We are under siege

Aliyu Musa

Pictures of the lifeless, blood-soaked or burnt bodies of the dozens of pupils killed in another sacrilegious nocturnal raid tell it all – we are under siege. Forces whose nefariousness we have yet to fully comprehend are, without doubt, taking advantage of our leaders’ cluelessness, politicians’ treachery and a general unwillingness to purge ourselves of the enemy within, to drawn us in our own blood. Yesterday it was bloodbath in Konduga,Doron Baga, Izghe and Bama; today Buni Yadi in Gubja and tomorrow could be anywhere else. There’s no end to the killing spree yet, unless we put a stop to it.

No one has yet heard from those two dozen plus teenage girls abducted a fortnight ago from their school. Not an explanation yet nor words of sympathy nor encouragement nor assurances from those who run the state – a state we claim to have a contract with to protect us in return for unflinching loyalty. But this contract only exists in our dreams. In reality our leaders do not give a damn even when streams of blood of innocent citizens flow through the streets. And, as such, the plight of the abducted girls is of no significance.

We are only wailing over the murder of those 59 innocent pupils of Federal Government College Buni Yadi because we are human and because our memory is too short. But it is not the first case of such gross violations of the inviolability that life epitomises.

In July last year Government Secondary School Mamudo in the same Yobe was unfortunately the target of some bloodthirsty monsters that similarly robbed dozens of pupils of their right to life. We wailed and angrily condemned the killings but went back to sleep sooner. So, we are back mourning again.

It has been suggested again and again that the north, specifically northern politicians are depleting their own population through Boko Haram. Whether this is true or not is immaterial at this point. But the question is why would anyone be so thoughtless to even dream of diminishing one’s own constituency, one’s strength in any political contest? If, indeed, the northern politicians are responsible for this campaign of depopulation then something is seriously wrong somewhere.

It is not enough to go on mourning without doing something to stop this madness. School kids don’t deserve this sort of inhuman treatment; no one really does. But the north must now look beyond the presidency to firmly deal with the problem. This is the time to begin serious strategising, whether covert or overt, to reverse this trend. It is time to save the region and save its people and economy from the siege impostors and their sponsors have imposed on them. It is also time for leaders of the region to redeem their image. Boko Haram is not faceless. Even if it is it must be unmasked.

Sanusi’s melodrama with the Presidency

To many that previously regarded Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi a hero the January 2012 despotic removal of subsidy on petroleum products was a turning point. Sanusi, contrastingly, became a strong proponent of the repressive policy, albeit his argument was that it was necessary to stop those pillaging the economy through the subsidy regime.

In subsequent months he enmeshed himself in more controversies, some of which are today used as indices for deciding whether to back him in his fight against the government he served or not. In one of his controversial outbursts he recommended a downright downsizing of the country’s workforce. His reason, again, was to save the country money.

In my response to the suggestion I reminded Malam Sanusi of what his utterances were causing for the image he had worked hard to build, like his selfless call for caution during the heated controversy over the application of the sharia legal code in Northern Nigeria and his relentless campaign to restore sanity in the banking industry. What urgently needed a radical downsizing, I argued, was the ostentatious lifestyle of government officials at all levels.

Regardless of some of his actions and utterances the suspended and now maligned Central Bank governor is not incapable of altruistically revealing atrocious acts in the government he was part of. This is why I am one of, perhaps, the not so many that were disappointed with some of the things attributed him but now willing to, at least, insist on a fair treatment for him. My reason goes beyond Malam Sanusi.

Fighting corruption in Nigeria is just like plunging oneself into a headlong battle with the devil himself, a merciless monster many of us would rather not risk taking on. And corruption at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is a monumental monster. Let’s ask ourselves: If money was not missing why would the CBN governor claim it was? If, indeed, as little as ‘$10bn’ was stolen or diverted to private accounts why are we willing to sacrifice it and the whistle-blower?

The question we should be asking now, whether Sanusi’s suspension stays or not, is why is the NNPC acting like a state within a state? I think Nigerians need to get their priorities right by insisting on full investigations into Sanusi’s allegation as well as the corruption charges against him. Let whoever is found complicit face the full wrath of the law.