Politics of Boko Haram heightens ahead of 2015

In this write-up, ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, x-rays the recent allegations of terrorism between the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2015 general elections

Ordinarily, allegations of terrorism are matters of national security. However, recent political happenings reveal that these allegations have become political weapons in the hands of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress in the battle for elective positions in the 2015 general elections.

The recent war of words could be traced to the Nyanya, Abuja bomb blast of April 14, in which over 75 lives were lost. The following day, President Goodluck Jonathan and other PDP leaders held a rally in Kano State to welcome a former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, who defected from the APC to the PDP.

The APC fired the first salvo by accusing Jonathan of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. The Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said it was disheartening that while all the bodies of the deceased had yet to be retrieved from the bomb site, Jonathan was ‘dancing’ in Kano.

The PDP Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh; and the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, fired back by insinuating that the APC was behind the bomb attacks in the country. In a statement, Metuh said, “Indeed, Nigerians are no longer at a loss as to the agenda of the APC. The APC has again exposed its support for acts directly aimed at shutting down governance and imposing anarchy and a reign of terror on our people. They had expected the President to be intimidated by acts of terrorism which have continued to be motivated by their utterances.”

It was observed that as the elections grew closer, so did allegations of terrorism. A former Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, fired another shot in a memorandum to the Northern Governors’ Forum when he accused the Federal Government of being behind the Boko Haram insurgency, with plans to deny citizens of northern Nigeria their voting rights in the next general elections.

Nyako said the state of emergency imposed on his state and two others was a way of weakening the voting power of the North-East states, which are mostly controlled by the APC.

In a later reaction, Metuh responded by saying outright that, “The APC is the major beneficiary of terrorism in this country. We stand by our statement that the APC celebrates terrorism. We didn’t say the APC bombed Nyanya, Kano or Jos. What we said is that the APC by their actions and utterances, promote violence. If they do so, they cannot shy away from the fact that they fuelled violence.”

The APC fired back by threatening to sue Metuh and the PDP over the allegation, saying, “Mr. Metuh should save his explanations until he gets to court because surely the party (APC) and all he had maligned will sue him.”

As the abduction of over 200 girls from Chibok, Borno State, dominated world news for over a month, Jonathan’s government was on the receiving end of attacks as many international media agencies described the Jonathan administration as incompetent.

Several human right figures in the country such as Prof. Wole Soyinka, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Joe Okei-Odumakin and several others lent their voices to a campaign which was tagged “Bring Back our Girls”.

As the media attention grew, the President’s spokespersons: Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, his Special Adviser on Media, Reuben Abati, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku; and his Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Ahmed Gulak, struggled to save the image of their boss, who may declare his intention to contest in next year’s presidential election soon.

As the protests waned, the Bring Back our Girls group, however, continued to demonstrate. In an attempt to repress the protests, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, often accused of being a pro-Jonathan figure, placed a ban on protests but he was quickly overruled by the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.

In further attempts to discredit the Bring Back our Girls group which seemed unrelenting, the Department of State Service described the campaign as sponsored.

When it looked as if the PDP had been able successfully pin the Boko Haram tag on the APC, an attempt was made on the life of Buhari in Kaduna State. In the attack, Buhari’s vehicle was badly damaged. It raised doubts over the involvement of the APC in terrorism and also gave the party the opportunity to appear as the victim. However, the allegations continued soon after as the APC and the PDP accused each other of being responsible.

In the blame game, Jonathan has also played an active role. He said governors of the APC are the cause of insurgency in their states. Speaking at the 65th meeting of the PDP National Executive Committee, in Abuja, he said there was insecurity in the APC controlled states because the governors had not performed like their counterparts in the PDP “There is no insurgency in PDP states because the governors are performing,” he said.

As part of efforts to save Jonathan’s popularity, which had waned due to his inability to rescue the Chibok girls, several pro-Jonathan groups, including the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, launched a media campaign in which it compared Jonathan to Nelson Mandela of South Africa, ex- United States President, George W. Bush; human rights activist, Martin Luther-King and Mahatma Gandhi.

In the TV advert, the sponsor urges Nigerians to support Jonathan in the fight against terrorism just like Americans supported Bush during the fight against terrorism in 2001.

Jonathan also hired the services of an Australian hostage negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, to negotiate for the release of the Chibok girls. However, the report later issued by Davis would further implicate Jonathan’s camp.

In a report last week, Davis accused a former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu-Sheriff and the immediate past Chief of Army Staff. Lt. Gen Azubuike Ihejirika (retd.) of being Boko Haram sponsors. Presently, Sheriff is a PDP member while Ihejirika is an Abia State governorship aspirant of the PDP.

Davis further absolved two APC chiefs: a former military Head of State, Muhamadu Buhari; and a former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, of complicity.

The APC quickly took the opportunity to gloat with Davis’ revelation. El-Rufai took a swipe at Ihejirika on his Facebook page, mocking the retired general. Ihejirika, in turn, fired back by calling el-Rufai a Boko Haram sponsor.

On his own part, Sheriff threatened to sue the negotiator. The former governor, who shed tears while addressing journalists, said he was not a Boko Haram supporter. The APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, however welcomed Davis’ revelation.

The APC chairman said the party had been vindicated as the negotiator, who was hired by the PDP-led Federal Government had implicated the people who ordinarily, he should be defending. He, therefore, urged Jonathan to hand over all those the Australian hostage negotiator accused of being the sponsors of Boko Haram to the International Criminal Court.

With the APC having the upper hand in the terrorism blame game about five months to the elections, the PDP also responded by insinuating that APC members had not been absolved of blame either. Metuh alleged that Oyegun’s statement was a decoy to frustrate genuine efforts at finding solution to the security challenges facing the nation to the advantage of the APC.

Curiously, however, there has been no response from the police, the DSS and the military authorities over the fresh allegation levelled against the PDP members.

Reacting to Davis’ allegations, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, urged security agencies to investigate all the people accused of sponsoring terrorists. He noted that before the revelation of Davis, the Jonathan administration had set up the Ambassador Usman Galtimari Panel to investigate the genesis of the insurgency in the North East region. He said it recommended that the Federal Government should direct the security agencies to beam their light on some politicians who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram and bring them to justice.

He said, “The security forces should, without any further delay carry out the directives of the Federal Government by investigating and prosecuting all the indicted sponsors of the Boko Haram sect. If the directives are not carried out forthwith I shall apply to the Federal High Court for a Writ of MANDAMUS to compel the security agencies to discharge their duties in the public interest.”

On his own part, a security expert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, told our correspondent during an interview that it was unfortunate that the issue of Boko Haram was being used to foster partisan politics and score cheap political points when political parties irrespective of ideology, should be cooperating to put insurgency to an end.

Ekhomu, who is Nigeria’s first chartered security professional, berated the Australian hostage negotiator for making unsubstantiated claims. He said Davis should not be taken seriously as he was only grasping at straws having failed to negotiate the release of the schoolgirls.

He said, “In Nigerian politics, a lot of people make crazy statements but nothing happens and no one is punished for it. That is why you see that right now, the PDP and the APC are exchanging allegations of Boko Haram instead of them to come together to fight a common foe. How can they be making reckless statements about Boko Haram without substantiating? Probably after spending sometime in Nigeria, Davis also felt he could make reckless statements and get away with it since no one ever holds anybody accountable.”

As the 2015 general elections approach, political observers say the Boko Haram insurgency could determine who emerges as the next President of Nigeria. In fact, the ultimatum given to the President by the Northern Elders Forum that if he cannot rescue the Chibok girls before October, he should not seek a second term, is a pointer to the notion that the issue of insecurity could be used as a shovel to either dig Jonathan’s political grave should he fail; or as a ladder to climb back into Aso Rock, should he succeed.