By Oshiokpekhai
Utu-Orbih
It came with
great relief, reading the Press Statement by the Borno Elders Forum, demanding
an apology from ex-President Goodluck Jonathan “over the death of Borno State
residents” during the various Boko Haram attacks under his administration. I
was relieved because the first thing that came to my mind was that finally, the
war against Boko Haram was over. The bombings were over, there would be no more
death of innocent residents of Borno State. The federal government had been
able to either arrive at a ceasefire or perhaps, that the blood suckers have
been totally subdued, and it is time for stocktaking.
The Borno Elders
hinged their position on the fact that the government of President Jonathan did
not take seriously, the warning of Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State sometime
in 2014, that the Nigerian military lacked the required military equipment to
tackle the insurgents. The Borno Elders consequently demanded for a judicial enquiry
on why or how President Jonathan exposed their sons and daughters to such
terrorist harm. If his regime is found negligent, could be charged for genocide.
The group also demanded compensation for relations of those that died during
the reign of Boko Haram and an unreserved apology from the ex-President and his
service chiefs.
I would agree
with the Borno Elders on their demands, in fact, I do not see anything wrong
with an apology. But the point is, who is going to apologise to the victims and
families of the Suleja Christmas Day Bomb blast of 2011? who will apologise to
the victims and families of the UN House Bomb blast in Abuja of August 2011?
who will apologise for the hundreds that were killed in the Nyanya double bomb
blasts of April and May 2014?
The Borno Elders
inattentively refused to tell us who would apologise for the numerous bomb
blast that took place in Kano and had claimed hundreds of lives. My people, who
would be apologizing for hundreds of lives slain, burnt, shot by rampaging
Fulani Herdsmen in the Hills of Plateau and beyond in North Central Nigeria?
Will President Buhari apologise and face war crimes for over 500 Nigerians
killed by Boko Haram since May 29th 2015?
A further look
into the Nigerian rear view mirror reveals lots of apologies still waiting to
be rendered. In 1999, for instance, then President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the
Oputa Panel modelled after the South African Truth and Reconciliation
Commission. This Commission was meant to heal the wounds of the nation after
the end of the brutal dictatorship that lasted well over 15 years with the
death of General Sanni Abacha in 1998.The Oputa Panel was treated with disdain,
and Generals Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida scorned their invitations to appear
in that Panel. The report was eventually suppressed by General Babangida
through the Courts. The rest was confined to the dustbin of history. Who now
will apologise to the Ogoni people for the genocide carried out against them –
the brutal rape of their wives, mothers and daughters by a rampaging Army.
Nigerians are
still waiting for an apology over the brutal killing of Youth Corpers and well
over 800 innocent Nigerians, mostly of Southern extraction by the rampaging mob
instigated to violence after General Mohammed Buhari lost the Presidential
election in 2011. Till date, not a single word has come from Buhari,
acknowledging the evil that took place in the desperate pursuit for political
power. Who is going to apologise for those souls whose deaths were What is
however very noticeable in the press statement is the usual morbid silence by
the Bornu and Northern Elders in the condemnation of the hydra headed monster
that Boko Haram has become. The Bornu Elders lacked the guts to demand an
apology from Boko Haram over the thousands of innocent lives that have been
maimed, slaughtered and bombed since the insurgency took a monstrous dimension
in 2009. What we have seen in the past are songs of solidarity coming from very
unusual and scary elders of Northern Nigeria.
For example,
while speaking on a Liberty Radio Programme in June 2013, President Mohammed
Buhari had asked President Goodluck Jonathan to stop the clampdown on Boko
Haram insurgents, saying the Niger Delta militants were never killed nor had
their properties destroyed. According to Buhari, “what is responsible for the
security situation in the country is caused by the activities of Niger Delta
militants. Every Nigerian that is familiar with what is happening knows this.
The Niger Delta Militants started it all”.
In Buhari’s
words, The Boko Haram insurgency is the Northern response at grabbing power.
Even now he is fully settled in Aso Rock, is it not time for him to call his
“misguided brothers” to order? Is it not clear that President Buhari needs to
apologise to all Nigerians for providing the platform that inspired and instigated
the most deadly terrorist organisation in Africa, currently threatening to
displace ISIS as the world’s number one terror group?
In that same
interview, General Buhari went out of his way to make a case for Boko, and
rationalise the mayhem they had been unleashing on Nigerians. He continued “you
see in the case of the Niger Delta militants, the late President Umaru Musa
Yar’adua sent an aeroplane to bring them, he sat down with them and discussed
with them, they were cajoled and they were given money and granted amnesty.
They were trained in some skills and given employment, but the ones in the
North were being killed and their houses were being demolished.” One could only
imagine how many suicide bombers were inspired by Buhari’s statement. But
Buhari’s message was clear, and now as the president, he could as well send an
airplane to Maiduguri, bring them to Aso Rock, sit down with them, cajole them,
give them money and grant them amnesty. Nigerians simply cannot wait to see this
carnage come to an end since its aim has been established.
It is however
most uncharitable to compare the terror of Boko Haram to the agitation of the
Niger Delta millitants.Those who distorted the Nigerian state must apologise to
Nigerians. The military adventurists who threw Nigeria into an avoidable civil
war must apologise to all Nigerians. The framers and drafters of the draconian
Petroleum Act of 1969 which took away the God-given resources of the oil
bearing states for the purpose of prosecuting the civil war must apologise to
the people of the Niger Delta. The drafters of the 1979 Constitution who
deliberately refused to restore Nigeria to its true federal state must
apologise to all Nigerians. I am sure every Nigerian deserves one form of apology
from the Nigerian state.
President
Mohammed Buhari owes Nigerians an apology by words and actions for the next
four years. He owes Nigeria an apology for siding with and holding forth for
the military junta of late General Sanni Abacha. At the 10th anniversary of the
death of General Abacha in 2008, Buhari told the whole world that Abacha never
stole Nigeria’s money. As at the last count, over $1.3 Billion (Dollars) of
Abacha’s loot have been recovered and more to come. Yet, he would boldly talk
about his anti-corruption prospects. It is surely a Season of Oshiokpekhai
Utu-Orbih is an attorney, broadcaster and media consultant. He writes from
Houston, USA
