BURNING POT BY PRINCE
CHARLES DICKSON
Jos, Bauchi, BH, Sanusi,
Asari Dokubo And Salient Musing
pcdbooks@gmail.com
We scoop water from the water pot and see a masquerader; what will the
person who goes to draw water at the river find?
A week ago, the COCIN church in Jos, Plateau state capital was hit by a
bomb, whether suicide bomber or soldier-assisted bomber still and will as
everything or all most things related to the entire Boko Haram phenomena
remain unsolved.
We gathered that one of those killed was a member of the church; the story
remains all but fuzzy. The Commissioner For Information was one of the
casualty of an angry mob that later regrettably spread into the city
though quickly contained.
Salient musing: The COCIN church shares fences with the Central Bank,
which is divided by a less than five meter street to First Bank, that
shares boundaries with Union Bank and a road across UBA, it’s on the busy
Bank road axis that has Zenith Bank, WEMA, Bank Of the North, and from the
next turn is residence of former PDP Chairman and state governor Solomon
Lar.
For those that know, behind the COCIN Church lies expanse of land that
borders the Jos Zoo and Museum. Some few meters is the High court, the SSS
state Headquarters, the Jos Prisons which looks directly at the Police
Headquarters. If one throws a Javelin with full strength you can get close
to the STF Command, and you then have the Hill station Hotel and off
course the Governor's Gishe office.
In Jos, it's a small community, a small inter-linked metropolitan
city...despite all the strife and hatred; it remains a town where everyone
knows somebody who knows the other person irrespective of creed, faith and
religion.
In Bauchi, it was the story of how some persons allegedly were on a
bombing mission of their own church.
Salient musing: There are several issues but let me highlight just a few,
one it is true that these 'so-called Christians’ like 'so-called Muslims'
are just criminals bent on inflaming an already hot situation. That they
were rival gangs is a cock and bull story. That the COCIN president denied
them also makes no sense because the truth is that today's Boko Haram is
simply extending its tentacles and I am one of those with the belief that
the government in the North and center are behind the group irrespective
of faith or to some extent culpable.
With each passing week, the Boko Haram stratagem keeps changing or
evolving. The recent burning of schools in Borno, the fact that statistics
quoted say more Muslims have been killed makes it the more we look the
less we understand. In Kano, its BH vs the Police, in Borno, its vs. the
Police, STF, schools, markets, in Gombe, its Churches, In Yobe, vs. the
SSS and security apparatus, in Adamawa its bank, and other ethnic groups,
In Kaduna, it’s been bombs galore.
Salient musing: All the arrests made by the SSS, all those James Bond
sounding like stories by various media credited to inside sources, still
no significant progress. The recent capture and continued implication of
security personnel and persons of other faith and deportations of foreign
nationals, to what effect but ‘shakara and gragra’--We were told that top
politicians were behind them and phone logs and all that tales by
moonlight, yet we are now loosing count of the death toll just this year
alone.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Central Bank Governor, fiery and, an intellectually
controversial character. He stirred the hornet's nest with his postulation
on the North and Derivation, by extension deprivation and the causes for
Boko Haram, he fanned the wind of Islamic banking, his Kano donation, told
us at the Fuel Subsidy town-hall meeting that it’s been a while he bought
fuel. He means different things to different persons.
Salient musing: Sanusi like Soludo before him, is intelligent, I do not
think he means any harm, by way of reflection, I am amused that he seems
to have won the similar awards, accolades and attacked same way Charles
Soludo was--in other words in a few years time, when we look at his
scorecard would it not be same difference. Are we not at the same ball
dance because we are yet to fashion a way past our struggle to attain
nationhood.
"Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari is the former President of the Ijaw Youth
Council (IYC) and leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF).
He is better known for his struggles for the liberation of the Niger Delta
region. To some people, he is freedom fighter while to others, he is a
controversial personality". This is how he was introduced in a recent
interview in a national daily.
In that encounter, he called the fuel subsidy protests 1."…A conspiracy
amongst the Lagos people and the people of the North to have a regime
changes because they are losing power".
He added "They are losing economic and political power and they are afraid
that if President Jonathan is allowed to continue for 8 years, the
consequences will be devastating …
On the unity of Nigeria, he quips "Who cares about the unity? Which
country is it that anybody cares about the unity? I will be the happiest
person if this contraption collapses. I will be the happiest person. I
have not hidden my feelings about this contraption…”
Salient musing: He may have made some very debatable points in the course
of that interview, but then how did we get to this point, the Dokubo-Asari
point, the Gani Adams point, and the Tompolo point, the Boko Haram point,
the point where former warlords and thugs set agenda.
If a person exposed to minimal risk cries disaster, what would the person
exposed to much greater risk do, the dove recites incantations, thinking
that the pigeon cannot hear; the pigeon hears; it is only pretending to
sleep. (Never mistake a person's easygoing demeanor for cowardice or
folly). We are running, how far, only time will tell. Let us embrace
peace, we still can, but do we want to, the blame game won’t help us.
1.
http://www.burningpot.com/component/content/article/315-frontpage/1883-jonathan-will-occupy-aso-rock-for-8-years-asari-dokubo
|