President Goodluck Jonathan abandoned all pretence to civility, and delivered a stinking rebuke to Borno leaders; to either stand up to the Boko Haram menace or shut up and allow the Joint Task Force (JTF) and other security agencies to protect people’s lives and property against Boko Haram insurgents in the state. A few hours after the President left Maiduguri, seven loud explosions within minutes of each other shook the city, and vindicated Jonathan’s resolve not to withdraw the security forces.
Apparently piqued by demands from the Borno Elders Forum (BOEF) that the soldiers be withdrawn from the streets, roads and public places, Jonathan in a rather defiant tone warned the forum, that included religious and traditional leaders that if the elders of Borno state were not ready to move against the Boko Haram insurgency and see it brought to an end then “they should be ready to live with the pains that it has created and perhaps forget issues of development…If you elders will not condemn it you will continue to suffer under the terror of Boko Haram because without peace, we cannot develop Borno,” the President said.
Jonathan handed down the warning Friday at a town hall meeting with stakeholders comprising top government officials, National and State Houses of Assembly members, and elders at the Multi-purpose Hall of Government House, Maiduguri. He said as President of the Republic, it was his responsibility to ensure the protection of lives and property Borno, insisting he would only withdraw the JTF from Borno if the elders are willing to enter into an agreement with the government to be held liable should there be any killing by the Boko Haram sect.
Stakeholders who spoke on the Boko Haram insurgency and how to end it included Prof. Mohammed Nur Alkali, who represented the elders; state Chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Baba Basharu; Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno, representing Marte/Monguno/Nganzai constituency, and Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno. They demanded amnesty for the sect, withdrawal of soldiers currently enforcing Operation Restore Order and institution of Marshall Plan, among others.
But Jonathan instead read the riot act, saying: “If the circumstances that brought the soldiers are no longer there, that day they will leave. The soldiers were not there in 2001, 2002, 2003, and up to 2009; and that was when the leader of Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf was killed… Government will not sit down quiet and wait for some people to take up arms in any part of this country.” He said this will never happen again, whether in the Niger Delta or any part of Nigeria.
One of the speakers, Prof. Nur Alkali, a former Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri said the crisis had brought untold hardship to the people of the state, “after government ordered the first bullet to be shot to nip the crisis in the bud.” Alkali said: “There is no one in the hall that has not lost a close relation or friends to the crisis. When a soldier is killed, there is retaliation with corpses littering the streets.”
He added that since the militants have come out to embrace dialogue and cease-fire, they should be embraced and encouraged, insisting: “There is no alternative to dialogue. And since they talked about peace, we should work towards it, though it may take some time to achieve.”
But miffed by the apparent indictment of the JTF, Jonathan said: “I am not comfortable with the way you spoke…I am not impressed with the way some spoke especially on the issue of bunkers. Do you think the federal government is comfortable paying the allowances of keeping soldiers here? This is no time to play to the gallery whether you are a politician or not. I am not comfortable. I have been very frank. Your conclusion is that there are so many bunkers in Borno State. Why did the bunkers come?”
The President said no one was interested in militarizing any part of the country especially Borno State, “but because the situation called for it.” He added that he was not happy seeing security men killed in any part of the country and agreed to continue the task of admonishing security men to conduct themselves professionally, but said no one should see the killing of a soldier as a cause for celebration. “It is wrong to feast on them or celebrate their killing for protecting the lives of Nigeria and keeping the country united.”
In his earlier remarks, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State said the task of unearthing the “ghosts Boko Haram” (a reference to Jonathan’s statement that the government cannot grant amnesty to a faceless group) is that of the government… The decisions a leader has to take are sometimes very tough. Most often, the leader (President) knows what others may not know and painfully sometimes, he is not at liberty to explain what he knows because what he knows may not be too good to know.”
