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MEND, MOSSOB, BOKO HARAM, et. al.: Why Current Peace Efforts Will Fail By Mustapha Mamudu The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) apparently responding to the blackmail that the Northern elite has remained silent in the face of the 'unstoppable ' Boko Haram attacks, held a peace conference last week. As expected, it was the very set of people that created our collective insecurity that came to speak. The real victims, the ordinary northerner and others that live in the north did not get to speak! And there lies the reason why no solutions would be found. From the Senate President who succumbed to the blackmail theory to the Sultan who believes the Traditional institution should have a role (presumably constitutional) in resolving the insecurity, it is difficult to miss the irony that the peoples fury is targetted more towards the institutions these two represent (politicians and traditional rulers). The ordinary Northerner today seriously distrusts these two groups. What they should be working on is regaining their respectability since the last elections. Apart from the Boko Haram issue, the north has the more serious issue of unity, characterized especially by the frequent brawls in Jos and Kaduna among it's people. At the heart of the crises of insecurity in the country and especially the north, is the terrible economic situation which is mainly a result of mismanagement by politicians and a popular perception of their being ably aided by the traditional rulers. It is widely believed that when the poor people thought they could vote in their messiah, the politicians and their co-conspirators (traditional rulers) moved to disenfranchise them! Evidence is the fury and attacks on the Traditional Rulers after the last general elections. It sadly appears that the love for cash has overtaken the calm respectability of the Northern traditional establishment! We still hear stories of how traditional rulers in the past worked out on Governors and even Presidents when issues fundamental to the 'talakawas' were abused by leaders. May be its the fear that Politicians can easily remove them from their coveted thrones: sultan Dasuki, emir Jokolo etc. But leadership is about courage and conviction and the willingness to serve the greater good at great cost, often times. The path to peace is to enshrine an honest and transparent leadership. Those in the north who have benefitted from the rot of the last decade of oil boom including traditional rulers must emulate their southern friends by investing in their poor so that the north can also enjoy peace. Stories abound about fat bank accounts of some of the Traditional rulers that we wonder if they even pay zakaat or tithe! For the Northern elite, we must wear our thinking caps and begin to strategise on regaining both our credibility and respect within the Nigerian state. Put simply, the best way to have peace is to prepare for war. And this war is not the physical but the intellectual. A thousand peace conferences especially one where people are just looking out to make the central government happy will not solve any problems. When we had OPC, no Yoruba leaders condemned them; so it has been for MEND and Movement for Biafra which are essentially secessionist movements. In some ironic way Boko Haram is a lesser evil as a threat to national unity. Come to think of it, the indifference to western education has been a problem not just for the north but even among male Easterners who preferred trading! The North must work for peace not only because our friends from the other parts of the country fear it will spill over to their areas, but because peace is essential for our own economic emancipation. We must seek accommodation even with people who appear to us as irrational. We can even adapt eastern education to accommodate training in professions and provide a window for those who arguably find western values disagreeable. |