Murder in the North And The Conspiracy Of Elitist Silence

Danger in Hookup Business
Sunday Onyemaechi

For over a decade, Northern Nigeria has been stewed in the orgy of violent extremism. The region has been host to Boko Haram, ISIS West Africa Province (ISWAP) and now the daring and dreaded terrorist bandit groups.  Killings, abductions, destruction of lives and properties have become compulsory bitter pills swallowed by the people on a daily basis. The North is burning.  As a matter of fact it is profusely bleeding. Residents cannot sleep with both eyes closed. Road users are kidnapped, burnt and slaughtered daily. Markets are close, telecommunication infrastructure was interfered with; fuel is no longer dispensed in gallons and to motor-cycles by filing station. Some states have banned the use of motorcycles but the business of insecurity thrives unabated. In fact, the disturbing increase in numbers of violent extreme groups in the north east and currently northwest and central has left in the wake of its dastardly acts gory tales of sorrows and blood. In the build up to the 2015 general elections, media spaces were awash with the levity with which the former administration of Goodluck Jonathan handled insecurity in the north and its characteristic “cluelessness.”  The abduction of Chibok school girls in Borno state in 2014 was a celebrated case of a government said to slumber while the nation was on fire.  The All Progressive Congress (APC had accused the federal government of sponsoring Boko Haram; while President Buhari maintained that an attack on Boko Haram was an attack against the north.  That government was roundly vilified for general incompetence and a sitting president on a campaign train was pelted with stones in Bauchi, Adamawa and Katsina states by angry residents.  Nobody was arrested. Not because security agencies ran out of suitable or commensurate ideas of actions to take but President Jonathan was a democrat who embraces contending and contentious views against him and his government. Northern political elites who saw nothing good in another except their own being the president had also raised their voices against the insecurity in the region and called for urgent action. Arewa Consultative Forum was at the fore front of this call and demand to vote Jonathan out of office. The two lexicons of “incompetent and cluelessness” were factored into the campaign to destroy a northern enemy. It worked indeed! But has anything significantly changed in the north?

Putting an end to the precarious and deviant security situation in the north in particular and Nigeria in general was one campaign issue leveraged on by President Buhari to ascend the throne.  Mounting the podium of public northern sentiment,   President Buhari echoed; “this country is insecure, the country is getting bankrupt; it is mainly because of corruption and incompetence. What APC is out is to make sure we stabilise the multi-democratic system by voting PDP out.”  PDP was eventually voted out and former President Jonathan conceded to defeat. Has APC found the magic wand to the myriads of challenges confronting the nation? The security situation and other societal ills bedeviling the nation which APC boasted to tackle in few months have taken a rather worsening dimension.  The change promised was a fluke so is the next level.  The glaring ineptitude of President Buhari defies logic. But he was ignored for the simple reason that he is from the north. For six months of the first tenure of this administration, the government could not assemble a functional cabinet and for six years running, the APC led administration has failed to take responsibility of its ineptitude, dearth of ideas and juvenile approach to governance. It has dawned on all of us that; tribal sentiments overwhelmed majority. The nation failed to heed the voice of reason.  Nobody including those who voted for or against is spared of the devastating economic crunch.

At this critical juncture in the life of the north – murder in the region and the conspiracy of elitist silence has taken a pervasive dimension. The strong, daring, threatening voices of northern elites have diminished in substance, fearlessness and courage. The reason is not far-fetched. The Oga at the top is our own. Let the killings continue provided the leadership position remains in our region. Leadership has completely failed. Those in government are dancing on the graves of innocent northerners and Nigerians but what the elites could do was stay aloof?  It does not matter to these elitist group how many kids were orphaned, how many women widowed and treasures pillaged or destroyed.

The notoriety of northern elites at attacking what they perceive as bad governance or marginalisation of the region mostly come to play during the tenure of Christians as exemplified in Obasanjo and Jonathan’s regimes. Let it be stated clearly that the far reaching impact of insecurity is taking its toll majorly on the north and its ever growing poor and deceived ignorant populace. However, the overriding aftermath of the danger it portends adversely affects not only the north but the nation at large. It was reported that terrorist bandits set cultivated farmlands ablaze while they also tax farmers before they could engage in farming. It is evident by this and other reports that the capacity of the North to engage in farming activities it is widely known for has been endangered. Exchange of agricultural goods and services within and outside the country has suffered a great deal. Money and the needed nutrients food provides for the well-being of people are completely lost.  It is therefore, trite to conclude that the looming danger of food insecurity is here with us. Let it be clearly stated also that the effect of food insecurity in the north and Nigeria will be a child’s play compare to the crisis at hand if necessary measures are not taken by the government.

The north is suffering in silence of elitist imposed disease. A contrived amnesia for serving and servicing the greed of the elite. It was surprising that all the groups that fiercely rose against Goodluck Jonathan and carried his mock coffin during subsidy removal are nowhere to be found now. A notice was given by government on payment of N 340 per litre of petrol in February, 2022 and no condemnation from the north. Are we not in more trouble now than then? No northern Nigerian presidential candidate or president has got the measure of support and votes Buhari enjoyed from the region before 2015. Ironically, no president either from the north or south has abandoned the north to itself in time of need and adversity like the way Buhari has done. Ironically also, last week, the only person who got the balls to lead a demonstration in Kano against insecurity happens to be a girl- Zainab Ahmad Naseer.  She has chickened out after an invitation by the state security services. Zainab deserves commendation for her courage at least in the face of a compromised, fearful greedy community of male dominated elites. With the abysmal failure of APC, it is incontrovertible to conclude that the region where the president comes from does not automatically produce the desires dividends of democracy. The north would have fared better if it were so. This is a lesson for the average northerner who desires progress to cast his vote for that man who espouses people oriented programmes. As the year 2023 beckons, the northern political class and elites must be working for another disaster of a candidate of their choice and interests to impose on the majority of the people. This piece stands to advocate for good representation, competency and not the tribe or religion of the candidates.

Sunday Onyemaechi Eze, a media and communication Specialist, wrote via sunnyeze02@yhaoo.com and could be reached on 08060901201

 

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