The killings of 43 Yobe school children in the early mornings of Tuesday 25th Feb 2014 has come as a very real injury to the hearts of every peace loving Nigerian given the fact that Nigeria has seen near uncountable and gruesome incidence in the hands of this cowards where the very unfortunate residents of the North eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and kebbi continue to suffer loss of lives, properties and means of livelihood.
The death of this ambitious young people who defiled the real threat of BH to pursue their dreams by geting education is really very unfortunate and I join all well meaning Nigerians to pray for the families affected and their loved ones for divine fortitude to bear the loss!
Its no doubt that we have an election season ahead and as such we expect various strategies by the political class to gain upper hand in the minds of the electorates but some happenings clearly go beyond the whimsical and rambunctious swash buckling that characterizes politics anywhere in the world.
Its a pity that the issue at hand which calls for sober reflection and remorseful evaluation of what the long term solutions to this challenges of security poses to us as a nation, All we get to read are twitter handles of Trojans like Omojuwa, Elrufai and Ayourb using this as another opportunity to slander the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I humbly appeal to every one of us citizens of this great country especially the twitter warriors of the political opposition in Nigeria to emulate leading democracies of this world by rallying round our troops in North Eastern Nigerian confrontation with Boko Haram irrespective of their mistakes, action and inactions? Anytime their is a war situation, there are collateral damages and the bidy counts are even worse when the rules of combat and military engagement is never going to be followed by the Boko Haram sect.
These military guys have families and they are just circumstantial players in this war on terrorism, Many of them are muslims but forced to take very difficult decision is the uncertain line of fire from a faceless enemy who adopt the most undetectable guises and operate in the most un-conventional rules of engagement. They may make some unpopular decisions and even some mistakes but they are there because of all of us and their success is our safety and ability to sleep again with two eyes closed.
In America, They easily forgive war mistakes by their troops and rally round them evern when they engage in unfair tactics of war in places like Afghanistan and PAkistan. Its a very difficult task when you fight an unknown and dangerously equipped enemy heavily loaded with Narco-terrorist funding from Libya, Al-Qaeda, Mali and even local political interests & still have to spend useful strategic planning time to do public relations to the people who should ordinarily understand the uncommon challenges been faced at the battle front. Our troops in Bama and other parts of this war really deserve a better from me and every other Nigerian.
A university friend of mine posted on his twitter handle that the solution of the Boko Haram menace lies with the governors of the North working together and I just laughed & wondered why people never learn from history. How can we believe the governors of the north can solve Boko Haram when their actions and inactions really brought us into this mess in the first place. If they had the solutions, the FGN never really needed to declare states of emergency as a remedy when the local and state governments where over ran by the rampaging forces of the evil terrorists.
Another major worry is that majority of the good citizens and twitter warrior who chastize GEJ with scorpion like messages and tweets will never offer one single time based objective and realistic solution to the Boko haram menace.
The Other day I has an engagement with Nigeria's rabble rouser number 1, Femi Fani Kayode on twitter and he very quickly insulted me for asking him to propose some fresh insight into how he beleives the government can resolve the BH Imbroglio. This is really very worrying that people who criticize every single approach of the President cannot fathom a better plan to put forward? Is this how they will defeat BH when they take over the reins of power? On Twitter? On Facebook? In company of defecting and noisy governors? on The various propaganda media channels? On the front pages of national Newspapers? In Boudillion Avenue? On Sahara reporter?Why slander GEJ? Why slander the members of the Nigerian Armed Forces fighting to stem this tide of terrorism? Are the soldiers fighting for GEJ or for Nigerians? If the Forces of BH over-run the Nigerian troops, who looses? Are the troops not husbands, Fathers, Uncles to regular everyday Nigerians like us? Why do we chastise every single mistake they maske? Who ever said fighting terrorism was an easy task? Why do you think America is pulling out of Afghanistan after over 10 years of fruitless war with best drone technology, loss of thousands of troops and billions of dollars? Do we know where the real Boko Haram maybe...I am noto sure but dont be surprised if the Governors of the North East end up knowing more than they are telling us today. Can we guarantee this will not be a replica of the Osama Bin Laden found near the Military base in Karachi very close to the government of the day in that city state., Near the government houses where this governors you are asking to solve the problems sit.
Rallying round our troops is a first morale booster they need to stand in harms way on our behalf and win the war, Lets start fund raisers for them, Take care of the children of allof them that loose their lives in battle, guarantee them exceptional priviledges upon disengagement from the force e.t.c. I equally beleive we need a lot technology in the war against BH than coventional weaponry, Have we considered planting highly paid spies in the midst of the terrorists to gather intelligence to create mutiny from within their camps, Have we considered reviewing the bank accounts of transactions in the north East with special tracking for irregular fund movements? Have we considered selling maximum liters of fuel selleable to cars in the entire north east and only to registered drivers with ID in Borno, Kebbi & Adamawa states to cripple the Logistics capability of these terrorist? Ideas. Ideas. Ideas.
This is a war of terror on all Nigerians and not just the inhabitants of the North Eastern Nigerian even though they are in the face of it with direct impact, But as an Igbo adage says: When one finger touches plam oil, it goes round to all the fingers. This BH war is a Nigerian war and so please help me ask the @Omojuwas and @Ayourb of this world to propose real time based practical solutions to tackling BH and lets see whether govt will implement it or not!
I HUMBLY SUBMIT THUS, NIGERIANS IRRESPECTIVE OF RACE, RELIGION, COLOUR AND POLITICS MUST RALLY ROUND OUR TROOPS, THEY ARE NOT FIGHTING TO SAVE GEJ, THEY ARE FIGHTING TO SAVE ALL OF US FROM THIS COMMON ENEMY...BOKO HARAM
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Joseph Onuorah is a Grassroot activist from Anambra state, Lived 23 years in Zaria, Proud father of Maximus and Residing in Lagos Nigeria, Tweets from @JosephOnuorah
