Northern elders’ misguided salvo

News By Punch

IN a country where the level of insecurity and political tension continue to reach unprecedented heights, the stated resolve of the Northern Elders Forum to press criminal charges against the former Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, for alleged acts of extrajudicial killings committed by his men, can only drive the country further down the path of uncertainty.

As the military and other security personnel put their lives on the line to protect the territorial integrity of the country, it should not be asking for too much to expect, in return, the support and goodwill of all right-thinking Nigerians. But this does not seem to be the case now; if the NEF should have its partisan way, the soldiers should not only be denied the love, support and goodwill of fellow Nigerians, but should be hurled before an international judicial body to give account of their actions while in the service of their fatherland. These are perilous times for members of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

The NEF – as the name implies, a group made up of some northern elders – last week threatened to drag the newly-retired Army chief, and six other unnamed persons, before the International Criminal Court of Justice at The Hague, for alleged war crimes in Borno state. According to the elders, reports at their disposal indicate that, in fighting the terror war in Borno, there was evidence of “extrajudicial killings by soldiers in Bama and the act of strangulating civilians in Giwa Barracks, using an underground detention centre, while depositing the corpses in hospitals.” The spokesman for the elders, Ango Abdullahi, said two committees of experts set up by the forum produced the reports for which Ihejirika, as the head of the Army, deserved to be nailed for vicarious liability.

This is not only an unwanted distraction but is also capable of having a demoralising effect on the soldiers. At a time when all hands should be on deck to bring about a permanent solution to the bloodletting in the North-Eastern part of the country, a group of elders should not be stoking divisive sentiments. It is actually a continuation of the politicisation of the crisis that has made it difficult to end the reign of terror in the North-Eastern states. It is sectional and provocative.

For instance, it has been estimated that since the Boko Haram insurgency started in 2009, the Islamist terrorists have killed over 5,000 people, including women and children. This is a group that, on more than two occasions, invaded hostels and slaughtered students in their sleep. These are terrorists, who have shunned conciliatory efforts of the government, including an offer of amnesty. They have invaded examination halls and killed teachers and students.

Yet, how many times have these same elders condemned the Boko Haram atrocities? Instead, every new atrocity is an opportunity for them to jockey for position and power. Before the state of emergency was declared last year, in Borno State, the terror group had seized hold of some local government areas and even hoisted its flags there. What has been the contribution of the NEF to ending the insurgency? Last year’s Human Rights Watch report on Nigeria stated clearly that Boko Haram, which has not hidden its intention to foist Sharia, the Islamic code of governance, on Nigeria, was more guilty of human rights abuse.

It is this same attitude of looking the other way when radicalised Islamists were gaining ascendancy in the country that paved the way for the emergence of Boko Haram in the first place. If these same elders had taken steps to stop the unnecessary killings of innocent persons that had taken place in the North in the past 30 years, maybe Boko Haram would not have been able to fester today. When Gideon Akaluka was killed and his head spiked and paraded round Kano, how many people were arrested, prosecuted or jailed? When a female teacher in Gombe, Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin, was lynched in broad daylight by her own students, what did NEF do to bring the murderers to book? When crazed bands of fanatics rampaged through Kano, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Zaria, Katsina and Bauchi at various times from 1986 and beyond, slaughtering hundreds, where were these elders? These were the foundations laid yesterday for the Boko Haram of today.

In other parts of the world, when there is a common threat to their survival, people rally together, regardless of their political and religious differences, to defend the national interest. Not so in Nigeria, where people are quick to identify with ethnic and religious affiliations at the expense of the state. Rather than try to discredit soldiers who are being put to the sword on a daily basis, the NEF, like the elders that they claim to be, should be preoccupied with how to end insecurity in the North by ensuring that the evil ideology underpinning it is thoroughly discredited.