FORMER Minister of Federal Capital
Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday, warned the Federal Government to
review its stance on the security situation in the country, but if it
fails, “they will not be in government for too long”.
He also disabused the minds of many
Nigerians that the insurgence of the sect was the handiwork of some Northern
leaders to make the nation ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan.
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Mallam Nasir El Rufai (center) |
The ex-minister who was the guest
speaker at the 2012 annual May Day lecture organized by the Silver Knights,
Lead City University spoke on the topic entitled “Between Terrorism and
Corruption: Implications for Nigeria.”
While ruling out the use of force to
silence the aggrieved sect, el Rufai said: “There is nowhere insurgencies like
Boko Haram have been defeated purely through military force and occupation.
Those who are saying “crush them” should know that recent history of the war on
terror is not on their side. We want a country that works for everyone, and
this senseless loss of lives must end soon. The government that has the responsibility
for our security must bend over backwards to deliver it. If they continue to
fail in this regard, they will not be in government for too long”.
Explaining the reason why he
exonerated the former military leaders from the activities of the sect, he said
the insurgence of the sect started when the late President, Alhaji Umaru
Yar’Adua, who was a northerner and a muslim was at the helms of the affair and
that there was nothing like Boko Haram during the tenure of Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo who is a Christian and a Southerner.
He said: “Those who are saying crush
Boko Haram have not got the true picture of the situation. You can only kill
and crush those you know. Give me the roadmap of where it was done anywhere in
the world. I am not an apologist for Boko Haram.”
In addition to reviewing what he
described as failed military strategy now in place and scaling back what has
become militarization of the North, he called on the government to “work
with community leaders in Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Kano and Kaduna States to
identify interlocutors that would enable honest discussions with Boko Haram to
establish what they really want.”
I don’t think that anybody really
knows what they want. The government knows what they want, but they do not want
us to know”.
The former government officer who
said at the beginning of the speech that he was not representing his political
party-Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) but would speak from his own
personal view further noted, “Terrorism is a harder nut to crack. I am of the
view that a multi-track approach is necessary to increase the chances of its
success. First, the prevailing narrative in the in the Jonathan camp must be
discarded. This narrative is what the national security adviser tried to
communicate at the Asaba summit of South-South leaders, but he was
misunderstood by the media. Jonathan and his inner circle believe that Boko
Haram is a Northern conspiracy to prevent Jonathan enjoying his presidency. And
Northern political leaders like IBB and General Buhari aare the sponsors and
financiers of Boko Haram”.
This narrative, he added, was the
belief of most Niger Delta leaders because of their own experience in
organizing, training and arming the militants and providing funding for
Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta(MEND) during the period of
resource control agitations of the Obasanjo administration. Because theirs was
a conspiracy of the political elite, they think the North must be doing the
same and they also feel that Boko Haram largely kills northerners or
“parasites” as one presidential aide allegedly tweeted.
He traced the genesis of the
insurgence of the sect to rewarding those who take up arms against the state
with the cash hand-outs called amnesty programme has to be reviewed.
Any society, he continued, that
rewards bad behavior with cash creates a moral hazard that may consume that
society. “Those giving out the cash should know that they are doing no
favours to anyone. Indeed, they are fostering an entitlement culture that would
be ultimately be the undoing of that part of the country. Boko Haram does not
appear to be motivated by money, so those thinking of an amnesty-like program
may need to go back to the drawing board.
According to him, there are four variants
of Boko Haram. He clarified that there are normal Boko Haram members who
operate in the North East and North West of the country, this group, he said,
is very few.
He second variant, he said, is the
criminal Boko Haram who mainly attack banks and the third one is the political
Boko Haram which the politicians use to attack perceived opponents and the
fourth, he noted, is the security Boko Haram who are being sponsored by the
fifth columnist.
“But, each time, we hear of
bombings, people say they are Boko Haram. But, those of us who keep records
know that not all of them are Boko Haram. There are bombings that Boko Haram
disclaimed, but the media keep saying it is Boko Haram even when the sect did
not claim responsibility, we overlook that”, he noted.
Culled from Vanguard News Online
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