One would have expected them to completely do away with everything produced in the West and through western education, and focus rather on using bows and arrows and spears to battle Nigerians and the Nigerian authorities.
They should be using donkeys and horses for their transportation, not motor cars. And they should not be using GSM phones to talk, nor should they watch television or listen to the radio. They should learn to walk their talk and show in word and deed that they are against Western education in every conceivable way.
Yet deploying weapons made through Western technology, they struck on Christmas day. They succeeded in killing about 60 innocent persons who went to church to worship and who have never hurt Boko Haram in any way. The mangled bodies! The crying children! Families wiped out! This unconscionable deed did not bother Boko Haram at all as they promptly owned up to being responsible for the mayhem.
In the aftermath of this dastardly act, Nigerians fell over themselves to criticize Boko Haram and urged that they should be brought to book. That the long arms of the law should fish them out. They made a mistake there because the law in Nigeria has very short hands and seldom catches anything apart from pickpockets and motorists. So how are we going to bring Boko Haram to book? Okay, if the law has hands and it were that easy, how come they have not been brought to book up till now.
Or what do they think President Goodluck Jonathan has been doing all the while with law enforcement agents who are brave lads when Boko Haram is not in sight. Do you think he has only been robbing his good luck charm?
The truth of the matter is that President Goodluck appears to have run out of gas in luck and the good luck has now been contaminated by some bad luck. The security agents wait for Boko Haram to strike before they react. Things have fallen apart (apologies to Prof Chinua Achebe) and the centre can no more hold. Men and women are dying. Babies and the aged are not spared. Nigeria is in a state of siege. The only safe people who may not be targeted by Boko Haram are the mad men and women.
These all of remind me of the song:
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
That song written by Bob Dylan and released in the album, “The Freewheelin” in 1963 was ranked as the fourteenth greatest song of all times in Rolling Stone magazine and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Commenting on the meaning of the phrase, ‘Blowing in the wind’ someone described it as “impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind”. It was a protest song and it can fit comfortably into our situation.
For example, how many Nigerians must die before the Federal Government sees that the present security set up is not working? How many children must die before they can read and write at the hands of Boko Haram before we stop Boko Haram? How many times must President Jonathan hear of kidnappings, bombings and massacres before he restructures the police force? The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.
The Nigeria Police Force had its origin in the West African Frontiers Force, which was an army of occupation set up to beat restive West African communities into shape. That mentality still pervades the police force because, as you know, when the foundation is wrong, there is nothing the righteous can do. Add to this confusion the fact that we have a central policing system in a deeply divided country.
The policemen trying to stop Boko Haram cannot obtain the required intelligence from the populace, because the people who have the information do not trust them enough to put their confidence in them. The best option is to decentralize the police force and let each state of the federation have its own police force. And at the centre you have a National Investigation Bureau, which would function like the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. It would have the power to arrest the state police chiefs if they victimize anyone and to take over cases from them where those involved in such cases appeal to them.
That might be a slightly better idea than Senate President David Mark’s call for dialogue and for peace to be obtained at any price. Peace is a commitment and should not be obtained at any price. America could not have considered dialoguing with Al Qaeda – a terrorist organization. Negotiation through blackmail might prevent a war but it would not bring peace.
Culled from The Coversation of Angry Man (Daily Independent Nigeria)
They should be using donkeys and horses for their transportation, not motor cars. And they should not be using GSM phones to talk, nor should they watch television or listen to the radio. They should learn to walk their talk and show in word and deed that they are against Western education in every conceivable way.
Yet deploying weapons made through Western technology, they struck on Christmas day. They succeeded in killing about 60 innocent persons who went to church to worship and who have never hurt Boko Haram in any way. The mangled bodies! The crying children! Families wiped out! This unconscionable deed did not bother Boko Haram at all as they promptly owned up to being responsible for the mayhem.
In the aftermath of this dastardly act, Nigerians fell over themselves to criticize Boko Haram and urged that they should be brought to book. That the long arms of the law should fish them out. They made a mistake there because the law in Nigeria has very short hands and seldom catches anything apart from pickpockets and motorists. So how are we going to bring Boko Haram to book? Okay, if the law has hands and it were that easy, how come they have not been brought to book up till now.
Or what do they think President Goodluck Jonathan has been doing all the while with law enforcement agents who are brave lads when Boko Haram is not in sight. Do you think he has only been robbing his good luck charm?
The truth of the matter is that President Goodluck appears to have run out of gas in luck and the good luck has now been contaminated by some bad luck. The security agents wait for Boko Haram to strike before they react. Things have fallen apart (apologies to Prof Chinua Achebe) and the centre can no more hold. Men and women are dying. Babies and the aged are not spared. Nigeria is in a state of siege. The only safe people who may not be targeted by Boko Haram are the mad men and women.
These all of remind me of the song:
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
That song written by Bob Dylan and released in the album, “The Freewheelin” in 1963 was ranked as the fourteenth greatest song of all times in Rolling Stone magazine and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Commenting on the meaning of the phrase, ‘Blowing in the wind’ someone described it as “impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind”. It was a protest song and it can fit comfortably into our situation.
For example, how many Nigerians must die before the Federal Government sees that the present security set up is not working? How many children must die before they can read and write at the hands of Boko Haram before we stop Boko Haram? How many times must President Jonathan hear of kidnappings, bombings and massacres before he restructures the police force? The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.
The Nigeria Police Force had its origin in the West African Frontiers Force, which was an army of occupation set up to beat restive West African communities into shape. That mentality still pervades the police force because, as you know, when the foundation is wrong, there is nothing the righteous can do. Add to this confusion the fact that we have a central policing system in a deeply divided country.
The policemen trying to stop Boko Haram cannot obtain the required intelligence from the populace, because the people who have the information do not trust them enough to put their confidence in them. The best option is to decentralize the police force and let each state of the federation have its own police force. And at the centre you have a National Investigation Bureau, which would function like the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. It would have the power to arrest the state police chiefs if they victimize anyone and to take over cases from them where those involved in such cases appeal to them.
That might be a slightly better idea than Senate President David Mark’s call for dialogue and for peace to be obtained at any price. Peace is a commitment and should not be obtained at any price. America could not have considered dialoguing with Al Qaeda – a terrorist organization. Negotiation through blackmail might prevent a war but it would not bring peace.
Culled from The Coversation of Angry Man (Daily Independent Nigeria)
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