Haram terrorists. Do you remember how the soldiers complained bitterly at that time, of how they were being killed daily, and not having enough equipment and ammunition? The amateur videos are all over the internet.
Meanwhile, this Government keeps ‘rewarding’ what they call “repentant Boko Haram members.” They hold ceremonies for them. They give them money and promise to send them abroad for education. These were Boko Haram members that have killed innocent people. Mind you, this same gesture is not done for the Nigerian Soldiers who are daily risking their lives, and too many of whom have been killed by Boko Haram insurgents while their families are not even well taken care of. And in the midst of all this, the Government of the day had wanted Nigerians to embrace RUGA, until it was rejected. Now they are coming up again with other programs and projects that seem to be in favour of the activities of these insurgents and killer-Fulani herdsmen. And we see this even in the careless inciting statements made by some of the Northern leaders in Government. This is why I, and many other well-meaning Nigerians believe that this Government does not seem to want to end the Boko Haram insurgents and onslaught in the nation, for whatever reasons best known to only them.
So, until we start seeing things done differently by this President Buhari-led administration as regards bringing to an end the Boko Haram terrorists activities and killer-Fulani Herdsmen in the country, especially as suggested above, I seriously do not have anything else to say to them on the way forward because it seems they obviously have other unclear intentions.
Zik Gbemre.
December 4, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
With regards to the subject matter, and your statement that: “President Muhammadu Buhari said he had given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country's population and its territory,” and your question that: What else, in summary, can the president do to arrest the situation; let me express my opinion thus.
Firstly, my heart broke yet again when it was reported that at least 110 farmers were slaughtered while they were harvesting their crops in communities in Borno State. My heartfelt condolence goes to the families of these people. However, a lot of issues were of great concerns to me on this matter. One of which is the fact that a lot of media houses, particularly the Presidential spokesperson, is insisting that is it only 43 people that were slaughtered, despite reported witnesses that says it is more than 110 persons. Even at that, he said it was “43 or there about”, that means he wasn’t even sure, and we are talking about human lives here. That again justifies the fact that the Nigerian Government has a problem with telling the Truth. And as Nigerians, we do not always care until we are directly affected by something. After what has happened, our political leaders and many Nigerians will move on as if nothing has happened. We don’t even see any anger. It is just sad!
Now to your question. All that talk from the President has become a chorus that we are all familiar with. To be honest with you, there is nothing else that I expect President Buhari to do because his body language and actions since he came into power, have suggested that this Government does not seem to want to defeat the Boko Haram terrorists. It does not look like they want to defeat them. And there are so many facts, which I will get into later, to justify this notion. So, it becomes even difficult to suggest anything else for the President to do to arrest the situation. But if I must suggest. One would have expected that by now, Mr. President would have sacked the Service Chiefs and rejig the entire Nigerian Army and Airforce. As the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Buhari has not even come out to take responsibility of what has been happening, and sternly reiterate confidence in the Nigerian people that he is on top of the situation. We have not seen that from Mr. President.
It is sad that it is only in this part of the world, where public officials that have demonstrated not to be able to perform in addressing a pressing problem, are still left comfortable. And we expect things to change. It is only a fool that will keep doing the same thing over and over, and keep expecting a different result each time. Whereas in other developed societies, it is either you see them honourably resign, or they are replaced with more competent hands that can address the situation. They cannot be telling Nigerians that they have technically defeated the Boko Haram insurgents, yet innocent lives, including that of our Soldiers in the fields, are killed daily by these terrorists. Yet, nobody has been sacked or replaced. You now wonder why is President Buhari still keeping his Service Chiefs of the Nigerian Army and Airforce, with all that has been happening?
Back to the fact that this Government does not seem to want to defeat Boko Haram terrorists. Have we wondered why they are not going after the sponsors of Boko Haram? When was the last time you heard that Nigeria arrested any Boko Haram sponsor? Meanwhile, not too long ago in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Court jailed Six (6) Nigerians over Boko Haram funding. These names are all over the internet. They have allegedly transferred $782,000 (about N300million) from Dubai to Nigeria to support Boko Haram. The same UAE Court also said that from their investigations, Boko Haram uses UNDERCOVER AGENTS IN NIGERIA. They even named some of them. As a media house, am sure you know all the details more than me.
It was even more saddening that the only reported response from the Nigerian Government was from the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who said that the Nigerian Government was aware of the matter, and had written to the UAE seeking for records of proceeding, and expressed concerns whether these convicts got fare hearing. You can imagine that. How can the Government of other countries care more about the criminal activities of Boko Haram than our own Nigerian Government, if our Government really want to end Boko Haram? Why has the Government not investigated those that were working as undercover with the stated convicted persons that were transferring funds from the UAE to the Boko Haram in Nigeria? It shows there is a lot of cover up and insincerity of this Government in fighting this terror. Here we have a Nigerian Government that finds it easier to get the supposed sponsors of the #ENDSARS protesters within two weeks, but it is taking them years to find the sponsors of Boko-haram. Who are they fooling?
Remember how Chad President led their Chadian troops to kill more than 1,000 Boko Haram fighters in Lake Chad. We have heard stories of Nigerian Soldiers being underfunded/under-equipped and you wonder why? Is it for the Nigerian troops to be killed, or not be able to adequately fight the terrorists? Remember the reports of barely two years ago, of about 100 Nigerian soldiers that were killed in a Nigerian Army Base by Boko Haram terrorists. Do you remember how the soldiers complained bitterly at that time, of how they were being killed daily, and not having enough equipment and ammunition? The amateur videos are all over the internet.
Meanwhile, this Government keeps ‘rewarding’ what they call “repentant Boko Haram members.” They hold ceremonies for them. They give them money and promise to send them abroad for education. These were Boko Haram members that have killed innocent people. Mind you, this same gesture is not done for the Nigerian Soldiers who are daily risking their lives, and too many of whom have been killed by Boko Haram insurgents while their families are not even well taken care of. And in the midst of all this, the Government of the day had wanted Nigerians to embrace RUGA, until it was rejected. Now they are coming up again with other programs and projects that seem to be in favour of the activities of these insurgents and killer-Fulani herdsmen. And we see this even in the careless inciting statements made by some of the Northern leaders in Government. This is why I, and many other well-meaning Nigerians believe that this Government does not seem to want to end the Boko Haram insurgents and onslaught in the nation, for whatever reasons best known to only them.
So, until we start seeing things done differently by this President Buhari-led administration as regards bringing to an end the Boko Haram terrorists activities and killer-Fulani Herdsmen in the country, especially as suggested above, I seriously do not have anything else to say to them on the way forward because it seems they obviously have other unclear intentions.
Zik Gbemre.
December 4, 2020
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes