Nigeria, Boko Haram and Amnesty

Reading they say delightfully refresh the mind. I never thought of writing this piece until I read the piece written by a father and mentor Femi Adesina on the 26^th of April Tiltled “ I could Have been a suicide Bomber”.

No doubt, the piece is an interesting and educating one. Here are some interesting part of the write up….” In short, where you are born is some sort of biological accident, as you have nothing to do with it. I was born to a father who was a school principal, and mother who was also a schoolteacher.

So, I had no choice than to go to school, and very early too. At nine years old, I was out of primary school, out of secondary by 14, and a graduate at 20. But nothing to gloat about.

These were all due to biological accident, as I didn’t choose the family to be born into. I could have been son to a shoeless fisherman in Otuoke, a cattle rearer in Daura, or a subsistence farmer in Barkin-Ladi. No man chooses the family, or the environment into which he is born.

I was born to parents who are Christians, good Catholics. I was even named Victor on the eighth day, by our parish priest. But did that make me a Christian?

No. I did not become one till 23 years later, when I voluntarily decided to repent of my sins, and start walking with Jesus Christ as my saviour. That one, I had something to do with. It was a free, personal decision.

Why have I inflicted this short autobiography on you? Simply to show that one has nothing to do with one’s early station in life, the family you get born into, your fortunes or misfortunes. The higher powers determine that.”  All what Mr Femi Adesina  said here as the intro to his write up is nothing but the truth.

In furtherance to this, I will also quote another interesting part of the article where he says “The Goodluck Jonathan administration responded to the Boko Haram challenge as it should have: force of arms. But three years down the line that option has not worked. It would then be foolhardy to maintain the same course that is leading nowhere.

For me, I think the president did well by capitulating to the dialogue and amnesty option, considering that a couple of weeks ago, he was still boasting in Borno that you do not give amnesty to ghosts.

Setting up and inaugurating the amnesty committee, no matter what anybody says, is a step forward in engendering peace in the country. Those who oppose amnesty have their reasons. Good reasons. But which of those reasons equals to the blood of one innocent soul sent to a premature eternity?

And those people should pause and think: if they had been born in another part of the country, grew up in poverty and deprivation, had little or no education, and then came in contact with people who indoctrinated them into the values of martyrdom, would they not have become suicide bombers?

When you have no stake in society, you then have no interest in protecting the equilibrium and tranquility of that society. Given a change of background and circumstance, those opposing amnesty today could themselves have been the suicide bombers. I could have been a suicide bomber.

You could have been one. Only grace, and nothing but grace, steered us in other directions. Look at this country. Look at the inequities, the iniquities, the barefaced stealing, and the corruption. Don’t you get angry to the point of wishing we had shot some people to ribbons like J.J. Rawlings did in Ghana?

I know you feel that way. Then, it means you could have been a suicide bomber. The same emotion that iniquity and inequity invokes in you, is the same invoked in the person who submits himself to suicide bombing.

The suicide bomber has been misled, misguided, brainwashed. But we will not only seek peace with him, we must pursue it, since we have not been able to beat him down.

Boko Haram does not want amnesty. Its leadership says they are the ones who should rather give the government amnesty. Good. Whether government gives them amnesty, or they are the ones giving amnesty to government, one thing is sure: amnesty is a good way to go, as long as it will bring lasting peace. We are tired of the booming of bombs.

We are fed up with gory tales day after day. We are tired of carnage in Kano, in Madalla, in Damaturu, in Baga. No baga should tell us amnesty is not a way forward, otherwise we tell him to join the Nigerian Army, and lead the onslaught against Boko Haram. “

The question I expected Mr  Femi Adesina to ask the government and Nigerians on the issue of Boko Haram is what is the reason behind all the insurgency by this militant group. The Niger Delta militants stated there reason for all they did then, thought their demands has not be met and amnesty was given which logically show that the Niger delta militants will still one day pick up their weapons again. And I will like to disagree with Mr Femi on the fact that suicide bombers has been misled, misguided, brainwashed.

The fact remains that, these guys know what they want and believe that suicide bombing is the only means to achieve their aims as the Niger Delta used Kidnapping of expatriate and destruction of oil rigs  to get government attention

A rat they say cannot fall from the ceiling without a cause, BH cannot be doing what they have been doing all this while without a reason. Why not the government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan ask the BH why all the killings of innocent soul and don’t let us assume this is what they want.

To me, amnesty is not the next thing or the solution to the BH issue. The government or the northerners should demand from them what they want. if it is what the government can do, let her do it and if it is not, then we should all think of a lasting solution to the problem.

Niger delta militant was given amnesty that cost the nation billions of dollars, now we want to give BH amnesty. How much will that cost if at all they agree with the amnesty? And we should be expecting after BH a militant group from the Yoruba tribe too, considering how much the amnesty will cost us. I want to add to my disposition here that the best of the militant group is yet to emerge ‘unemployed Nigeria graduates’ believe me or not this set of militant group will finish Nigeria when they finally surface. If uneducated Niger Delta and BH can hold the nation to ransom, what do you think of the Educated and vibrant Nigerian youth?   

Let our leader think right and stop putting the round peg in a square hole. Poverty is the cause of our entire problem, Nigerian leaders should think of how to eradicate it so that an average Nigerian can have access to at least two meals a day. The money spent on amnesty can create jobs for millions of unemployed Nigerians. An Idle hand is devil’s workshop.