They proclaim ‘caliphate’, he gives no damn

Aliyu Musa

It's now three months since the Boko Haram insurgents dislodged our military, took over Gwoza and hoisted their flag. Gwoza’s fall in the first week of August immensely bolstered Abubakar Shekau and his men to carry on their killing spree and subsequent capture of more parts of our territory, the latest of which is Mubi, Adamawa’s second biggest and most important city. Our response, the usual rhetoric, has been to lie and lie to ourselves that we are winning the war and the insurgency is almost defeated. But the reality is clear: we are losing the war and we are now a congregation of objects of laughter.

Following the fall of Gwoza in August our soldiers, under pressure from superiors in Abuja, made spirited but failed attempts to recover the lost terrain. But the insurgents, aware of our military’s weaknesses – lack of motivation, lack of or inferior weapons, corruption and half-heartedness of top brass and civilian leadership etc. – cashed in on our confusion to conquer more places and add on to their conquest. Today Gwoza, which our government vowed to never cede to Boko Haram, is in effect part of Boko Haram’s recently proclaimed ‘caliphate’.

Whether we admit it or continue to pretend, we have so far badly managed this war. Our country is, indeed, facing its most difficult challenge in its entire history. But it is even more challenging because we are under an exceptionally inept regime; a leadership that does not mind fragmenting the country to keep itself in power; one that is openly divisive and shamelessly harbours disruptive characters that unambiguously promote the balkanisation of the country.

Our government is a huge joke and that is why fiercely fighting for the 2015 (election) trophy is over prioritised. Rather than declare a full scale war and fully focus energy and resources on rescuing the country and citizens the most important item on the agenda is how to win the 2015 election. And so, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal’s defection to opposition APC, which occurred almost around the time Mubi fell, has provoked the regime’s full wrath; but the insurgents’ conquest of the northeast, which continues with ease, is treated as a non-issue.

Our president, under whose watch the marauding terrorists have turned millions of Nigerians refugees, has now, in continuation of an endless and worthless jamboree, junketed to Burkina Faso on a peacekeeping mission. If this is not the height of absurdity I don’t know what is. How could a man whose house is almost consumed by inferno be in the van of quenching the small fire in another man’s property? But as tragic is this is it is not the biggest disaster.

The biggest tragedy is that our bigotry and naivety would not let us truthfully assess and fittingly criticise the regime’s uninspiring performance. We would continue to find a government that has appallingly ceded parts of our once sovereign territory to terrorists faultless. We would continue to bare our fangs on anyone for refusing to celebrate the regime’s transformation fable - which at best the loss of much of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States to terrorists effectively represents. And we would keep blaming the victims who can only hope for some celestial intercession and whose only crime is being citizens of a country whose president does not give a damn whether they live or die.

Truly, the insurgency predates President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime. But his government has since its inception unambiguously attempted reaping political capital from the crisis by alleging it’s its opponents’ handiwork, as a cover up for its incompetence. And, in what looks like a deft move to seal victory in 2015 election, it does not appear ready to decisively end the insurgency. After all disenfranchising three key states that are likely to throw their weight behind the opposition means a problem less.

The president is, without questioning, Nigeria’s chief security officer. He is, undeniably, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The onus is, therefore, on him to ensure the safety of lives and property and the invisibility of the country. But if he does not find it expedient to act appropriately and capably why is the north not resorting to self help? Why are northern leaders watching while the region is decimated?

The huge vacuum the federal government’s disinclination has created can be, in fact, filled by the north. It definitely won’t be a walkover but it is equally not undoable. It will require the region sincerely agreeing a plan of action and boldly delving, even if it means isolating the centre in the process. The alternative is for the north to keep hoping on a 2015 mirage and watch the region collapse to rubbles. Our president doesn’t give a damn.