"I perceive the motivations as highly political, rather than religious."
Written by Kingsley Ogbeide-Ihama Monday, 07 November 2011
Quite frankly, the atrocious activities of the Boko Haram have reached a horrendous scale. As it is our tradition for events to attain such dimension before they can be worthy of national concern, we can now begin to discuss how to give the troubled spots the treatment they deserve.
Years back, I read a book entitiled “Want to stay alive?” by James Hadley Chase. The antagonist was a fellow, who had the means of making the rich respond to his demands. He referred to his means as “the formula for fear” which he deployed; knowing that “Fear is the key that unlocks the wallets and handbags of the rich” Truly, without being equivocal, “Fear” is a very potent instrument in eliciting attention.
Sadly too, this is the only pattern that gets the attention of Nigeria’s ruling class. It was only sometime ago, when members of the National Assembly were putting questions to the ministerial nominees that we saw what seem like concern for the average Nigerian, who can hardly afford the kerosene with which he cooks his daily meals. But if it had come to the knowledge of the ruling class, that kerosene was an essential product in manufacturing the explosives used by the Boko Haram, only then would mobile policemen and indeed the soldiers, had been drafted to escort each tanker load of kerosene to the bedroom of Nigerians.
In my assessment of members of Boko Haram that have been shown on television and pages of our newspapers, it would seem that their avowed protestation against western civilisation or culture is misplaced; for I see some wearing tracksuits, shirts and trousers, or even traditional attires that are sewn with sewing machines, which are products of Western civilisation. Moreover, it is also explicit that the torchlight, motorbikes, cars and explosives the Boko Haram members deploy are all products of Western civilisation. Conceptualising all of these, I perceive the motivations as highly political, rather than religious.
This brings us to the focus of the subtitle, “Boko Haram: Another parallel ambition” It should at this point be noted that for a long time, the agitations of the people of Niger Delta were considered evil by the then ruling class. In fact, most of the trail blazers in the demand for the economic and social freedoms of the Niger Delta people, were sent to their early graves through trump up charges of treasonable felony; remember the slain Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other Ogoni freedom fighters.
The continued sustenance of that agitation was not fueled by the peoples’ likeness for trouble-making or the audacious demand for resource control, but rather, it was hinged on the gradual understanding that no recourse would be meaningful, except the one that threatens the peace of the ruling class. This was further reverberated by a clear and understandable will to survive, which the youth mustered into a determined force, administering “the formula for fear”.
We can hereabout present a catalogue of the many issues that ought to elicit a national concern, but unfortunately, it is the ones which employ “the formula for fear” that get attention. This is what the members of Boko Haram have come to adopt. Presupposing the Niger Delta only got attended to after they became violent.
In considering a negotiation with members of the Boko Haram, it would be tilted towards addressing the case of massive unemployment in the northern part of Nigeria. The youths should be trained and provided jobs. Moreover, for some, who believe is it sinful to have any person outside northern extraction, ruling Nigeria, and are willing to break up the country than to continue in such a “Sin” the Boko Haram is coming as a perfect shield for their personal intentions and would prefer the evil party to last long, or they would avail the opportunity for a negotiation with the Boko Haram to throw in their personal pursuit.
Ogbeide-Ihama can be reached via mustardaffairs@yahoo.com
We know the use of the fear formula manifests in many ways, some in horrendous violence, others, more subtle, in divisive violent words.
Be careful of cars when crossing the road, is cool, but too many uses of the fear factor suck.
See also .. excerpt
How much of Britain’s national budget goes on parliament? In Nigeria 25 percent of the budget is spent on MPs, the workings of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The members have voted themselves $1 million a year each in salaries and allowances, and on top of that almost all of them use their positions to make money by taking backhanders to fix contracts or block reforms. In the last three years the senate has passed only seven bills, three of them finances bills, which are necessary to pay their grotesque salaries and perks. It makes the British parliament’s recent expenses scandal look like children’s pocket money. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=62174005
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