Four Kilometers from Maiduguri

Residents After the Attacks

Burnt Livestock and Properties

In the past 48 hours the people of Dalori and Walori villages, about four kilometres from Maiduguri have borne the fury of a supposedly 'technically' defeated group called Boko Haram or ISIL in Nigeria. The context has become all too familiar and the result predictable.  First, there is a 'surprise' but well coordinated and flagrant attack by the hired terrorists. The terrorists follow their invasion with bloodcurdling atrocities on citizens of the Nigerian state for hours on end, sometimes wiping out entire settlements. And just as suddenly as they appeared, the mercenaries simply melt away into the dark recesses of a failed state and our collective consciousness. At this time, it would be disingenuous to confuse these mercenaries with the Mohammed Yusuf group because things have moved beyond that.  Survivors are left to pick up the pieces of their lives by a state and federal government adept at mouthing platitudes after failing its citizens.

Predictably, Buhari was quoted as saying; “I urge all citizens wherever they live to own the war against terror and to be part of the fight because it is the only way we can finish the remaining work that needs to be done to make our country safe again,” All citizens? How do we own the war? No sir, you swore to end the war and no one is going to own it for you! PMB goes on further in reference to the terrorists by saying; “Having lost the war, they are seeking ways and means to gradually find their way back into society. They are not returning to contribute but to cause more havoc [Really?]. They are so desperate to embarrass the government and the people that they have no qualms attacking isolated communities and markets.” Please Mr. President, where did you banish them to in the first place and who lost the war? Killing more than a hundred people and destroying an entire settlement near the heart of your so-called command center in a well-coordinated invasion does not sound like you won the war sir. As for embarrassment, the government has already done much of that to itself.

If I remember correctly, Borno State is supposed to be under a state of emergency [don't know if it has been lifted] and the current federal government moved the command center for fighting the terrorists to Maiduguri. This means that Maiduguri and environs should have strategic military outposts with topnotch security gathering and timely utilization propensities. That all these military outposts and intelligence units failed to stop an attack so close to the state capital is simply unconscionable and to allow it go on for hours was criminal. This is because the attack was not just by suicide bombers but a convoy of trucks, motorcycles, and according to some reports, light armoured tanks. Quoting Saharareporters: "…The militants who operated unchallenged were said to have stormed the town in 10  Hilux vans and motorcycles dressed in army uniforms as they took their time to raze down houses in Dalori village also livestock were burnt after they had looted and carted away foodstuffs. Several civilians were burnt beyond recognition."

I wrote elsewhere that the so-called Boko Haram insurgency is an inside job with a lot of outside help and coordination. Fighting the insurgency would ultimately not depend on how powerful our military and intelligence units are, but how intelligent and patriotic they are. Unfortunately, there appears to be a conspiracy to turn Nigeria into a theatre of war by unidentified entities (whose aim remains obscure), located both within and outside the country. Former President Jonathan once said that members of Boko Haram occupy some of the highest levels of leadership in the country, but for some reason he did not expose them - he was scared of something. The present government of PMB has been acting as if Boko Haram was essentially defeated and has not acknowledged the possibility of quislings within the military and political class.

Some simple questions need to be asked; a) where did the convoy of terrorists originate from, b) how did they pass through checkpoints along the way to get to within four kilometres of the seat of power, c) why were they allowed to operate for hours? The military is giving us casualty figures and the fact that there was 'heavy fighting', but precisely what happened during the exchange would remain obscure until another attack. In other climes, something of this magnitude demands an hourly press conference to tell Nigerians what is going on.

It is obvious that the average Nigerian owes the government nothing, since he or she is guaranteed nothing by the state - not even the right to be born. There is no guarantee of getting a good education, job, healthcare, safety or infrastructural amenities. For seven years, Nigerians have borne dehumanizing attacks at the hands of foreign mercenaries and internal collaborators. The people are the first to bear the brunt of economic, social and physical terrorism but the last to enjoy the fruits of their labour - yet, we are told to 'own' a war we did not start.

The security agents are no different from the disillusioned Nigerian that is ready to brave the Mediterranean Sea waves to escape a living hell. With reports of mutinies, substandard or lack of equipment, sheer lack of professionalism and patriotism in the army, it is only a matter of time before the Nigerian state comes to terms with the real aims  of Boko Haram - whatever the hidden puppeteers determine such aims to be.

But for the people of Dalori and Walori it does not matter, heaven and hell are the same. For other Nigerians, the battle against Boko Haram is still on and everyone is a target.

The World And The Burden of Corruption

Transparency International has just released its yearly  'Corruption Perception Index' for countries. The picture is not all that good. And as reported on the page http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015, so-called 'clean' countries which are normally 'developed' appear to encourage corruption in the less developed countries they do business with.

In a general sense, corruption would be minimized if conditions in the underdeveloped world were not so desperate. But when more than half of a country survives on less than 2 dollars a day, I hesitate to call what happens in all sectors of the economy corruption, because it borders on egregious dehumanization.

If one reads between the lines of the report, every country in the world is corrupt. However, the dynamics of corruption in the so-called third world sometimes receives its impetus from the 'clean countries.' Northern Europe may fair better than most in the 'Corruption Perception Index' but companies from these 'clean nations' have been implicated in underhanded intrigues in some 'corrupt' countries of the world.

What generally occurs is a conspiracy of the elite against the poor.  Whether they live in the first or third world countries, the mindset of the elite is the same. They aggregate and control as much resources of their environment as possible and feel good when they allow some trickle down to the desperate masses.   

The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. According to a recent study by Oxfam, 62 people have more money than 3.6 billion [about half world population] people combined, and the situation is getting worse. When you have such discrepancy in wealth distribution there is really no point in wasting time talking about transparency in national or international affairs. 

A world that is controlled by corporate greed and financial terrorism cannot be transparent. The source of this tragedy lies in the first world and flows without much impediment to the the so-called third world.

2015 'Distribution of Corruption' in the World

Dambazzau: The Big Man

Dambazzau and his aide 

 

A viral video depicting an aide cleaning the shoes of Nigeria's internal affairs minister in public is a clear visual reminder of what leaders ought not to be and what followers pitifully are. Generally, Nigeria's leaders are not ashamed of embracing feudal tendencies coupled with a hint of religious fascism. Our leaders are comfortable holding courtly charades instead of engaging constructively with the citizens to build an egalitarian society. 

A northern government official was once asked why politicians from the region were clearly nonchalant about educating their people. The distinguished official stated matter-of-factly that if everyone was educated, who would serve the leaders!

Dambazzau's show of shame is gaining national attention because of the new information age we live in. But the same sick ritual plays out daily like a broken record in offices, schools, Universities and other public areas of our national life. The 'Oga' or 'big man' syndrome has robbed us of our ability to build a nation of accountable leaders and followers with rights.

We have resigned ourselves to an unconscionable personal survival system that hands power and rights to superiors without question. Though a system that relieves us of personal responsibility by acceding to the whims of Ogas may be temporarily beneficial, it ultimately enslaves and makes cowards of men. 

For 'Oga' Dambazzau to seat while an aide cleans the dust off his shoes in a public forum is an indication of the contempt leaders have for those they think are beneath them in Nigeria. And if a security detail had to publicly clean his shoes in order for him to feel big then Dambazzau has a bigger problem than the aide does. The aide can rise up but Dambazzau can only go down.

Nigeria is in the throes of a sad security situation where armed robbery, kidnappings and unsolved murders are the order of the day. The country is criminally underpoliced while 'big men' and their families are protected and pampered by security details of all hues. The privilege of having security details has been abysmally abused in Nigeria to the extent that uniformed men and women carry grocery bags, umbrellas and perform domestic chores for their principals. The sorry aspect is that these aides enjoy such jobs because of its obvious perks while leaving the majority of Nigerians defenceless. A former vice president, with over seventy security details assigned to him, once complained of not having enough security men!

Our ruling class have always been power-mad but the disease continues purely because of our acquiescence. The behaviour of Nigerians in the presence of those with power deepens folly into crime and smears the soul. We are all guilty, sometimes quite unconsciously, of giving honour where it is not due.

A society that is totally corrupt; where money is man's main aim, where cunning supersedes honesty, where truth is barred out and basic human rights are denied must come to terms with an unpleasant inevitability.

Danbazzau, as Army Chief, was the military wing of the late Yar'adua's kitchen cabinet. He single-handedly smuggled the late president into the country under the cover of darkness without bothering to inform a sitting vice president. But now, the lord of insubordination is misusing subordination in public! 

One day, the man bowing down to clean Oga's shoes would realize his own manhood and gather enough dust to blind his oppressor, unholster his pistol, point it between Oga's eyes and gently squeeze the trigger.  

Nigeria: A Change to Disbelieve In

President Buhari

  

The current political leadership of Nigeria campaigned with an air of feigned respectability, change and a somewhat arrogant sense of inevitability. Before the elections, some members of the current ruling party and other leaders of thought opined that if the erstwhile President of Nigeria [Jonathan] gets re-elected the country would disintegrate.   

But for more than half a year, we are still marking time where PMB met us. In a previous post, I pointed out that a lot of noise and activities would mark Buhari's tenure but at the end, little would change. This is because it is easy to display motion and emotion [Buhari's body language] without progress in Nigeria, especially if you are the 'right' leader. 

Many contributors have written on the vexed issue of national integration and the structural defects that were coterminous with the birth of the nation. Yet, more than five decades on, we have deliberately failed to address why we seem to live like stone-age men in a century that has seen men going to the moon.

Buhari cannot save or change Nigeria in its present form. Even if he succeeds in his anti-corruption crusade - a very doubtful prospect, what happens when he lives the stage? Every leader in Nigeria seems to have a theme or program while in office that often become a smokescreen to deal with perceived enemies and maintain power. Anti-corruption would only work within the crucible of enduring institutions that promote justice and equity: a country where everyone matters and have equal opportunities coupled with rights for self-fulfillment. 

What sane men and women would consider corruption in other climes is seen as a right or privilege in Nigeria - just try getting any service from government offices across Nigeria. Government is seen as a distant, irritating, unchallenging, unresponsive but sometimes benevolent entity to be scammed or ignored without any fear of consequence.

I do not buy into the hullabaloo about PMB's incorruptibility, integrity and antecedent. This is because corruption is not limited to not taking bribes or stealing the commonwealth blind. Incorruptibility challenges you to identifying, and limiting corrupting influences no matter how existentially close they are. In PMB's case, painting Abacha a saint, or hobnobbing with former disgruntled but corrupt PDP members, or giving known protégés [Jafaru Isa] soft landing with the EFCC doesn't exactly sound right.

The current spate of arresting corrupt former PDP acolytes of the Jonathan government might be a necessary step in fighting corruption. But Nigerians understand that corruption and corrupting influences are attributable to Nigeria's structural defect and the ungodly 'trickle-down paradigm' of our socio-political milieu - and this goes beyond Jonathan.

The average Nigerian neither understands nor appreciates what human or civil rights mean. We live in abject desperation and think only of survival. Coupled with a fatalistic psycho-religious depression, Nigerians have become a believing people, who are fearful of knowledge and the truth. The politrikcians understand that Nigerians would not hold them to their promises nor challenge them, because in essence, there is really no Nigeria, only a group of people known [for convenience] as Nigerians. When a family that can afford rice [Nigeria's staple] only once in a couple of months is suddenly saddled with a whole bag, cooking oil, salt and some money to boot, they would do anything for their candidate - no be to just thumb print?

The imperial nature of our presidency directly encourages impunity, personality cults and insulation from the realities affecting common people. It gives the president the ability to detain without charges, flout court orders or submit and withdraw budget documents to the national assembly at will. When the president is blinded by the intrigues of court, his concern for common people is bound to take a backseat.  

PMB was once minister for petroleum and subsequently military head of state of Nigeria. Today, PMB is both minister for petroleum and civilian head of state of Nigeria. For more than thirty years, Nigeria has suffered fuel shortages, especially before the yearly budget announcements. The same issue of fuel shortage occurred during the last months of 2015 when Nigerians were virtually sleeping at fuel stations in order to carry out legitimate human activities. For PMB not to have anticipated this, or planned for it during his twelve years long campaign is a testament to the fact that power-seeking is the only politics in Nigeria and not statesmanship.

PMB has not demonstrated mastery over pressing national problems, but Nigerians are still hopeful of a favourable outcome from his presidency. The problem is that we have waited for more than fifty years for the ruling class to get its act together. 

If we are still talking of security to lives and property, lack of power, roads, healthcare, sound educational systems, petroleum products after more than five decades as a nation then something is organically wrong!

The same people have ruled us, either in uniform or civilian garb since independence. And if current feelers from PMB's administration are anything to go by, there are no signposts yet, of a resurgent nation, capable of taking its place in the world.