“Dividing Nigeria will still not solve the problem. You see, a Moslem friend of mine told me that there are two houses on earth – the house of peace which is Islam and the house of war (other religions) and it is the duty of the house of peace to fight the others until they all become members of the house of peace.
People demonstrate to press for the release of missing Chibok school girls in Lagos on May 12, 2014. Boko Haram released a new video on Monday claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed. AFP
So it means that even if we go our separate ways, a time will come when they will invade others just as it is happening in the North-East now where Christians and moderate Moslems are the target,” said Chris.
“So why didn’t they fight Obasanjo as a Christian president?” asked John.
Replied Rita: “Obasanjo is a military man and has his boys who are loyal to him in the army and would have used them effectively to destroy the insurgents but GEJ is a civilian and has no base in the Army.”
Said Ade: “My reason for not supporting GEJ’s candidacy in 2015 is not because some disgruntled elements do not want him but because of the way he has handled the insurgency; practically with kid gloves.
For God’s sake, as a leader, if you see you are getting nowhere with the advice from your advisers in the Defence Ministry, re-strategise, choose those you can trust and let them go to the ordinary people and find out from them what is really going on.
You keep listening to everybody, trying hard not to hurt anyone; it’s simply not going to work because you will end up displeasing everyone.”
“Exactly! As he has neither pleased the insurgents nor the victims who are fast losing confidence in him. A man from that area said they suffered to vote for GEJ and some of them were killed in the aftermath by Gen. Buhari’s supporters and see what they are getting in return – lack of care from government and killings,” recounted Chris.
“The best thing for him to do now is to forget about elections and face this insurgency squarely and deal with it before we can talk about anything else. How can you sleep with a part of your house on fire? It’s not possible and all those who are playing politics, trying to score cheap political points with this disaster should have a rethink because as the Igbos say, ‘the native doctor who afflicts people with cholera does not have his buttocks hanging on a tree.’ In other words, he is not immune to the disease,” said John.
“Some politicians keep telling us that once they are voted into power in 2015, the insurgency will stop,” said Rita.
“Story, story. Once upon a time… please tell us something else! Look, the insurgents are beyond their so-called instigators now. They have tasted power and money and you think they will listen to any politician asking them to down tools? They won’t until they get their Islamic state,” said Chris.
Continued Rita: “If indeed they have human blood flowing in their veins, since they have the magic wand to stop Boko Haram, must they wait till they get to the seat of power?”
“The problem with Nigerian politicians is that they are too self-centred. I can’t understand why someone will not proffer the solution he says he has to a problem destroying lives and property in his country simply because he is not in power. Must everyone be in power to contribute to the nation’s development? It simply shows they do not care about the people but simply about themselves and their over-bloated ego,” said Moji.
It means that as long as he is not in power, Boko Haram can continue taking over town after town, murdering people for all he cares! Then he is not fit to be a leader; he is simply self-seeking,” said Ade.
“A wife was fighting with her husband for having an affair with the wife of their family friend. They went on and on and then the family friend walked in to confront her husband over the issue. You know what the woman did? She quickly stopped quarrelling with her husband and faced the ‘common enemy’ in defense of her husband. Immediately the man left, they resumed their verbal war,” narrated Moji, adding: “That is the spirit. Join hands to face a common enemy and when that is settled, you can continue your PDP-APC bickering. But no, our politicians will play partisan politics with lives.”
Like we say in local parlance: ’dis one don pass don’t be silly,’ we must all rise up as one to crush the animals or else, we will all pay dearly for our complacency,” said Rita.
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