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Features: NORTHERN ELDERS FORUM AND BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY

In the African Socio-cultural milieu, elders occupy positions of honour nurtured by wisdom and experience.

As repositories of the culture and tradition of the people, they are often revered especially by the youth who yearn to drink from their fountain of eternal wisdom in their search for direction in an otherwise treacherous world. In the days of yore, elders are economical with words to the point of taciturnity. When the elder speaks, his words are weighty and command enormous power respect and influence. These are unusual times in our clime. Elders are now living in denial of their highly respected positions and like the brash youth are ready to fight bare knuckles. What we are witnessing today is not only the bastardization of this concept but also the desecration of this rarified cadre by pretenders who perceive themselves as the new agents of history.

 

 

In times of grave national crisis, it is the vicarious responsibility of all true patriots and statesmen to rise up in unison, above all primordial sentiments to nip the problem(s) in matter in the bud before it gets out of control to inflict anarchy on the land. This is why we view with increasing trepidation, the inflammatory statements, and reactions reactionary positions of the Northern Elders Forum on issues of national importance. As elders with membership made up accomplished Nigerians, the position of respect they command comes with corresponding responsibility. Nigerians expect them to react with restraint to sensitize national issues. Unfortunately, members of the Northern Elders Forum are only elders in name and nothing more. Rather than voices of restraint and moderation these   strange crop of elders have thrown caution to the wind in reaction to the threat to the unity of the nation by a deadly insurgency. Goaded by their hallucinatory obsession for power, the forum recently, castigated president Goodluck Jonathan for the declaration of the state of emergency in Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa States. The spokesman of the forum and former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Ango Abdullahi, during a courtesy call on the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, said the north had the population to reclaim power in 2015.

 

 

 

It is sad but instructive that at a critical point in our national life when fear stalks the land  and the blood of innocents are being spilt on the streets across the nation, the Northern Elders Forum is desperate to reclaim power at all costs. It is tragic that at a time when the pre-occupation of patriots is how to reverse the ugly trend of fear, unbridled violence and bloodshed, the forum is trading bellicose comments. Rather they push forward and canvass alternative viewpoint and road map on how to curb the insurgency, the forum is gloating and celebrating the violence that has taken over the northeast and fast threatening to spread across northern Nigeria. In their own estimation, President Goodluck Jonathan remains the greatest stumbling block to the realization of the northern agenda of reclaiming the presidency and must be vilified. Given this mindset, the forum rail against the Jonathan administration as  a monumental failure and every step should be taken to deny him a second term. The contradictions that threw up Boko Haram insurgency cannot by any stretch of imagination be blamed on the Jonathan presidency. Grinding poverty, shrinking opportunities and mass unemployment are the direct consequences of failure of leadership especially in  north  dating back to our flag independence in 1960. It is these  formidable  and intractable  problems that the Jonathan presidency inherited and has been grappling with since its emergence in 2011. It would be premature to prejudge the performance of the present administration since it is yet to run its full course. The judgment of history is inevitable and will be defined by the impact of the policies, actions and decisions taken by our leaders to confront the formidable challenges of our nationhood. Nigeria in the 21st century is not immune from the economic challenges buffeting the global economy. Clear, pragmatic, visionary palliatives, even if  they are bitter are needed to put the economy on track for economic prosperity  of the citizenry.

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The Northern Elders Forum have displayed and demonstrated heightened ethnic saliency and lack of patriotism in pursuit of its  selfish agenda.  While we concede that It is the unalienable right of the North and other ethnic nationalities to pursue the highest office in the land,  to foist violence and bloodshed on the nation in pursuit of this ambition is unacceptable and should prick the conscience of all citizens . Instead of dissipating energy  attacking President Jonathan for the declaration of the State of Emergency, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) should mobilize all their resources to bring an end to this affront against our collective interest. A vote for the State of emergency represent the boldest attempt yet by the present administration to confront this deadly insurgency. No principled government worth its salt will fold its arms and allow the dismemberment of the nation. President Jonathan has demonstrated unbridled dynamism in his handling of the Boko Haram challenge. Despite the criminality of the maiming and killing of defenseless and peace loving citizens, the Jonathan presidency demonstrated uncommon restraint in its hitherto measured response to this potent threat to the state.

 

 

 

It is strange,   and unpatriotic  for the forum to rise up in routine defence of the Boko Haram each time government wants to deal with them.It is not unusual that it   did not see anything wrong in the arrogant repudiation of the dialogue and amnesty extended to them by the Federal Government. The pillage, bringandage, bloodshed and the forceful seizure of some local governments in Borno State are treasonable offences which all true patriots should condemn without equivocation. Despite all the killings, destruction and ethnic cleansing by Boko Haram, the Northern Elders Forum is not on record of condemning their unconscionable actions.  The forum have not sympathized with the families who have lost their loved ones to this bloody insurrection. The glorification of violence as a subterfuge to achieve a narrow selfish agenda is not only morally reprehensible but unacceptable . It goes against the tenet and grand norm of  civilized conduct. If President Jonathan folds his arms as the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) wants while the deadly insurgency gathers unassailable steam, they may as well wake up to the reality that there may be no Nigeria for them to administer 2015.

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The forum is operating under two grand illusions; the mythical numerical advantage of the North and the North as a monolithic entity. These two assumptions will not necessarily be pivotal to the outcome of the 2015 presidential elections. The grand concept of a monolithic indivisible North who will always deliver votes to a Northern candidate is not only farce but a myth sustained by Northern irredentists to maintain their undue advantage in the political equation. President Jonathan who many political foes had underestimated to their own peril shattered this myth in the 2011 presidential elections. In that landmark election, president Jonathan trounced Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, the candidate of the North on his way to an electoral landslide. The ruthless and bloody Boko Haram campaign prosecuted along ethno-religious lines has made northern Christians an endangered stock and further alienated them. Given their systematic annihilation by Boko Haram, and the revulsion and bad blood it has bred,  it is wishful thinking for any pundit to believe that the North will deliver a bloc vote to any  candidate it puts forward in 2015 presidential election. The monolithic north, the fancy contraption of those who want to hold on to power in perpetuity is an illusion and will remain so for years to come. The North is made of different ethnic groups, and minorities  with varied interests. The monopoly of power by the North for the greater part of our nationhood has not translated into any tangible benefit for the common man in the North. The failure of leadership to impact meaningfully on ordinary northerners have alienated the northern political elite from the people. It will be a herculean task for the embattled northern political elite to re-build this  ruptured relationship.

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The divisive politics of hate, divide and rule which the Northern Elders Forum has come to embody is not only primitive but a historical anachronism which has no place in our contemporary society. Champion of ethnic causes wherever they are, constitute a major threat to national unity and cohesion  and should in national interest, be consigned to the dustbin of history. The time has come and gone when a cabal held power in the north to further their personal interest at the expense of the citizenry.

 

 

 

 
 

 

Monday Ashibogwu

Monday Michaels Ashibogwu is Editor-In-Chief of QUICK NEWS AFRICA, one of Nigeria's leading online news service.

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