As you read this piece today, the President of the Federation had sent a request for the extension of the State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States. For us, that means another six months under a curfew regime, Military check-points and increased expenditure on security. We have to endure a number of hardships such as delays in travelling times, reduction in the time available for our economic activities and greater emphasis on security rather than development.
Let me state right from the on-set that for us in Adamawa State, all the conditions necessary for a State of Emergency as spelt out in the Constitution of the Federal Republic do not apply. And even when the President of the Federation spoke about it in his media chat a few weeks back, all he said were that the State of Emergency gives the Military the Leeway to operate outside the laws that protect citizen’s liberties. One feels sad that a democratic government will curtail liberties by infringing on the Constitution which gives the whole process legitimacy.
Unfortunately the propaganda machine of the Federal Government is so sharp that people are taken on the glaring illegality without many questions. But our people should be made to realize that more people have been killed in Nyanya Abuja than in the whole of Adamawa State in the past one year. More people were also killed within the last one year in Plateau, Nasarawa and Kaduna States than in Adamawa State. This is not due to the presence of a State of Emergency, but rather an indication that the State of Emergency imposed on Adamawa State was and still is essentially political.
As a matter of fact, the celebrated Kirchinga, Shuwa and Michika attacks succeeded because the corridor established by the Military along Adamawa Borno boarder did not function effectively. If the security forces had effectively repelled the attack, we would have celebrated it as one of the gains of the Emergency Rule. But Alas, it did not happen. The attack took place and our people bore the brunt. The abduction of the Chibok girls happened under the watchful eyes of the Managers of our State of Emergency. Yet it is left for Foreigners to blame our Federal Government. The propaganda machine keeps telling us that they are winning the war on insurgency.
Rather than talk about changes in strategy, the Government is relying on the imposition of another State of Emergency for another six months as the winning strategy. We believe that the motive may move from addressing the insurgency to denying us the right to vote in 2015. The signs are already there. One more extension and the election period will fall within the State of Emergency period. But we know there is God. There is God WO! There is God to judge whether we deserve the machinations against us or not. We believe God will hear the cry of the innocent and intervene. Those responsible for the insurgency will be exposed and eliminated by God. Those who want to use the insurgency to achieve some selfish political ends will equally be exposed by God, because there is God Wo!
We have continued to watch the theatre of the absurd with all the comic relief taking place in Abuja not as disinterested by standers but as victims of it’s all consuming power. There is no doubt that we have an intellectual vacancy in the corridors of power in Abuja. Where there is an intellectual deficit in a system sentiments and political convenience take over. In spite of the menace and evil in the insurgency, we believe politics and political considerations are at the heart of the imposition of Emergency Rule in Adamawa State. But then we have to live with it hoping that reason will one day prevail and that the plan to stop the elections in our state will not see the light of the day.
#BRING BACK OUR GIRLS
One does not know whether to be sad or happy that foreigners are now at the forefront of the rescue efforts to bring back our girls. I am sad because the girls are still in captivity. Sad because they have been shown on video which is the final proof needed for all the doubting Thomases. Sad because such doubts had been expressed at the highest level of our Government. It has just come to my notice as I write this piece that one of the President’s side-kicks, Asari Dokubo has launched a campaign to oppose the Bring Back the Girls Movement claiming that the girls were not abducted. That is another clear indication that our Rulers in Abuja are not in tune with our own realities.
But I am happy that the combined efforts of security forces from all over the world will eventually subdue the insurgency and overcome the challenges. This is not the first time we have been treated this way by the foreigners. After we have suffered and sacrificed our soldiers in Sera-Leone, suddenly and overnight the British came, ended the madness and took the credit. This may yet happen here in Nigeria. The Foreigners on our soil may be the ones to end the Insurgency, and then we shall be told our forces had failed when in reality that is not the case. Our Forces did not fail, but our political leadership had failed. We have failed to protect our kids, we have failed to recover our stolen kids and worst of all we have failed to accept the reality of their conditions as captives.
When I consider that several of our gallant forces have lost their lives to these insurgents I feel bad. Yet, it is worst when these foreign guys simply walk in and take credit for ending what should have ended long ago given the political will on the part of our leadership. From the pictures we saw on the video of the girls recently released, the insurgents are operating within an open terrain. A terrain that could be located quite easily. Unfortunately the credit for ending the insurgency may go to the Foreigners, while the brunt will be borne by our forces and security details. We pray that whoever takes the credit, let our girls return safe and alive to the warn embrace of their parents. We pray that the blood shedding (Not sharing) will come to an end. We pray that the insurgency will end. That is our pray because we strongly believe that “There is God Wo!”
Ahmad I Sajoh wrote from Dougerei Jimeta – Yola.
