Introduction
When finally Abuja was cornered
by both internal and external forces on the recent unresolved abduction of
secondary school girls by Boko Haram, Abuja continued to flail and tumble with
incompetence, incoherence and cluelessness. This development which not only
exposes divisions within the federal government has among other things worked in favour
of her so-called ‘allies’ and ‘international community’ to be unconstrained in
their bid to malign and insults Nigerians.
No Road to Chibok
While it is easy to mention and
hashtag Chibok as a point of interest, it is clear that the so-called western
media in their feigning interests have failed to send reporters/correspondents
to Chibok to investigate, collaborate and report events from the ground. Rather
most of them have their reporters reporting ‘live’ from Abuja, Maiduguri,
Lagos, Ibadan & etc. Anywhere but Chibok! The only Nigerian print report
dispatched from Chibok in recent weeks was by a freelance journalist, which is
a serious indictment on Nigeria's print and electronic media industry. Adding
insult to injury BBC UK has made herself unofficial spokesmedia for Abuja
reporting on positions which are exclusive of Nigerian media. The situation is
exacerbated by headstrong refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to visit
Chibok for ‘security reasons’ while residents/citizens therein confirm rightly
that Abuja doesn't care for them.
Neighbour is France
It is important to stress the
near-absence of Nigeria’s top diplomat in all these development. One begins to wonder if a foreign/external
affairs ministry/minister exists suggesting another expression of incoherence
and inconsistency. To compound the whole mess Abuja fell into the geopolitical
trap which refuses to recognise that Nigeria is surrounded by France. Instead
of consulting with the Federal Executive Council and coordinate with National
Security Committee to consider strategy and policy, GEJ quickly acceded to French President’s suggestion of neighbourhood security summit in Paris. This
is what happens when one arrives a party late & isolated only to give away their position
and strategic interest. With an agenda and policy set by Paris GEJ only arrives
to concede more positions and Nigeria’s strategic interests to the French.
Hence Boko Haram has become a tool for advancing French interest in Nigeria! So
much for terrorism!
War on Terror
It is on record that United States government failed to advance coherent reasons for the colossal failure of all its institutions to prevent and or respond forcefully in a timely manner to 9/11. For a country that claims so much hard power, technological prowess
and military advancement; it beggars belief such an incomplete narrative
juxtaposes her readiness to project power anywhere in the world through a mythical
‘war on terror’ at the least opportunity.
With such chance calling in
Nigeria and their immediate response/intervention including among other things
re-routing drones from Niamey Niger few hundred kilometres away, new reports are emerging that US has closed any chance to share information/intelligence with Abuja. So much for collaboration of ‘allies’! In any case such report
which possess rich context offers insight on policy position of US State Department
on Abuja while a lot of hot air is blown by so-called pro-US Nigerians. Another
report is credited that US regards Nigerian Army as anything but a fighting force. The report went further to stress that sections of Nigeria Army deployed
to Borno State refuse to engage the ‘enemy’. If this report is confirmed then
one wonders how and why an asymmetrically warfare must be confronted with
symmetric options? Is Boko Haram a standing army or does US possess information
withheld from Abuja? Who benefits from purported attempt to deny Abuja access to
raw surveillance data captured within her territory & air space?
If one considers the background
where Nigeria’s defence and security budget may be one of the biggest in the
world, then the hollowness of Abuja’s policy consistency and implementation
lays bare. An important dimension is the credibility of so-called politicians' actually consulting, coordinating and sharing ideas with service chiefs on
defence and security matters. One can easily conclude that service chiefs, some of them studied in US, and are not taken on board. Relate back to Nigeria’s
hurried and uncoordinated response to Mali’s debacle where Nigerian Army served
under French Command and notice a pattern of inconsistency including apparent
display of Nigeria’s institutional weakness.
Presidential Spokespersons’
InfoErrors
As President Jonathan persists in
dogmatic underwhelming of communication in English, the positive opportunities
presented by Boko Haram’s latest action are squandered in spectacular fashion.
This is not moderated by ineffective Presidential Media circus led by Dr Reuben Abati. When asked about the abducted girls before the media, President Jonathan
rejected nuance, professionalism and diplomacy to further expose his inadequacy
with a naked ‘I-don’t-know’ response. Nothing prevented him from stressing enormous
effort of all institutions towards capturing and returning the girls alive.
What stops President Jonathan from responding to questions in Ijaw or whatever
is his first language?
After taking a detour from Chibok for the questionable summit in Paris for 'security reasons', you wonder if the Presidential
Media team actually appreciate the gravity of the situation and the complex world
we are currently living in. A simple
attribution of change of plans to tight schedule would have sufficed. Of course
it is too late to avoid labelling all Nigerians with such tenacity of
incompetence, incoherence and unprofessionalism at the highest level. Nigeria
we hail thee!
Dialogue – Negotiate
There is no evidence that all dialogues ends up becoming negotiations however negotiations doesn't always take place between equal partners. In the case of Nigeria dialogue is a mask meaning
different things and or potential engagement with Boko Haram. The narrative for or against negotiation depends on or rather exposes the latent network of
local and international interests handling, supporting, supplying and
sustaining Boko Haram campaign of violence.
Despite shouting the mantra of ‘we don’t negotiate with so and so’, the
weak and fragmented cannot negotiate from a position of strength. There is no
empirical evidence that negotiating with
so and so opens doors for repeat performance of the previous negotiation
contentions. In a highly networked world
where non-state actors especially insurgent groups who are not independent of
states, an insurgent group is a front of disgruntled opponents engaged in
politics by other means. In any case Nigeria is not in a strong position to
dictate terms to Boko Haram as it is institutionally weak, internally incoherent, fragmented and
compromised.
The day after
The current saga will pass hopefully with our
sisters safely released. New developments will emerge on how Nigerians engage
with their reality of existence. Among others the old tools and methods of
national discourse and geopolitical dependency driven by weakness will be
challenged vigorously regardless of Nigeria’s status. There is an opportunity
for demystifying “North” Nigeria and fragment its objective as an
inter-generational metageographical template of political/economic solution. Equally,
dormant and digressive discourses on “North” Nigeria religious brand which is
exacerbated by other Nigerians’ unreformed & unreconstructed analytical
methods must be overthrown.
“North” Nigeria is neither a geographic, religious, ethnic,
political or economic monolith. Until other Nigerians realise that new
methodologies are required in engaging and understanding “North” Nigeria, a
contextual and nuanced approach to unique peoples, unique experiences, unique
times and unique histories; then the limbo continues. Colonial narratives are
unhelpful in grappling post-colonial political evolutions.
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