Whose instrument for political change is Boko Haram?
February 24 2018 By Abiodun Giwa
Many people are saying it is unbelievable that Boko Haram can still successfully kidnap 100 school girls in Nigeria over the latest news that the country has again been thrown into the dark and uncertainty about the whereabouts of over hundred girls kidnapped by Boko from a school in Dapchi, Yobe State, on Monday.
The world is still in grief over the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 girls in Chibok, with its misfortune to President Goodluck Jonathan into an unlucky fellow. And for students of literature and people with the knowledge of literature - a reminder of what the King Hrothgar suffered with Grendel’s attack on the Danes’ in ‘Beowulf’, before ‘Beowulf - the Swedish warrior’ killed Grendel and its mother.
But the Nigerian Grendel called Boko Haram thought to have been weakened by the Nigeria’s armed forces has shown it still has power to make life miserable for President Muhammed Buhari, just like it did to Goodluck Jonathan. Will the country’s Grendel throw spanners against Buhari’s reelection battle, a battle that had already started before the Boko Haram’s evil appearance in Dapchi?
President Buhari had admitted and described the attack and kidnapping of the girls in Dapchi as devastating in a statement sent to the media, after it became clear that efforts to conceal the truth of the kidnap by government officials only helped to embarrass the government with the truth revealing itself from different versions of the story presented by officials.
Many observers of politics in Nigeria say this is not a goodtime for Buhari, sincerely speaking. News reports show that Buhari had just told governors of the ruling party that he would soon talk about whether he intends to run for reelection, amid developments that show some former supporters unleashing harsh criticisms and appearing in opposition against his reelection. Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, two former military leaders like Buhari, have both announced their support for a third force against Buhari; Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 election, Tubde Bakare, said God told him to run for president, Oby Ezekwezili, former education minister in the Obasanjo’s PDP administration said she has formed a Red Card Movement and believes God will breath on her red card for a revolution, another political association is said to have been formed working to disenfranchise people over 60 years from running for president and governor (Buhari is 75) and a former speaker of the House of Representatives with no reputation to unloose Buhari’s shoes is said to be warming up for political office again, because he is about 50 years.
Just as Buhari may have been thinking of how he would counter the newly emerging opposition against his reelection, Boko Haram struck and hit him and the country, where it is very painful, and forcibly places him on the road hardly traveled – the road of uncertainty and misery. The road that Goodluck Jonathan found himself and his political opponents changed his name to bad luck and making people to say “What a bad week" last week is for Buhari for the world to hear that another set of girls have disappeared from their school and in the same region, from where the earlier kidnapped girls were taken away by Boko Haram.”
Now many Nigerians are saying that the successful attack and kidnapping of a new set of girls from their school may be the beginning of the end of Buhari. They are not saying it is the end, because they still see the powerlessness of the former lords of the People Democratic Party who are all now appearing in new apparels to want to take away power from Buhari formerly regarded as a Saint by many Nigerians, before disbelief sets in over seemingly unworkable economic model by Buhari’s government, the government’s inability to call cattle herdsmen to order over arrant endangerment of innocent lives in several parts of the country and what some of Buhari’s new critics call his government's high handedness and refusal to listen and follow democratic tenets in his administration of the country.
Many observers believe that it will be hard for chieftains of the former ruling party believed to have lost public trust to unseat Buhari in a free and fair election, given the extent of corruption perpetrated by many officials of the former government. Though the new ruling party is also accused of love for corrupt ideals, for its open-door policy in admitting members of the former ruling party some of who are under investigation into its fold and freeing them from continued investigation the moment they have crossed over. It is what observers say informs new political associations talking about not allowing any members of the former ruling party and the current ruling party into their fold because they represent corruption.
The news of the latest kidnap of the girls in Dapchi by Boko Haram has made whatever fortune the ruling party has going for it turned into misfortune, with the bar highly raised against the ruling party and the misfortune to report to Nigerians on daily basis its efforts to find and free the girls, while continued lack of resolution to the girls’ disappearance will dig into its jugular like a sharp knife, like it did to Hrothgar in Beowulf and to Jonathan, before the election he lost to Buhari.
On the other hand, many people in Nigeria are saying silently that it seems likely that Boko Haram is an instrument for political change in the hands of unknown Nigerian wealthy politicians. They say Boko Haram was used to unseat Jonathan and the same evil killers are at work again against Buhari, and are asking and hoping Buhari will fish out politicians using Boko Haram as an instrument.
The world is still in grief over the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 girls in Chibok, with its misfortune to President Goodluck Jonathan into an unlucky fellow. And for students of literature and people with the knowledge of literature - a reminder of what the King Hrothgar suffered with Grendel’s attack on the Danes’ in ‘Beowulf’, before ‘Beowulf - the Swedish warrior’ killed Grendel and its mother.
But the Nigerian Grendel called Boko Haram thought to have been weakened by the Nigeria’s armed forces has shown it still has power to make life miserable for President Muhammed Buhari, just like it did to Goodluck Jonathan. Will the country’s Grendel throw spanners against Buhari’s reelection battle, a battle that had already started before the Boko Haram’s evil appearance in Dapchi?
President Buhari had admitted and described the attack and kidnapping of the girls in Dapchi as devastating in a statement sent to the media, after it became clear that efforts to conceal the truth of the kidnap by government officials only helped to embarrass the government with the truth revealing itself from different versions of the story presented by officials.
Many observers of politics in Nigeria say this is not a goodtime for Buhari, sincerely speaking. News reports show that Buhari had just told governors of the ruling party that he would soon talk about whether he intends to run for reelection, amid developments that show some former supporters unleashing harsh criticisms and appearing in opposition against his reelection. Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, two former military leaders like Buhari, have both announced their support for a third force against Buhari; Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 election, Tubde Bakare, said God told him to run for president, Oby Ezekwezili, former education minister in the Obasanjo’s PDP administration said she has formed a Red Card Movement and believes God will breath on her red card for a revolution, another political association is said to have been formed working to disenfranchise people over 60 years from running for president and governor (Buhari is 75) and a former speaker of the House of Representatives with no reputation to unloose Buhari’s shoes is said to be warming up for political office again, because he is about 50 years.
Just as Buhari may have been thinking of how he would counter the newly emerging opposition against his reelection, Boko Haram struck and hit him and the country, where it is very painful, and forcibly places him on the road hardly traveled – the road of uncertainty and misery. The road that Goodluck Jonathan found himself and his political opponents changed his name to bad luck and making people to say “What a bad week" last week is for Buhari for the world to hear that another set of girls have disappeared from their school and in the same region, from where the earlier kidnapped girls were taken away by Boko Haram.”
Now many Nigerians are saying that the successful attack and kidnapping of a new set of girls from their school may be the beginning of the end of Buhari. They are not saying it is the end, because they still see the powerlessness of the former lords of the People Democratic Party who are all now appearing in new apparels to want to take away power from Buhari formerly regarded as a Saint by many Nigerians, before disbelief sets in over seemingly unworkable economic model by Buhari’s government, the government’s inability to call cattle herdsmen to order over arrant endangerment of innocent lives in several parts of the country and what some of Buhari’s new critics call his government's high handedness and refusal to listen and follow democratic tenets in his administration of the country.
Many observers believe that it will be hard for chieftains of the former ruling party believed to have lost public trust to unseat Buhari in a free and fair election, given the extent of corruption perpetrated by many officials of the former government. Though the new ruling party is also accused of love for corrupt ideals, for its open-door policy in admitting members of the former ruling party some of who are under investigation into its fold and freeing them from continued investigation the moment they have crossed over. It is what observers say informs new political associations talking about not allowing any members of the former ruling party and the current ruling party into their fold because they represent corruption.
The news of the latest kidnap of the girls in Dapchi by Boko Haram has made whatever fortune the ruling party has going for it turned into misfortune, with the bar highly raised against the ruling party and the misfortune to report to Nigerians on daily basis its efforts to find and free the girls, while continued lack of resolution to the girls’ disappearance will dig into its jugular like a sharp knife, like it did to Hrothgar in Beowulf and to Jonathan, before the election he lost to Buhari.
On the other hand, many people in Nigeria are saying silently that it seems likely that Boko Haram is an instrument for political change in the hands of unknown Nigerian wealthy politicians. They say Boko Haram was used to unseat Jonathan and the same evil killers are at work again against Buhari, and are asking and hoping Buhari will fish out politicians using Boko Haram as an instrument.
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