Tamuno Dagogo
President Goodluck Jonathan will go down in history as one Nigerian leader who loathes taking responsibility for anything. At the same time, it would be said of him in years to come that this was one leader who had a lot of resources and did not know what to make of them. Likewise, Nigerians would remember him and also the international community as one who had at his disposal one of Africa’s largest and well-trained armies and could not lead them to win a mere domestic insurgency but rather sought the intervention of the whole world to defeat the Boko Haram.
So far, the attitude and disposition of the president has not been salutary. It has left much to be desired. One was taken aback recently when in response to the march on Aso Villa, the president’s office and residence, by the BringBackOurGirls’ campaigners, that the President of the Republic not only ignored the courtesy, fatherly love and positive publicity he could have garnered by addressing the protesters, rather he sent word through his aides that the protesters should direct their complaint to the Boko Haram and not him! This is extremely shocking and embarrassing and shows that the president, most times, does not know the implication of his actions and utterances.
Going by his response to the protesters, President Jonathan is saying in effect that the protesters made up of concerned and respectable Nigerian women and mothers, should direct their request for the return of the abducted girls to the Supreme Commander of the Boko Haram terrorist group, AbubakarShekau, giving the impression that the latter is the President of Nigeria!
Another condemnable response of the president is the formation of a rival protest group by government agents which disrupted the activities of the authentic group working for freedom of the kidnapped Chibok school girls and which allegedly inflicted bodily harm on these people. President Jonathan must have authorised and been in the know of this counter- protest group. The action of this pro- government group has brought negative publicity to thee government because the activities of the BringBackOurGirls’ group is internationally known and acclaimed and any action against them would send conflicting signals to the international community about the government’s real intentions.
In addition to the above un-presidential behaviours, it needs to be noted that it is not clear, six weeks into the abduction and captivity of the Chibok girls, what action the president is taking to ensure the prompt and safe return of the girls, and permanent solution to the devastating terrorist activities of Boko Haram.
While it is not clear whether the government intends to dialogue with the insurgents as the latter have suggested, and swap the girls for insurgents in government custody, one has noticed a worrying development. The development is the resort to escapism by the president in dealing with the issue at hand. Rather, the leader of Nigeria is busying himself with coalition building against the insurgents while the latter has stepped up attacks in the country notably in the North east region, already conquered by them.
A few weeks following the abduction, rather than stand up with his military commanders and advisers and work out a counter strategy that would force the insurgents to have a rethink, the President of Nigeria went to France to be lectured on how the French counters terrorism. President Jonathan was hosted by the French President. A few days later the Nigerian leader fly to South Africa to hold a party commemorating the second term inauguration of that country’s unpopular leader, Jacob Zuma. To avoid criticism, the president’s aides told Nigerians the infant tale that he would discuss how to combat terrorism in Africa with President Zuma.
A few days ago, the same Nigerian leader was in Ghana and later hosted the President of Mali and a few other countries to discuss terrorism, all in the name of coalition building and creating awareness. One is surprised that President Jonathan has not visited Somalia to enlist support! The disturbing point here is that despite all the president’s junketing to build coalition, and the presence of the US, UK, France, Israel and China, to lend assistance has not brought the innocent school girls of Chibok home nor has it lead to more action against the insurgents. The insurgents on the contrary are sacking more communities along the North east border and recently made the important point of killing a prominent traditional ruler, the Emir of Gwoza.
One is of the view that the President has travelled enough on account of building the anti- terrorist coalition. Let him now gather his military commanders and work out a winning strategy against the Boko Haram.
Dagogo wrote from Jabi, Abuja
