Reading the interview Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) gave to Daily Trust which was published on Wednesday the 22nd of May 2013, I am compelled to raise historical issues that put the former military Head of State's words in perspective.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) blamed President Jonathan for the insurgency occasioned by the militant sect, Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād, commonly referred to as Boko Haram and asked President Jonathan to resign saying “Jonathan should vacate and give way to competent hand to govern the country”.
Buhari
further said “When the Niger Delta militants started their activities
in the South-South, they were invited by the late President Umaru
Yar’adua.
An aircraft was sent to them and their leaders met
with the late President in Aso Rock and discussed issues. They were
given money and a training scheme was introduced for their members. But
when the Boko Haram emerged in the north members of the sect were
killed”.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd)
may wish to note that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan never supported
militancy and criminality in the Niger-Delta at any time in his
political career. Furthermore, the administration of President Umaru
Musa Yar'adua used a combination of carrot and stick to end the
militancy in the Niger-Delta.
Stick was used in
the form of heavy military intervention by way of the Joint Military
Task Force (JTF) which routed the militants by way of ground attacks and
aerial assault with the use of Nigerian Air Force Jets and helicopters.
After this initial pacification, the carrot was introduced whereby the
administration offered an olive branch for those wishing to embrace
dialogue. Those who accepted the offer to dialogue came out of the
creeks and dialogue took place leading to the conditional amnesty
(militants were made to surrender their weapons and renounce violence
before they could benefit from the amnesty).
Major
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) may or may not be aware that these same
steps were taken by the current administration with regards to the
insurgency occasioned by Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād or
Boko Haram.
This administration in fulfillment
of its constitutional responsibility to maintain law and order and
enforce the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria empowered Nigeria's
security forces to check the insurgency. As a democrat and listening
leader, President Jonathan's ears were opened to the cries of the people
in the affected areas and after meeting with different informed groups
agreed to employ the dialogue option and called for the leaders of the
Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād or Boko Haram to show
themselves.
In furtherance of his desire to
peacefully resolve the insurgency, President Jonathan inaugurated
the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of
Security Challenges in the North on Wednesday
the 24th of April 2013 at the Presidential Villa Abuja under the
leadership of a cabinet minister, Tanimu Turaki, Minister of Special
Duties.
A week after the President's
initiative, Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād or Boko Haram
rejected the amnesty proposal yet the President kept faith with the
Committee and met with them as recently as a week ago and in furtherance
of that meeting he issued orders for the release of certain classes of
detainees held in connection with the insurgency.
With
the detailed historical TimeLines provided above, it is my considered
opinion that Major General Muhammadu Buhari's (rtd) statement
castigating President Goodluck Jonathan for not treating the Jamā'a Ahl
al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād or Boko Haram as others were treated are
not factual and are borne out of insufficient study of historical
facts.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd)
also accused the President of using undue force on the Jamā'a Ahl
al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād or Boko Haram saying “In Bama and Baga
towns, military personnel were reported to have been engaged in
extortion and sometimes raping of women. And because a soldier was
killed in Baga the whole town was sacked by military. This is not the
best way military should have acted when they were sent to restore law
and order in a town. How can a responsible government allow its people
to be killed in this way”.
Let me say that I
appreciate Buhari's concern for the victims of the Boko Haram attacks on
Bama and Baga. However, Buhari should be reminded that the President
ordered an investigation into the incidence at Bama. The investigations
are being carried out by qualified persons and Buhari ought to wait for
the results of those investigations before apportioning blame. Members
of the Nigerian armed forces are sacrificially laying their lives down
to protect Nigerians and they deserve more loyalty from us all,
particularly from one who was once their Commander-in-Chief.
But
going back to history, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) is
reminded that this is not the first time that terrorists have unleashed
mayhem on Nigerians.
Buhari is reminded that
in February and March of 1984, the Maitatsine sect unleashed violence in
Yola under the leadership of Musa Makaniki. A conservative estimate is
that 1000 people died during those riots and half of the residence of
Yola in present day Adamawa state were rendered homeless. The military
was unleashed on the sect by the military administration of Major
General Muhammadu Buhari. Similar charges as the ones made today by
Buhari were made against the soldiers sent by his government to quell
the Maitatsine riots of 1984. They were accused of undue force,
destruction of property, raping women and killing civilians. Many human
rights groups and activists including J. Peter Pham, the Director of the
Michael Ansari Center at the prestigious Atlantic Council whom I have
personally met and who is alive today have documented what took place
during those riots. In putting down the Maitatsine insurgency, the
military incurred collateral damages. Yet Nigerians understood with
Buhari. Did anyone call for his resignation as military Head of State
because of the incidence?
Also, it is a
historical fact that Maitatsine riots again flared up more than a year
after this in April of 1985, while Buhari was still Head of State, this
time in Gombe in present day Gombe state. Hundreds of people were killed
and the military again was called in. There were collateral damage and
Musa Makaniki, the arrowhead of Maitatsine escaped to the Cameroon and
was not caught until 2004 when Obasanjo had ascended to power. To the
best of my knowledge, nobody called on Buhari to resign even though he
could not apprehend the leader of the sect.
Is
it too much to ask that Buhari show the same level of understanding that
Nigerians showed to him in 1984-1985 to the President?
Some
issues should be beyond politics. Anytime an elder statesman calls into
question the abilities of our armed forces it goes a long way to
weakening their morale and resolve which is precisely what should not be
weakened when we face an insurgency such as the present one.
Finally,
I would like to advise Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) not to see
security as just a job for the government. It is a job for everybody. In
other nations when terrorists strike politicians close ranks and unite
against the terrorists. Our case in Nigeria should not be different. And
indeed, I have cause to thank Distinguished Senators and Honourable
Members of the House of Representatives from Major General Muhammadu
Buhari's (rtd) party the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) who saw
wisdom in the President's Declaration of a State of Emergency in Borno,
Yobe and Adamawa states and voted in support of the declaration
yesterday. This is precisely the type of multi partisan collaboration
that will see Nigeria achieve her developmental goals.
Regards,
Reno,
No comments:
Post a Comment