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Militancy As An Option! By Kabiru Tsakuwa
Needless to say, that the wanton destruction of lives and properties in some part of the north as a result of the baseless and criminal activities of some misguided elements known and referred to as ‘Yan Boko-Haram (western education is a taboo) is highly regrettable and condemnable.
How on earth, can a reasonable Muslim advocates for the total rejections of knowledge, when the first sacred verse of the holy Qur’an revealed to Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) some fourteen centuries ago, enjoined the faithful to read? This strange idea is not only repugnant, but totally alien to Islam, un-African and out of tune with reality.
But, looking at the whole scenario with a different prism, one can confidently blame the debacle on the failure of leadership at all levels to properly cater for the basic needs of the people. The so-called leaders are so engrossed in selfish aggrandizements to the extents that the masses are left to wallows in abject poverty and penury.
Tell me, in a hopeless situation such as this, what will stop the idle youths whose minds have become devils workshop from adopting measures which will help them to burn their much suppressed extra energies? And what will safeguard or shielded them from easily succumbing to the negative influence of some deviant elements in the society as is being witness today?
So, head or tail, it is Nigeria that ultimately loses. Because the deviant elements and the security apparatus are all part and parcels of the larger Nigerian family. In addition to that, the resources, energy and time that are being expended in prosecuting the police actions could have been deployed in other more useful areas. This debacle therefore, is surely an eye opener for the clueless government to practically sit-up. It is a strongest statement so far, that all is not well with the polity. The masses are fed-up with bad-governance and insensitivities. They have totally lost faith with the system which can not guarantee the provision of some basic social-amenities and are in need of drastic changes!
Had it been that all the paraphernalia of government is really working, the issue wouldn’t have degenerated to such a sorry pass. Because the intelligent arm of government must have discovered those behind the strange idea and subsequently nip it in the bud before inflicting much damage. The manners of approach adopted by the security agents in containing the menace had also left much to be desired. It had effectively demonstrated the fact that our leaders are not very good students of power management theories.
For the sake of emphasis, the 42nd law of power by Robert Greene had stated that: “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter” If government was proactive enough to have arrested the leader of the deviants along time ago, the large scale causalities will have been considerably avoided. Because according to the celebrated author “trouble can be traced to a single strong individual-the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of good will. If allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them-they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter!”
But unfortunately, instead of doing just that, government have been treating all the apparent security threats with levity; only to wake up after the damage has been done and adopted hap-hazards and after-thought measures that is in itself self indicting!
Where were our leaders when the same 42nd law of power had amply stated that: “Do not waste precious time trying to steal a sheep or two; do not risk life and limb by setting upon the dogs that guard the flock? Aim at the shepherd, lure him away and the dogs will follow. Strike him down and the flock will scatter-you can then pick them off one by one”
And where were they, when the Chinese poet Du Fu had many centuries ago stated that: “if you draw a bow, draw the strongest? If you use an arrow, use the longest. To shoot a rider, first shoot his horse. To catch a gang of bandits, first capture its leader. Just as a country has its border, so the killing of men has its limits. If the enemy’s attack can be stopped with a bow to the head, why have any more dead and wounded than necessary?” If the heart-rending killing of yan boko-haram can be stopped by eliminating the leader of the gang, what stopped the government from going ahead with that option? If the leader of the deviants can be taken care of with a single bullet to the heart or brain; why have any more dead and wounded than necessary?
What is all the more disturbing is that, having realized the futility of fighting the government directly; the rebels might no longer undertake such a stupid suicidal mission. They would instead try to adopt the Niger-delta option which has so-far proved to be highly effective. The Niger-delta militants like every literate Nigerian knew, have despite having more sophisticated weaponries, international connections, adequate purse and internal collaborators as well as propaganda machineries; never attempt confronting the federal might headlong as the bunch of the ignoramuses ‘yan boko-haramun have tried to do. So they might go under ground for now and begin the process of re-strategizing for an all out onslaught in the future-this should be avoided at all cost!
Therefore, our leaders both spiritual and temporal at all levels need to reflect deeply about the palpable tension simmering in the polity as a result of corruptions and bad-governance before cataclysm more consuming and more sinister began to take its toll. For in that situation am afraid, precipitate measures such as the one now being under-taken at the theaters of conflicts will not succeed in containing the rampaging forces of the masses furies. A stitch in time saves nine!
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