Dapchi Schoolgirls: What manner of politics of opposition in Nigeria?!

“On a final note, it therefore became baffling to read a very respected activist lawyer when he quickly switched off from public commentary of reason and landed on the same platform with National Chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, and both of them believe that the abduction of Dapchi schoolgirls was stage-managed by APC and the government of the governing party.  It was shocking.  Very shocking comment to come from professionals and politicians who earlier were happy, saying the APC and its government had not only failed but also that they would no longer be justified to criticize the Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP government over Chibok schoolgirls abduction, only for them to now, after the release of the girls as a result of political will of President Muhammadu Buhari, begin to be sad and complaining that it was scam.  To them, the abduction would have been real if those girls had gone for good in the den of the lions of the desert.  Too bad!”

The 110 girls of Government Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, abducted by Boko Haram on February 19 have been released.  While this is no longer news, what remains as breaking news and has refused to go on the mind of the sane is the attitude of the opposition who have disappointedly jettisoned the business of genuine opposition that the governing party and its government require to be on toes as to being spurred into doing more and more all the times.

More disappointedly, too, is the fact that they did not only jettison their responsibility as patriotic critics but also, they are now, seriously put, displayers and practitioners of a politicking stuff that began on May 29, 2015 known as the profession of the wailing wailers.

Looking holistically into this new “profession” in Nigerian politics, wailing wailers are the kind of political elements that should not exist in any society desired for peace, security, progress and development.  The major business of wailing wailers is to brew discord and violence through thereby heating up the politics in a way that overstretch the security of the land and particularly the nation’s armed forces.  And they achieve this through their incessant purveyance of fake news, dangerous rumours and hate speeches.  More disappointing is that most of them emanate from the religious and ethnic groups but largely they are political animals who have been traced to using religion and ethnic divides to advance their political and not national interest.  Very sad!

Unfortunately though, had it been that this set of people had not been in government for 16 years with full access and control of huge wealth far above what is available to the current government, one would have said, “Let them be excused as they may be playing politics to be given opportunity to serve”.  Even at that, must they play politics of hate, fakeness and dangerous rumours before Nigerian electorates look at their side in search for a better future President?  But they had been there and what they did with political government all saw.  Nigerians saw how they chose to fund their pockets with security funds that should have been used to save the country and its people from situation that started in their time which should not have developed to the point that much as Boko Haram had been seriously depleted (and it is glaring they have been) the abduction of Dapchi school girls still came.  Any electorate that allow such a people into government whether now or in future again will have naturally invited the wrath of the Almighty Allah that put them as His Vicegerents on the surface of Nigerian earth and doom; no more or less than doom; will be their recompense.

It would be recalled that a week before the abduction in Dapchi, politicians of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had launched a media campaign against the military accusing the nation’s only most dependable security backbone of relaxing operations in the North East axis to pave the way for Abubakar Shekau to escape.  They claimed to work on intelligence gathering that they could not prove to be worth of doing because, any set of people that choose persistently to “speak first before thinking” can never make serious contribution to make to their immediate environment talk less of to the larger society.   Just as they reeled that huge lie against the military, the co-incidence came and that was the abduction.  But Nigerian populace, much as they claim to be the most populous black race, are in most cases not so superb in the area of intellectual property enough for them to decipher at all times who is sincerely working for the good of the that they all own together among those so called players and who is not.  If they are, none of those who took part in plunging Nigeria to the state of insecurity, corruption, economic and socio-political divides that Buhari has strived hard to repair today will ever be allowed to raise his head in public and even his immediate community again.  But what has been happening? Same rogues and elements of impunity have been eulogized, honoured and celebrated to the extent that they even install governors and are aspiring to join the next race for the Senate of the Federal Republic thereby re-writing the status of Nigerian Senate to be centre for corrupt politicians.

Inside the same Nigeria, citizens heard clearly on the television, radio and read in the print and online media security updates from the security agencies in charge of intelligence gathering and management: the Department of State Security Services (DSS) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence about how Boko Haram, having been weakened in gorilla warfare as a result of the fire power of the new armed forces put together by President Muhammadu Buhari, as against the time when soldiers ran into neighbouring countries to escape insurgents’ slaughter, that the terrorists were now devising means by which they would disguise like cattle rearers in carrying out attacks against innocent Nigerians.  They solicited people’s support as they could not do it alone to cooperate with security and military by being vigilant and report strange movements.

But when the terrorists began to carry out their plans as cattle rearers first attacking Fulani herdsmen and rustling away their cows, with major activities in Kano, it took the Professional Will of Alhaji Mohammed Musa Katsina, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) formerly of Nigerian Police Maritime Command, Headquarters, as then Kano State Commissioner of Police to guide the government of Kano State to solution.  It stopped cattle rustling permanently and Governor Umar Abdullah Ganduje forgave the repented rustlers and that was end.  The narrative was changed deliberately by those wailing wailers from religious circle who wanted the world to see Boko Haram as herdsmen the insurgents now working in a renewed attacks not only against cattle herders this time but also against others.  They therefore created a war scenario and that again has taken the country to another level of security challenge.  On the long run, the herdsmen imbroglio failed and the next was call by highest political officer of the opposition for military coup.  Of course, the leading light in this “wailing wailers” call for military coup later said he was misinterpreted but was he also misinterpreted when he was backing all that was treason against the Nigerian thinking that he was fighting the New Sheriff in Town because he said CHANGE HAD BECOME A MUST for both old turfs put in place by them.  Was he misinterpreted when he publicly supported IPOB when they formed parallel government and armed forces and declared and hoisted the flag of Republic Biafra using Nigerian money supplied by his types and within the same territory of Nigeria?  Was he misinterpreted when he, from his high office as highest political public officer of his former ruling party, supported the Niger Delta Avengers against Muhammadu Buhari’s government?

If those lawyers and their likes are not knowledgeable enough to know that political footballing that is noblest should be played for the interest of the nation, all of their evils, past and present, should show the electorates that are serious about moving forward the kind of people they have as politicians, who are opposing the sitting government that is striving relentlessly to fix the rots of their past grip on the nation, and they should therefore not allow them any space in the public space to speak talk less that they will make any dangerous plot that will require the government to strain the budget of the nation in tackling security challenges that were not planned for.  Recall they misrepresented the sudden security challenges in Kogi State to be caused by Fulani herdsmen until Allah in His infinite mercy began to expose them and together arrested killers are mentioning names of top state politicians as suppliers of their weapons.

On a final note, it therefore became baffling to read a very respected activist lawyer when he quickly switched off from public commentary of reason and landed on the same platform with National Chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, and both of them believe that the abduction of Dapchi schoolgirls was stage-managed by APC and the government of the governing party.  It was shocking.  Very shocking comment to come from professionals and politicians who earlier were happy, saying the APC and its government had not only failed but also that they would no longer be justified to criticize the Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP government over Chibok schoolgirls abduction, only for them to now, after the release of the girls as a result of political will of President Muhammadu Buhari, begin to be sad and complaining that it was scam.  To them, the abduction would have been real if those girls had gone for good in the den of the lions of the desert.  Too bad!