North rallies support for Jonathan’s fight against terrorism, others

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Borno, Latest Politics, State News Thursday, September 4th, 2014

• More troops coming from govt, says Shettima

• Ezekwesili, others want Nigerians to remember Chibok girls

NORTHERN leaders Thursday rallied support for President Goodluck Jonathan over the Federal Government’s campaign against insurgents.

The leaders, who spoke under the aegis of the Northern Elders Council (NEC), urged Nigerians to support the government to overcome terrorism so that the nation could begin a fresh phase of development.

Those who spoke included elders, governors, deputy governors and the representatives of traditional and religious leaders. They were at the inauguration of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of NEC, headed by the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo Jimeta, at the Arewa House, Kaduna.

Besides, the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners for the rescue of the Chiboks girls who were abducted 144 days ago yesterday urged Nigerians not to forget the abductees.

The campaign group led by former Minister of Education, Dr. Obey Ezekwesili and civil rights campaigner, Ayo Obe, urged Nigerians not to forget the girls until they were rescued alive and brought back to their parents.

They made this call when the Bring Back Our Girls campaign group visited The Guardian at Rutam House, Isolo, Lagos, Thursday. They were received by the Editor, Mr. Martins Oloja and some editorial board members.

In his address, Jimeta commended the members of the NEC for their “commitment to the peace, progress, unity and territorial integrity of Nigeria as one indivisible nation”, adding that “we share and endorse this commitment without reservation.”

According to Jimeta, “many of us have spent most of our lives in the service to this great country and we can say with boldness and a clear sense ofresponsibility that we owe it to our children and children’s children to make this country more stable, more united and more prosperous than ever before.”

The Arewa leader urged all northerners to support the aspiration of Jonathan and his Vice, Namadi Sambo, in their effort to rid the nation of the security challenges.

Among those present on the occasion were the Chairman of the Council and elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, Kogi State Governor Idris Wada, Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Nuhu Bajoga and his counterpart in Sokoto State Alhaji Mukhtar Shagari. Others were former Defence Minister, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, erstwhile Governor of Sokoto, Attahiru Bafawara, Senator Yusuf Maitama Sule, and Dr. Saidi Kumo.

Jimeta said: “We are aware of the many challenges facing the nation including the problem of poverty, ethnicity, poor infrastructure and alienation. In the last three years, in particular, our country has had to contend with insurgency and terrorism in some parts of the north. We cannot pretend that things are all rosy in our country today but we also know that the situation is by no means insurmountable.”

However, he explained that “ the good news is that in the midst of all these challenges, our country has remained resilient and has successfully held together,” commending the effort of the Federal Government in the fight against the insurgents.

Jimeta continued: “We recognise the efforts of the Federal Government under the able leadership of President Jonathan in managing the complex challenges with firmness and effectiveness. We are convinced that such efforts can take this country out of the turbulent waters of insurgency and underdevelopment.

“We also wish to seize this opportunity to registerour appreciation for the harmonious working relationship that exists between the president and our leader, the Vice President, Alhaji Namadi Sambo. It is the demonstration of leadership by example in our quest to promote peaceful co-existence amongst people of different religious, ethnic and regional backgrounds. We appeal to Nigerians to follow this shining example.”

Yakassai said that the council would provide a platform for northerners for a proactive and constructive engagement in the socio-economic and political spheres of the north and the country in general.

He noted that “the council is totally opposed to the use of reckless and inflammatory statements and utterances which may tend to overheat the polity and undermine the effort of patriotic Nigerians who are focused on building a virile and

prosperous nation.”

In what she referred to as an important advocacy visit, Ezekwesili said 143 days were too long for the young girls to have been held captive, and that it was beginning to emerge that some people “want everybody to move on and forget the 219 girls.

“The Chibok girls are not yet back; we cannot just leave our poorer segment of society to suffer like that. If they were the children of privileged Nigerians, things would be different. We’re dealing with an inequality situation here. There has to be a voice to say, ‘the girls are not yet back, Nigeria’. Society knows that the children are missing; they don’t have any business missing in the camp of the enemy.”

The former Education Minister, often referred to as Madam Due Process, said the first phase of the campaign was raising awareness about the missing girls, which got the global community to wake up to the crisis, arguing that the awareness phase had passed. Now, she stated, was the time to go beyond the awareness and urge slumbering Nigerian leaders to wake up that the girls were not yet back. She said Nigeria was no longer in a military regime and that in democracy it was necessary for citizens to hold government accountable to its actions and inactions when the need arose.

Ezekwesili debunked insinuations that the campaign she heads came out of some strategic plot, and so politically motivated. She said the campaign was born out of citizens’ agitation to see the girls set free and alive, and noted that the campaign for the release of the Chibok girls didn’t emanate from any strategic plot, but that it emerged as a spontaneous suggestion from the rank of fellow campaigners after the march on April 30 at Unity Fountain, Abuja.

Ezekwesili argued that the consistency of the campaign theme, Bring Back Our Girls, punctured whatever politicisation claims detractors were making, saying the distortions were meant to distabilise her group from its set mission of seeing the girls rescued by the military. She said: “To distort and politicise our campaign is a malicious thing that has happened in our society. What our detractors don’t know is that we are driven by compassion and empathy.”

She also used the opportunity to refute allegations of funding levelled against her group, saying, “There’s nothing financed, funded about Bring Back Our Girls. This movement has no cost worth funding. We volunteer whatever we need for it. Who can pay for our compassion, our empathy? It’s costless. It’s so politics-neutral; it has no links with any political party. Our cause is a singularity – Bring Back Our Girls. We’re basically now all from Chibok.”

She took the military to task and urged them to set the girls free, adding: “After 128 days after April 30 when we first marched, we are no closer to knowing what has happened to those girls – 219 daughters in enemy territory. I cannot imagine that The Guardian will keep silent. We thank The Guardian on the countdown on its front page.

“Don’t let the Chibok girls go away until they are recovered. It’s not yet time to move on. There must be sustained strategy to rescue the girls. We say, sustain your campaign about those girls. They must not be forgotten. It must be priority. We are in the sophisticated zone of engagement of Bring Back Our Girls. We need the media to be sophisticated in the interrogation of what has happened.

“The media need to understand that conflict and terrorism are key constraints to development and that effect of terrorism in one region of the country is unsavoury to other regions. Terrorism is something we need to keep a serious focus on; the media must be at the forefront of the campaign.”

Ever so optimistic, Ezekwesili stated that the group was hopeful that the girls would be rescued, noting that unlike other groups that emerged to counter hers, “We’re not prepared to move on. It’s a consciousness that the girls must not vanish from public domain.”

She said in situations such as the Chibok girls presented, there were usually three approaches – from military rescue to negotiations and a combination of both methods. But she noted that the government had dismissed all three options.

“This realisation makes us unrelenting in our campaign,” she said. “We as citizens are doing exactly what democracy requires of us. Government exists to solve problems, with security of life and property being uppermost. But that responsibility is not working; we have the responsibility to demand action and accountability otherwise nothing happens.

“Any society that we envy today stepped out and demanded from government what it wanted from it. The anti-body that we face in this campaign is because our society assumes we’re still in the military era, but we’re not. This is democracy and we must occupy the Office of the Citizen as citizens.”

And for Ayo Obe, it had become regrettable that consciousness of the Chibok girls was slipping out. What was worse, she said, “The whole thing has become a political football game. Some think the campaign is APC-motivated; others think it’s PDP-inspired. I have only one daughter and I can’t imagine such fate befalling her.”

She said raising money for victims of terrorism was somewhat suspicious, just as the Boko Haram terrorists had gone forward to declaring a Caliphate of its own to the embarrassment of the military’s tepid efforts at repelling them.

She noted: “Now, a Caliphate has been created in parts of Borno. The military should save its face by bringing the girls back to shame its critics. Rather, what we’ve seen is the extension of the insurgency. Let’s not forget Mali. Boko Haram is a brutal, murderous, vicious group. I want to continue to have faith in government, but it’s turning out otherwise.

“If you move around the country, you will see bitterness and frustration on the faces of young people. The President has the yam and the knife; let him not ask somebody else about the iyan (pounded yam). All we hear from our government is silence; this is not good. We don’t want to take credit, Mr. President. Just rescue the girls for their parents.”

Oloja, thanked the group for the visit and promised continued coverage of news about the missing girls, saying the media were “designed to report vulnerable people in society. We’ll not run away from this issue. We’ll always receive you and report your activities. The Guardian will remain true to its motto: ‘Conscience Nurtured by Truth.’ We shall continue to report the campaign; we believe the campaign should not die until the girls are rescued alive. It’s a measure of how The Guardian holds dear the fate of the abducted girls that we recently opened a debate on state of education in the paper.”

Oloja also advised Ezekwesili and her group to deal with perception problems within its rank so that the group would not be hijacked by usurpers for selfish ends.

Two Chibok community persons in the entourage, Mr. Victor Garbir, and Sarah said even now, the military was nowhere near Chibok and its neighbouring villages. Garbir stated that even when Boko Haram wrote to warn communities of their impending attacks, the military never showed up thus leaving the poor villagers vulnerable to attacks from the terrorist sect.

Apart from the failed promises made to Chibok people, Garbir also debunked claims that money was given to the Chibok parents that visited Aso Rock to see Jonathan. He said no such thing happened, but some money (N7,000 and N8,000) was put in envelops by government officials and given to the parents as fares and that it was nowhere near the millions that were widely reported.

For Garbir, Chibok was still vulnerable to attacks as there were no military personnel on ground. What was worse, he said, Chibok leaders’ call on government to bomb out Sambisa forest so as to end it all so they could mourn the girls properly had since failed to yield result. He wondered why the military was so fearful of Sambisa forest, saying even the military usually relied on village vigilantes to escort them into the forest.

He lamented the fate of people living in Chibok and other communities, saying they were being ravaged by hunger, as they could no longer farm.

Meanwhile, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State yesterday said that the Federal Government had assured him of increased deployment of troops and military hardware to fight Boko Haram insurgency.

Addressing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Bama, he said the state government would continue to play its role in catering for the displaced persons, which were estimated at 6,000.

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Posted by admin on Sep 4 2014. Filed under Boko Haram, Borno, Latest Politics, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry