Ngala, Gamboru, Chibok, Michika, Bama. All these unfortunate places have one thing in common. They took Nigeria straight into the map that represents the global axis of evil. Who would have thought we will get to this point. A point where life has simply been redefined and we are daily assaulted by Islamic extremism. A time when the geographical structure of Nigeria is under threat, a point where opposition politicians have become so ghoulish as to exploit the trauma of religious extremism. Suddenly, we are like Somalia, like Afghanistan. We daily and constantly live under the specter of a Taliban life style. A nightmare of losing all those things I gained without threat of death. A life that might keep my daughters out of school, a prospect that, might upend the Nigeria we all knew and took for granted.
We are daily assaulted by news of inhumanity, unimaginable horror from the few people who escaped the atrocious imposition of Boko haram in the North of Nigeria. Women raped, mysteriously Christian girls abducted, boys forcefully conscripted into the army of the devil as child soldiers, older people clobbered to death and pregnant women disemboweled all in the name of Islam!!!.
As a woman and a mother, my concern level went a notch higher when the Islamists in Nigeria chose to pledge allegiance to the fiendish ISIS roiling the Middle East. Why will a few fringe elements expose Nigeria to the wrath of the Western world and the military? How I wish we nipped this madness in the bud when it first started. Our Northern political elites chose to politicize the response of government to the Islamic sect. They labeled it as a war against the North. Our former military dictator, General Muhammadu Buhari threatened hell and brimstone if these deranged Islamists were not treated with kid’s gloves. He could not rise above his ethnic irredentism to see the larger picture. The others in Arewa and outside of it were not far behind in their mischief. Besides, it was convenient for them at the beginning, after all Boko Haram was killing mostly Christians. That was until now, when their foot soldiers have grown beyond their scope of assignment. Suddenly, their boys have turned against them. They have since realized that these fringe Islamists are anti establishment and were going to overthrow the establishment and redefine the status quo with the murder of the Emir of Gwazo.
Even then, most Nigerians, especially those in the opposition are still in denial. They prefer to engage in flight of fancy rather than face the urgency of the Islamic revolution going in the North. They prefer t politicize the issue of Islamic extremism as long as they can paint President Jonathan black. It is not about President Jonathan. It is not about what we see as his competency or otherwise. It is about the fact that we are fighting a guerilla warfare intertwined with Islamic extremism. It is about the fact that we are fighting faceless, suicidal nihilists. There are few countries in the world with experience in fighting Islamic extremism. It is the new face of warfare and a threat to global peace. Except for Israel, I doubt if we can point to any country that has got a hang of fighting these ghosts as President Jonathan once called them. Indeed, guerillas are ghosts. They strike and melt into thin air. Only ghosts operate that way.
I think it is grossly mischievous for anyone to equate the activities of BH with President Jonathan. When. if at all has Nigeria ever fought an external war? Pretty much we have maintained a façade of peace within since the end of the civil war in 1970. As someone said on social media, our military became complacent, our armory outdated and the current political elite in the North grossly mischievous bordering on the irresponsible. Compare that to well armed guerillas with heavy funding from Quarta and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, we must commend our military for being able to stand the withering fire power of these Islamists elements with intent to Islamize Nigeria from the desert to the coast.
Time will tell how and when this madness will stop. Bosnia on my mind
By Victoria Amiebi Feboke
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