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To the families of Nigerians that lost
their lives in the dastardly bombing act
on October 1, 2010, I can only express
regrets that with unabashed abandon,
elders such as Adamu Ciroma and his
colleagues, under a nondescript
organization called NORTHERN POLITICAL
LEADERS FORUM, are exploiting their
misfortune and that of the nation to
make as much political capital as
possible.
I am a Tiv man from Benue State, who
happens to be a Nigerian by the
craftsmanship of the British. I am
called a Northerner by geographical
convenience. Accordingly, I shall open
my heart and speak advisedly on some
serious issues that have beset us as a
nation most lately. I appeal to the
reader to follow me carefully and
thoughtfully as I make reference to some
statements I have made in some previous
articles for elucidation.
I saw and wrote about what I saw in
November 2009 in an article entitled:
“On Yar’Adua’s Incapacitation, the
Constitution, and a Dream” the following
words:“It was Sunday night on November
22, 2009. I went to bed and had what you
may call an open vision or a dream.
Nigeria’s president at the time, Mr.
Umar Yar’Adua had died. I saw that Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice-President
assumed the position of President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. There was
uneasiness, particularly in the northern
part of Nigeria. In this dream, Dr.
Goodluck declined the request by the
North not to contest the presidential
elections in 2011. Then, the unease
turned to something inexplicably
dastardly.”The bomb blasts on October 1,
2010 and the near euphoric reaction by
people like Adamu Ciroma, the “Northern
Political Leaders Forum” and their
supporters did not come to me as a
surprise. But I know exactly how the
drama shall play out. Nigerians, we must
not forget so soon:
• When Boko Haram
struck in 2009, Ciroma and his “Northern
Political Leaders Forum” did not ask the
late president (Umar Yar’Adua) to
resign. When the leader of Boko Haram
was killed in the custody of Nigerian
security agents in an extra-judicial
manner, apparently to silence him in
order to protect his sponsors, Ciroma
and his collaborators did not ask
Yar’Adua to resign. How dare Ciroma and
his collaborators to insult the
intelligence of Nigerians!
• Repeatedly,
Nigerians have been butchered and killed
during “religious riots” in Northern
Nigeria, the latest and most recurring
being the Jos and Plateau State pogrom.
Ciroma and his group were silent and did
not ask President Yar’Adua, who was
president during the peak of the crisis
last year, to resign.
• I am sure Ciroma
was in Nigeria when the first act of
bombing was carried out in Nigeria under
the dictatorship of General Babangida,
when Dele Giwa was killed. I don’t know
if he called on the General to
resign.
• We have lived in
numerous crises orchestrated by the
generation of Adamu Ciroma; I am not
aware that Adamu Ciroma has reacted
passionately, calling on the president
or Head of State during those crises to
resign.
• Just recently, when
the late President Yar’Adua left the
country without a leader, and so in
crisis, it was people like Adamu Ciroma,
who threatened that nobody should remove
Yar’Adua. He has never shown any
interest in the preservation of this
country, Nigeria.
We know exactly what the generation of
Adamu Ciroma is trying to do. We know
what exploiters of the nation’s recent
misfortune are eager to accomplish. They
seek to sow seeds of discord and split
further the north and south. They seek
to cut off whatever remaining emotional
attachment between the north and south.
To what use is our education if we fail
to see through this? They want to
sustain the politics of divide that has
left our nation swooning. They delight
in holding the back of the mirror before
us and yet abusing us for our inability
to see our faces. They use religion to
separate us while by their acts and
utterances they show they aren’t
religious at all. But the end of the
present drama shall depend on how
President Jonathan handles issues. I
shall provide some insight into what he
can do and should do if Nigeria will
survive this latest onslaught:
• Avoid Distraction:
The end has definitely come for those
veterans of divide-and-rule politics.
President Jonathan should desist from
making further comments about the
on-going investigation into the bombings
of October 1, 2010 and allow his aides
and relevant security officials to
address us on the progress of the case.
The reason is simple; whatever he says
shall be misconstrued by professional
politicians who want to mock the nation
and distract from hunting down killers
of our patriots who innocently lost
their lives on October 1, 2010. Take,
for instance, his recent statement that
MEND did not bomb Abuja on October 1,
2010, but “terrorists” did. I listened
to him. He went further to say that
“terrorists” such as bombed Abuja and
engaged in kidnapping recently in
Nigeria committed such heinous acts, not
for any altruistic reasons such as the
liberation of the oppressed, but for
personal selfish gain. An objective
listener understood what the president
was saying, “Don’t hide under a group
such as MEND to commit criminal acts;
you are a terrorist, pure and simple.”
The question is, who is MEND that bombed
Abuja? Let us see his face. If
some criminals claiming to be MEND have
refused to show their faces, but rather
chosen to hide behind some
four-one-nine-like emails, and others,
who have been known to be MEND’s leaders
have publicly disassociated themselves
from the crime, then it is not difficult
to say MEND did not commit the act but
“terrorists” did. And once
investigations unearth sufficient
evidence, those individuals shall be
charged to court in their names and not
in the name of some faceless MEND. What
the president said was deep, but people
choose to hear what they may.
• Avoid deceit: In an
article, “Nigeria: Interpreting Times
And Events”, I warned, based on what I
saw at the time, that we were living in
a period of great deception; that the
mutually assured destruction of
politicians, who shall betray each other
leading up to the 2011 elections, shall
lead to the liberation of the good
people. I then warned that Jonathan was
not clean. If President Jonathan will
help himself and therefore, Nigeria, he
must not use any information at his
disposal, which should have been used to
free Nigeria, to rather score for
himself political points and blackmail
his political opponents. He must not
allow himself to be frightened from
taking decisive steps simply because
some people may impute wrong motives. If
he does, he is done for. The law must
strictly take its course, whosoever is
affected.
• Avoid destructions:
Why will the president go beyond the
INEC’s request for extension of time to
seek further amendments to the electoral
Act 2010, which shall allow his aides,
ministers, Ambassadors, Chairmen of
Boards of parastatals etc., to vote in
party indirect primaries? This is
exactly what I was wary about when I
wrote the article “INEC Should Stop This
Distraction and Confusion!”
President Jonathan must not shred any
existing laws for the immediacy of
self-service.
No zone or region of Nigeria presently
has a stable and strong leadership to
guarantee a convenient split-up of the
nation. I therefore, believe that should
Nigeria be forced to break up by the
provocations of elders such as Adamu
Ciroma, who have lost self-control, the
consequences of further break-ups shall
make every mile a country in the
aftermath. The North (of which I am a
member) has no right to decide who
should run for an elective office or
not. Besides, no man or woman, elder or
youth has the mandate to speak on behalf
of the North in the same way no man
presently (post-amnesty) can speak on
behalf of MEND. Ciroma and his “Northern
Elder Politicians Forum” do not speak
for me and many other Northerners. I
understand that Dr. Iorchiya Ayu, a
fellow Tiv man, is a top official of
that forum. He and all his colleagues in
that forum do not speak for Dr. Leonard
Shilgba and Northerners in general. And
I believe that given my training and
passion, I deserve to be heard and my
views deserve to be examined too. Ciroma
speaks for himself; and his group must
not arrogate to itself the
responsibility to speak on behalf of the
North. I will surely speak at the polls
just like any Northerner or Nigerian
from whatever region can do if they so
choose. When I reach out to cast my
vote, at that moment I have the power to
decide politically who shall govern me.
Enough of this nonsense! These are
people that have destroyed Nigeria, left
our children dying before they reach the
age of five; left the amajiris of the
North uneducated while they send their
children abroad and to expensive private
schools in Nigeria; left the north far
poorer than any region in this country;
left the north with horrible roads just
as in other regions of Nigeria; and left
our country with poor social services.
They cannot deceive northerners of my
generation, not with our education at
least, unless our degrees are as useless
as their arguments have been.
As I conclude, permit me to make some
profound assertions:
• There shall be no
military take-over of government in
Nigeria.
• Many politicians
will make a snare and fall inside. Some
shall pay with their lives. Stray arrows
shall get them.
• The mystery woven
shall be broken; the faces shall be
revealed. That is the task of President
Jonathan. If he deviates an inch from
the true rule of law, betrays
compassion, yields to pressure from
“Traditional rulers” and “stakeholders”,
he himself shall be consumed. Remember
King Saul. If you spare King Agag, the
throne shall be taken from you. I have
spoken. He that has an ear let him hear.
• I speak to King
Agag. Although you say in your foolish
haste, “Surely the bitterness of death
is past,” you are deluded. For you shall
be hewn down, even if not by the hands
of a disobedient President Jonathan. “As
your sword has made women childless, so
shall your mother be childless among
women.” You shall be blown up in pieces.
These are no ordinary times.
Dr Leonard Karshima Shilgba
Associate Professor of Mathematics
American University of Nigeria and
President of the Nigeria Rally Movement
(www.nigeriarally.org).
TEL: +234 (0) 8055024356
EMAIL: Shilgba@yahoo.com
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