Dialogue With Boko Haram

In the article "The Faceless Boko". The question was asked, "who will be sitting at the dialogue table with the Federal Government? The illiterate Boko Haram or the Political Hooligans?" There are several more questions to be asked. For example, "What will the Government discuss?", "what compromise will be made?"

As we know, in every dialogue there is a compromise. See my side and i see yours. Do this and i will do this or stop doing this. So in the case of the real but illiterate Boko Haram what will the compromise be? Stop dropping bombs and shooting people and we will all think about being islamists? Not likely. Dialogue won't work.

The supporters of dialogue are citing the Niger-Delta issue but this writer wonders how mentally blind some people can be. The boys of the Niger-Delta were fighting for a just cause. "Stop destroying my land while you take my oil." Compromises could be made. We will stop desecrating your land and waters and impoverishing you, we will also grant you amnesty and in return you will drop your weapons.

There is no way that either of the Boko Harams' terms can be met, not even marginally, so we need to drop the charade. Dialogue cannot work!

The Faceless Boko

There have been several calls for a dialogue with Boko Haram. This call one must admit is hilariously ridiculous as there is no one entity called Boko Haram! Several criminals banded together in some parts of the country to form the terror-based group. Their mission? Islamize Nigeria.

Perhaps this was the true Boko Haram, it comprised nonentities as well as not-so-smart people. For how can you explain the intelligence of a particular group of people who think they can FORCE another LARGER group of people to leave the religion they were born into or spiritually converted into?

Religion is not a mathematical and straight-forward process that can be relegated to the background by means of force. It is a way of life that is influenced and controlled by FAITH. FAITH in its very essense subverts conversion. Faith in the context of the christian religion does not require proof or demand reason, we must accept it because it simply is. There is a God; Have you personally seen him? No. Personally heard from him? No. Then how do you know there is a God? I HAVE FAITH. How do you contend with that? The first, and perhaps the only, Boko Haram was fighting a losing battle.

Then came the next batch; the political criminals (or which other more heinous adjective you can use to describe them). Their mission? Create as much disharmony as you can. Why? A SOUTHERNER WON THE ELECTION! We must not forget that! We must not let them have peace! How can those horrible Southerners take away our birth-right? And so the bloody scourge began.

As most things chaotic are wont to be the political "Boko Haram" escalated past their instigators. The leaders have been over-shadowed and the followers have run amok, pursuing their own different agenda.
So who will be sitting at the dialogue table with the Federal Government? The illiterate Boko Haram or the Political Hooligans?

Before I mercifully allow my pen to stop bleeding allow me feed you with some thoughts; If Boko Haram does not believe in Western Technology, as they proclaim, what will you call the guns, the vehicles, the cameras and the phones they use? I will be glad to get a response to this question because my brain has given up all hope of recovering the answer.

Corruption Has Come To Stay In Nigeria

Nigeria, it seems, is so bedevilled by corruption that it does not even know how to tackle the menace. In a case of glaring proportions it was discovered that oil marketers have been receiving payments for "invisible petrol". Some of the big names involved are Total, Oando and MRS.

In such a scenario the normal and lawful thing to do is prosecute the perpetrators. However, the Federal Government in her regular show of disillusionment has stated that instead of prosecution the amount found to have been collected unlawfully will be deducted from the amount owed the marketers.

Obviously there are two principles at war here; The principle of Diplomacy and The principle of Justice. The Government has, as expected, chosen diplomacy giving credence to the fact that there are "holy cows" or people who we can't afford to offend.

The question any sane -and uncorrupt- Government official will be asking right now is this: Why choose Justice over Diplomacy? Well the answer is quite simple. To change the clime of corruption that is systematically erroding our not so beloved country! By prosecuting the perpetrators the Government will be sending a clear message not only to the oil marketers but also to all people who are engaging in illegal acts that the Federal Government is not willing to tolerate such chiaroscuro acts anymore.

Mayhap I am asking too much of the Government.