When the North becomes angry The North is angry and its elders and leaders livid with rage. That was vividly demonstrated by the Northern apex socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum ACF, at its emergency meeting penultimate Sunday during which it lamented what it described as the dismal failure of President Goodluck Jonathan to protect the North from the Boko Haram insurgency which wreak havoc on the region, threatening its dissolution. The meeting, attended by the crème dela crème of prominent Northerners and a wide range of non-governmental organisations, was chaired by the ACF Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmadu Commassie, Sardaunan Katsina and a former Inspector General of Police. The meeting bewailed the ineffective presence of a federal government which could not exercise one of its basic responsibilities of protecting the the lives and safeguarding the property of every Nigerian in any part of the federation. The ACF noted with dissatisfaction the regrettable ineptness of the government and complete complacency in rising to the challenges some citizens of Nigeria are facing and which the federal government and its leaders are totally oblivious of. The scenario of the besieged Northern region has been aptly captured by the ACF and has greatly reechoed the belief of the majority of Northerners that their region is being battered while the government looks the other way and was not making any serious effort to end it. It was heartbreaking that for the first time ever President Goodluck Jonathan is being openly denounced for his seeming ineptitude, immaturity and ineffectiveness as was stated by motley gathering of Northern oligarchies. In fact it is undoubtedly observed that Northern part of Nigeria is under siege from all angles and from all fields by powerful, clandestine and despicable forces since the advent of Boko Haram insurrection some five years ago. Since then the area and some other parts of the North have been speedily descending into uncertainty and anarchy. The extent of the devastation caused by the insurgency was unprecedented in the annals of any part of the federation and coimparable only to the fratricidal civil war triggered by the lopsided assassination of northern military and civilian leaders in 1966. What happens in the North appears to be a repalay of the disastrous civil war during which the nation stood still, its economy stagnated and development stunted. Now the economy of the North is systematically destroyed, its industries are moribund and its people seriously disaddvantaged. Worst still is the disenchantment of the Northern masses with the ability of the federal government defeat obnoxious forcezs that tend to emasculate the North economically, reduce its numerical superiority, cause political divisions and religious disharmony. That is the grim situation in the North, and it is incumbent on All Nigerians to rise up to the occasion of saving Northern Nigeria from the clutches of insurgency and the ineffectiveness of the incumbent government. When the former Eastern Region of Nigeria seceded from the federation the entire citizens rallied round the federal government and encouraged it to liberate every inch of the Nigerian territory occupied by the Biafran rebels. Why shouldn’t Nigerians now rise in unision against the similar unfornutane happenings in the Northeastern part of the country? The federal government MUST mobilise all and sundry to ensure that the towns and villages occupied by the despicable Boko Haram rebels are speedily liberated and, in doing so, also discourage those with the erraneos conviction that fighting the Boko Haram menace was the exclusive responsibility of the Northerners who were maliciously blamed for precipitating the rebellion. Agaist that backdrop, the Northerners are now left with no credible option than to take legitimate steps necessary to sustain current efforts to improve the unity of the Northern region through constant engagement of all groups and the involvement of all ethnic groupings in its activities. But it was unfortunate that already the region has been terribly polarised by extraneous forces that fan the embers of hatred and religious bigotry among its multi-ethnic stocks. The Northern leadertship is currently suffering from serious disunity with its elites, mainly the retired bureaucrats and technocrats and even militocrats as well as clergymen in total disarray, giving covert support to Southern politiciana with whom they are hand in glove. And because of that they are not forthcoming in supporting the cause of the Northern commoners. Already a splinter group, led by a prominent First Republic politician, is working seriously against the objectives of the group and its associated organisations by seeking to promote and protect the Intsrest of adversaries of the North . That out of the ordinary group in the North is disagreeing with the ACF and other similar groups because of what it faslely believed as a pursuit of sectional agenda, but isn’t sectionalism and parochialism already the hallmarks in the political edifices of the Southerners for whom that Northern splinter group is working? That and many other prominent Northerners are known to be working secretly to forestall the rejuvenation and the consequent return of political power to the North. The North can only overcome its current challenges if all its stakeholders are genuinely invoved on shaping its future and by delivering it from all sorts of difficulties that have presently overwhelmed its people.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 16:49:43 +0000
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