Yet another blast, more excuses to spend more billions
The western media likes to create its own news. News is about perspectives. Beyond the real events, the reportage, a critical factor in determining the perspectives of the news matters as much as the news itself. Nigeria is no longer one country according to the western press. Nigeria has since become the Muslim-North and the Christian-South. All they needed to divide us was to make it convenient to make everyone believe that Boko Haram the terrorist group based in the so called Muslim-North is fighting not just a battle of religious ideology but indeed out to kill Nigeria’s Christians. That is Nigeria in the eye of the western press.
That is not the reality. Boko Haram as a matter of fact has taken deadly blows at Nigeria’s unity in recent times and has altered the people’s way of life. It is far more an attack on the Nigerian state than it is on Nigerian Christians. The last national Independence celebrations had to be help behind closed doors on the 1st of October last year. That, until then had never happened. It was in the real sense an acceptance by the government of the day that Boko Haram was winning the terror war. Boko Haram started in Nigeria’s most under-developed region the North-East. It started in the most under-developed state Borno state. Everyone above the age of 9 in this state is seen as an exception if not hooked on some kind of drug addiction or the other. The human development index of this state would read below zero if the metre for measurement was that marked. They are the poorest of Nigeria’s poor and here Boko Haram has a ready pool of recruits. The depression in the land and the anger against government are two conditions that make an average young person here susceptible to the lures of joining Boko Haram.
They are an abandoned people. Despite the many bombings and atrocities, the last time Nigeria’s president visited Maiduguri the capital of Borno State was to go and ask for the people’s vote with the promise of development if voted in. The President was quick to visit Kano after another round of bombings that took well over 200 lives. President Jonathan would visit Kano for obvious reasons. Kano is the most populous and most powerful northern state. Unlike Borno, Kano commands far more clout and prestige. Most of those living in Borno State are of northern origin and are mostly Muslims. There was no discrimination when the terrorists bombarded Kano with bombs and bullets. They killed Christians and Muslims, they killed northerners and southerners, they killed Nigerians.
The first suicide bombing by Boko Haram and indeed the first suicide bombing in Nigeria took place on Tuesday the 16th of June, 2011. It was an attack on the country’s Police Head Quarters. It was an attack on an organ of the Nigerian state. The bombing of the United Nations’ office followed soon after the following August. That was also an attack on an international organ of state. Both attacks had nothing to do with Christian-South or Muslim-North. They were attacks on symbols of government. As a matter of fact, most Boko Haram attacks in the early days were directed at police stations and prisons. Attacking the police remains a Boko Haram obsession to this day. In their early days in Borno, the police killed them in droves. The fight is a revenge mission in itself. The complexity of Nigeria’s largely bloody politics has added a new dimension to the bombings and killings.
Recent events have increasingly shown that there is a carefully laid out plan, which is now being expertly played out to make the bombings look like an ethno-religious affair. The Madalla, Niger State church bombings on Christmas day were carried out in response to alleged killing of Muslims in Jos, Plateau state according to Boko Haram. Apart from that nothing has been proven to show that Boko Haram is just out to kill Christians. As it is, there is a force in place, playing out the bombings to fire the embers of secession. Events have shown that Boko Haram alone may not be behind all the bombings that have since taken place since the UN building bombings. Reports from Bayelsa State last year showed this. A man was caught trying to bomb a church. The said suspect has been confirmed by the State Security Service to be a Christian from Edo State – a Southern Nigerian State mostly made up of Christians. He had no affiliations with the now convenient chief evil officers of the federation Boko Haram. If the bombing had been successful, all it’d take for it to be a crime committed by Boko Haram would be to have someone claim responsibility on behalf of Boko Haram.
The President himself only recently admitted that there were elements within his government working with Boko Haram. That this is shows that Boko Haram has since ceased to be about religion and sharia, it is about the quest for the soul of Nigeria. The press has to be more responsible.
I understand another person, this time a woman was also caught about to blow up a church far north in Bauchi. She was not a member of the dreaded sect. There were also non-Boko Haram incidents elsewhere but that these incidents happened is not the issue, the issue for me is the fact that they happened without the attention of the general public. It amounts to hypocrisy if the media always finds it convenient to tell the world Boko Haram has “claimed” responsibility but the same media goes mum when Boko Haram is not involved. If those acts had been successful, all it would take for “Boko Haram” to claim responsibility is for someone to make a call to the right authorities and claim responsibility on behalf of Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s current security challenges are not insurmountable but there are many hurdles to cross. We must before anything at all identify these hurdles and find the right strategy and eventually tactics to solve them. N3.1 billion ($20 million) gets spent on Nigeria’s security everyday. It is obvious most of these monies end up in private accounts. Would Nigeria need to budget $20million for security if we did not have to deal with Boko Haram? Could this in itself be a motive for someone within to keep Boko Haram active without? This is beyond Christian-South and Muslim-North, this is a grand conspiracy against the government and people of Nigeria.
Signed: OMOJUWA
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Yeah! Right.
Glad dere’z some1 who can actually see beyond d surface.
i wish all Nigerians will see this not through the eyes but mind.
I wish majority of Nigerians could read this article and understand it the way we do. This is a battle for us all to join hands and save our country from it enemies. GOD help us all. Thumbs up omojuwa. Keep the sensitization up.
The media must be fair, accurate and factual in its coverage. Enough of bias and incredible reports.
If they keep blowing up ordinary people and southerners in the north bear the brunt of the attacks, then we will keep insinuating the religious angle. Lets face it, the need for religious subjudication fuels terrorism all over the muslim dominated world. Thats where the stereotype stems from. Let BH blow up 10 important government officials, then we’ll know they are against the state. The only way they can recruit in droves is by telling the ignorant muslims that this is an holy war and Alijuana is assured. Abeg, leave story.
Brilliant, apt and very much in place! But then, for the media, ‘Truth’ and ‘Convenient’ are synonymns
Finally there is sanity!!..I’m happy you can actually see what this is all about…it is NOT a religious ‘war’
Yea Omojuwa. If only those who keep insulting the Northerners and by way the Muslims could read this piece and give it an objective thought, things would really change. The negative perception of our Christian brothers about Boko Haram attacks has caused so much disaffection and mistrust. May Allah see all of us both Christians and Muslims through this mess.
Please Wale! Guys like you, YES YOU WALE! Are as bad as Boko Haram because you are never objective. Where the heck did you get this stupid notion that Boko haram are killing southerners in the north? What is it about this Boko Haram madness you fail to understand? Don’t you know that by far, majority of their victims are Muslims from the north? And if you are talking about terrorism in Muslim country alone then you need a serious lesson in history. Maybe 1st WW and 2nd WW where non Muslims killed themselves in millions can be our first topic.
Please hold on to your not so intelligent comments to yourself, this is a platform where objectivity and intellect are welcomed, thank you.
@Wale, i think you have your history twisted. How does subjugation fuel terrorism in the Muslim countries if at all there is such? Can you point to a Muslim country with such characteristics? Btw, Google how the Israelis carried terrorist activities against the brits. There was no incidence of sucide bombers in Iraq until the invasion by the US nd ditto Libya. Iran has never attacked any country in its history. You can check the rest. Most victims of BH has been the poor masses and police men.
Please do a bit of research next time.
Nuru & Degbo, that’s the way to go. Ignorance as we can see, doesn’t only exist within communities that strap bombs to themselves.
I do not know which religion you belong to and I do not care. What I do know is that I will definately give you my vote against IBB or ATIKU or any of these northerners that had an opportunity to put things right but failed because of their selfishness.
Yes indeed, it is a great article which is also factual and true. The menace of Boko Haram indeed has brought tension between the two major religious sects in Nigeria. Everybody in Nigeria knows that the fight is political but how can they get the attention if they don’t go on the scale in which they are acting now. Why will they give threats to people that they should leave the northern part of the country and even go around shooting and killing certain sect at their homes and business places? I think your point criticizing the western media may not go down well with me because i do know that what they do report is what the Boko Haram sect is painting to the whole world and it is only we the insiders that knows the deep of the fight. We do know that if they come out straight on a political ground, many won’t give up their precious or semiprecious lives for the fight and how can they give the fight a magnitude that is great, it is by including some religious attacks. The western media only report what they see and hear e.g bombing of churches, shooting and killing of people in church while worshiping,killing of people in their business stores and so on. if not for the scale of suicide bombing which has made it impossible for the sect to be specific in their target, i want to believe their goal is single minded and sure it has created a line of tension between religions in Nigeria. If their problem is with the Nigerian state, then let them take the fight to the government offices(Aso Rock, Goernment Houses, Senate House and House of Representatives, State Houses of Assembly) and let them leave bombing of churches and killing of Christians in churches alone. In conclusion, we all know the deep truth about events happening and the simple skeletal interpretation of these events is attach on Christians in the north and no one should blame the western media.
The truth they say is bitter and when you know it, it will set you free. I posted a comment about a week ago concerning this article and now it has been deleted. People know the truth and let us call a spade a spade. I won’t be posting the same comment again though but i know people can not be deceived any more with literature.
Omojuwa You are a born Genius.Keep it up Bro
I wish majority of Nigerians could read this article and understand it the way we do. This is a battle for us all to join hands and save our country from it enemies. GOD help us all.keep being patriot.
To me Boko Haram, is not on war against ethn-religiouse, rather its just a conspiracy by some government agency in other to divert some money spent everyday for security into their private account..I thank God that we the Nigerians have satarted noticing all this conspiracy….
To me Boko Haram, is not on war against ethn-religiouse, rather its just a conspiracy by some government agency in other to divert some money spent everyday for security into their private account..I thank God that we the Nigerians have started noticing all this conspiracy….