This column would not go into the lurid details of the tit- for- tat of the vitriolic invectives, swear words and other unprintable anecdotes hauled at one another. One even deployed contrasting biblical injunctions contained in the Book of Proverbs and picked the option that agreed with his foul mood at that time that if you are offended, pay the fellow back in his coin. Indeed, the two of them literally could be seen in the mind’s eyes in boxers briefs landing vicious punches at each other. Do not ask me though who came up tops!
But seriously the import of the spectacle of shame, as one incensed fellow called it, should be seen beyond the verbal brick bats that titillated Nigerians so much. We should not forget that the brouhaha started when IBB was fielding questions on his 70th birthday and he made an allusion to how so much money was pumped into the power sector by OBJ but nothing came of it. The nation is, as it were, still groping in darkness. The statement is a fact and the national assembly probe on power is there to buttress it. For me, that statement made by IBB may have referred to OBJ, but it was more an expression of regret as to the sorry pass the nation has come to find itself. A view that is not different from those of many Nigerians about the incomprehensibility of a country with so much endowment but so little to show for it.
And one dares to say the reference to the power sector was IBB’s way of wishing things were different. At70, his has been a momentous life, particularly so because he has had the privilege of ruling over Nigeria for a little less than a decade, enough time to be able to make more than a token impression in terms of development. Under his watch the nation suffered its most traumatic crisis ever- excluding the civil war- that shook the nation to its foundation. The annulment of the 1993 presidential election was the most arrogant exercise of power ever displayed, thwarting and trampling as it did, on the overwhelming preference of majority of Nigerians who voted in that election. But history teaches that great leaders reinforce and consolidate; they don’t play dangerous brinkmanship that could bring the edifice others have struggled to build down.
OBJ – the older of the two- and fellow traveller in vicious power wielding is the most fortunate of all Nigerian rulers. He has ruled Nigeria longest, eight of them as an elected president. The squabbling between these two people, pared of its hilarity therefore is akin to looking back, not with anger (so expressed in their vituperations against each other) but with regrets at the monumental squandered opportunity they had to grasp Nigeria by the scruff of its neck, as it were, and pull it into the league of the countries with which it won independence at the same time but are far above it in the development index.
Bombs and more bombs …
Yet another bomb went off a week ago at the United Nations office in Abuja and took the life of a considerable number of people with it. The gruesomeness and senselessness of it all was succinctly captured in the picture depicted on the front page of many newspapers on Friday September 2, 2011, showing the anguish of a relative of one of the victims so overcome with sorrow. But why bomb the UN mission? Usually UN outposts across the world are not made targets of attacks by violent and terrorist groups no matter what creed they espouse and profess. Was the incident aimed at showing how audacious the Boko Haram has become? It has already shown that by the attack on Louis Edet House, Nigeria Police Headquarters in Abuja and even before that by its blistering violent escapades targeted at Police Stations and recreation parks in Maiduguri.
The sect on Thursday named the fellow that undertook the act which it described as a ‘‘war against infidels.’’ Any death is to be regretted. But those who lost their lives are not only their ‘’infidels, ’’ they included many people simply going about their duties such as one Rahma Abdullahi. Surely, the escalation of campaign by targeting bodies such as the UN can only heighten anti –Islam sentiments and further deepen the festering division between its adherents and other religious groups with dire consequences. The scale of the campaign is becoming unprecedented, dangerous and forebodes nothing good for Nigeria. It is worrying that so far the federal government is still groping for the proper way of engagement with the Boko Haram in order to dissuade it from its violent inclinations.
The fact that dare devil acts such the UN bombing can still be undertaken practically under everyone’s nose shows that grave lapses still exists in its counter-insurgency outfits; they therefore need to be made to do their work as they should. Its decision to adopt the carrots and sticks approach evinced by the establishment of a body charged with exploring dialogue with the sect while at the same time seeking to root them out through force should be made to count for something. It also should begin to seek less formal ways, such as using the many channels available in the community –religious schools, neighbourhood associations and even encouraging parents to be alive to their role in raising their children.
