The Different Viral Strains Of Boko Haram And The Terminal Illness Of The Nigerian State…
18 June 2014
By AbdulKabir Al-asfar
In
recent times the Nigerian state has been rocked by a spate of nation threatening
attacks which did not only draw blood and shatter lives but struck at the very
heart of the existence of the geo-political entity called Nigeria, the bloody
killings and terrible kidnappings of innocent children elicited reactions which
themselves have made clear to any objective observer that there are various
strains and shades of Boko Haram, different in form , diverse in appearance but
united in the clear objective of hate , bigotry and lack of empathy for others.
From the criminal bandits who have relentlessly pursued a program of wanton
killings and destructions… people who put young boys to the knife for no other
reason than the fact that they decided to be educated … who kidnap young girls
for bizarre and non understandable reasons… whose sole goal seems to be the
unrelenting killing of innocents…. such I refer to as Boko Haram type 1. Their
case is perhaps the most apparent, even if they are the most deadly…
To
muslim-denialists who deny the fact that Boko Haram exist … Muslims who continue
to live under a self imposed delusion that Christians are responsible for boko
haram, that the killings these bandits carry out are nothing but orchestrations
of the Christian association of Nigeria or to some of them the machinations of
the C.I.A in the quest for the destruction of Nigeria … as a muslim I find this
position embarrassing, illogical and pathetic. Why?
The
late founder of boko haram , Muhammad Yusuf was known in Islamic circles as far
back as 2002, his audio CDs were sold in shops publically as he spewed his
warped version of what Islam and muslims should be …not only this , this man was
confronted and debated on these heretical thoughts by the likes of Shaykh
Jafar Mahmud Adam and Shaykh Muhammad Awwal Albanee Zaria , who both died
mysteriously under a hail of bullets … stories abound amongst young gullible
muslims about how they were indoctrinated and mobilized for sinister missions in
and around Maiduguri … It is on record that security operatives battled strains
of this atrocities before the present escalation and Muhammad Yusuf himself was
arrested several times only to be released later … so when did CAN start
sponsoring boko haram? Or does it seem reasonable that CAN would kill so many
Christians so as to give muslims a bad name? People who think in this sorry way
fail to realize that it was our late president Umar Musa Yar'adua (may Allah be
pleased with him), himself a muslim, who issued the instruction that the sect be
put down as brutally as possible… and it was soldiers and police men, who had
muslims amongst them, who carried out these instruction. Why were there no
screams that Christians were involved then? What about the numerous prisoners in
the hands of the state? How come a sizable chunk of them are not Christians?
Yes
… we have had deranged or deluded individuals who tried to reap from the
conflict …like the pastor of a town in Osun state who organized that his own
church be terrorized by members of his congregation dressed as muslims so as to
put the blame on muslims!
However, extending his action to all Christians would be an irresponsible
generalization based on the background information we have about boko haram.
Arguments like this abound on social media … it is unfortunate how instead of
facing our problems, some muslims are engrossed in the pathetic peddling of
conspiracy theories!
So
also do we have Christian-propagandists who, blinded by hate and bigotry, see
the boko haram phenomenon as an opportunity to deal with the muslims . The
warped logic of such individuals can be given in the following syllogism:
All
members of Boko haram are muslims
Boko haram members are terrorists
Hence all muslims are terrorist!
Arguments of this nature , unsound and invalid , readily falls into the hands
of wolfs in sheep clothing who want to fan the embers of hate and bigotry by any
means possible even if with arguments any sane person would recognize as false
and illogical since not all muslims are members of boko haram!
So
also is the analogy that not all muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are
muslims!
What about Joseph Kony of Uganda? Who heads the lord's republican army (LRA)
which is fighting for the implementation of the biblical Ten Commandments?!
In fact veteran human rights activist and lawyer Femi Falana, a Christian, wrote
in an article (titled President Museveni's Hypocritical Attack On Nigeria ) for
Sahara Reporters on May 13 2014 "…It is indisputable that the record of
atrocities of LRA is by far worse than that of the boko haram sect. It is common
knowledge that the abduction of children and women is the hallmark of the LRA.
From the account of the Human Rights Watch between 1987 and 2006 "at least 20,
000 Ugandan children were abducted. More than 1.9 million people were displaced
from their homes into camps and tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians died.
Nearly the entire population of Acholiland was displaced due to a combination of
LRA actions and the Ugandan government's forcible resettlement of people in
camps. Living conditions in the camps were horrific, and for years communities
were largely cut off from basic necessities. The death toll from cholera and
other diseases was often higher than from the conflict itself"…"
Would it be sane or logical for any Muslim to assert that all Christians are
terrorists because of the warped theology of Joseph Kony?
‘Denialist' and propagandist are boko haram type 2.
And
the most pathetic has been the reactions of politicians to the current crisis ,
every action and inaction is seen only through the lens of the upcoming
elections…some people want their tribesman still in power , some want him
out..Some people say it's time for APC some say the PDP must continue…and they
play fiddle, as Emperor Nero did, while the nation burns. Even the presidency is
not free of confusion if the reactions of individuals close to the presidency is
worth anything… a certain Christian leader close to the president believes boko
haram is an Islamizing army ( never mind the fact that Muslims have lost their
lives in droves) while a former Niger delta militant (by the way a Muslim) also
close to the president believes it is a tribal war unleashed by people he calls
"fulanis from futa jalon" , the presidency took more time than necessary in
reacting to the abduction of the girls since it was considered mere political
propaganda by the political opposition!
In
a scathing article (titled :Boko Haram : Military is the problem, not the
solution) in ‘The Huffington Post Uk' of June 16, 2014, Daniel Brett lashed our
nation's military and certain politicians of being in collusion with Boko Haram
.
It
is shameful that the two most important institutions of the Nigerian state are
so effectively ridiculed and pilloried by foreigners (like US Senator John
McCain, former US secretary of state Hilary Clinton etc). If I were to summarize
Daniel's article I'll simply say ‘we've become a banana republic!'
Let
us call these individuals Boko Haram type 3!
If
the war of terror waged by Boko Haram type 1 is to be won, Boko Haram type 2
must be shamed and silenced; Boko Haram type 3 must be sanitized, reformed and
purged!
We
stand on the brink of an ethno-religious war of gargantuan proportions and
unimaginable severity, the killing fields of Rwanda and Burundi would pale into
insignificance if these are not corrected … it is our collective responsibility,
for our future and our children's future…if there will be a future.