NAIJA no go "kee" person. I came across a facebook post by Nasir El-Rufai about 8-9 hours ago where he stated that he had listened to Australian negotiator Stephen Davis tell Arise TV that the former Borno state governor Sheriff and the immediate past Army chief Ihejirika were established sponsors of the terrorist group Boko Haram. I was stunned for a moment because I didn't see any link attached to the post and didn't quite know too much about the credibility of the Arise network. El Rufai's post had already been greeted by numerous likes, shares and comments majority of which were abuse and curses aimed at the gentleman for what some alleged as a blatant lie to cause undue agitation of the populace and chaos. Such onslaught on the man's facebook wall is not unusual with many individuals from predominantly opposing tribes and ethnic groups hurling obscenities at him irrespective of whether he posted about Manchester United, Goodluck Jonathan or the unfortunate loss of his children.
I swung into google mode searching for proof of such allegation and could not find any even on the Arise TV link I found. I spent some minutes watching the past bulletin of the network and the closest thing to Nigerian terrorism was a display and review of news of the front page of today's edition of the This Day newspaper which had a reference to a report on the Stephen Davis interview granted to ABC news yesterday. The newspaper reported that Stephen, 63 had risked his life for about 4 months in the Northeast of Nigeria and with the cooperation of the president to secure the release of kidnapped girls. He mentioned that some Nigerian politicians were responsible for funding the insurgents and needed to be stopped. Many of those who lambasted El-Rufai posted links to this report by the newspaper outfit and emphasized on the absence of any mention of names as alleged by the former minister. I wondered to myself how they continued to make reference to a link the wall owner didn't mention; he stated Arise TV not Thisday newspapers.
I searched and searched but no categorical links to the story. I returned to Facebook and suddenly the link I was searching for flashed before me on the wall of the very vocal Professor Pius Adesanmi; http://www.arise.tv/headline/arise-news-now-uk-28-08-8043 opened up Arise News Now UK and a 30 minutes clip dominated by a telephone conversation between the newscaster and the negotiator. The man is heard assuring the newscaster that he had no qualms naming the names of those he was certain were funding the militant sect. He spoke to great lengths about some meetings he had head-on with the sect members and the several active steps to reach a peace deal with them on behalf of the federal government including a failed retrieval of kidnapped Chibok girls previously negotiated for with Boko Haram. He blamed some politicians and some Northern stakeholders for sabotaging the deal and suggested that they had to be stopped before any meaningful resolution to the conflict could happen. When probed further, he wasted no time to mention the former governor Sheriff who he claimed defected to the ruling People's democratic party for refuge. Stephen Davis went on further to mention that the former army chief who was sacked in January was also a sponsor alongside Sheriff responsible for earmarking and designating targets for bombings and other dastardly acts against entire towns and motor parks. He also mentioned someone who had three nephews who lived in and planned terror acts within the confines of the accommodation that was provided by their uncle. He talked a great deal about disgruntled politicians who wanted to wrestle power from the incumbent.
Stephen Davis expressed great concern about the obvious lack of activity on the part of the Federal government to curb those it already knows as indigenous sponsors of terrorism and was more baffled at the failure of intelligence despite the well documented arrangements with the super powers as the French and the USA. He expressed his displeasure at how the Nigerian Military was forever blinded and ignorant of the movements of lengthy convoys of heavily armed militants who traveled for hours at times to get to their targets before leaving them razed and desolate but not without leaving with their loot of young females. He was astonished that a convoy of armed personnel carriers at times could not be spotted in an arid region where vision was possible for miles. He did not say the name Ihejirika but how anyone could brazenly contest the identity of the former army chief sacked in January is beyond me.
I decided to check out the opinions of Nigerians on the initial post put up by El-Rufai and was not surprised that he had posted the link to the interview granted today to back up his claim. Those who turned deaf eyes and blind ears to the new links were expectedly from the Southeast and South-South region predominantly. They kept abusing the man with one fellow even wishing him more deaths to his family. Some were headstrong and continued to make reference to the Thisday report and posted links to discredit the man or include the General Buhari in the equation. I personally do not regard This Day as credible because they have in recent years leaned towards the incumbent and one cannot forget their many meaningless music concerts and Award ceremonies. The one that got me on the edge was a link to a vanguard newspaper reported about General Ihejirika calling El-Rufai a Boko-Haram commander. I thought it was an old news until I clicked and found out that it was only recently uploaded following questions directed to the General and requests for his response to the allegation made by El-Rufai. I wonder if the vanguard reporter mentioned to him that there was supposed to be a television interview involved and that El-Rufai didn't use astrology to arrive at such charges. The man was reported to have gone on and on about how El-Rufai said this or did that. Should the man not be asked why it took a public calling out for him to heap a "commander of Boko Haram activities" on El-Rufai? Even if El-Rufai was neck-deep in terrorism, why did he not use all his power as Army chief to squash all involved or prosecuted even after leaving the Army?
The Emir of Kano spoke at a TedX gathering about "Vested Interests" in our nation's polity. Some people have been attributed sacred cow status, untouchable to the president and infallible to their many supporters at the expense of the Nigerian state. The more I observe the nation and its president, the more I think about the character called President Logan in the highly successful series "24". The more these conspiracies unfold daily, the more one thinks about how mediocre the plots of the series "Scandal" and "House of Cards" are compared to the great Nigeria. What saddens me the most is the "Prokaryotic" syndrome plaguing Nigerian youths characterized by severe atrophy of the higher centre, verbal diarrhea, bilateral hemianopia and bilateral paresis of the fingers resulting in failure to thrive internally despite a normal appearing body. This does not give any conviction that hope exists for Nigeria; however I choose to retain that dying ember and guard that "if only I could touch the hem of his garment" desperation to witness Nigeria redeemed from the jaws of her devourers both intrinsic and extrinsic. God speed Nigeria.
J Olee Akeju
28/29-Aug-2014
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