Boko Haram: Obasanjo’s visit and its implications

Boko Haram: Obasanjo’s visit and implications

Recently Former president Olusegun Obasanjo paid a visit to the Family of Mohammed Yusuf ,The slain leader of the Fundamentalist Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad (J.A.S.L.J), aka Boko Haram sect in Maiduguri .

This visit has been lauded by many and criticised by some notably by Professor Wole Soyinka who said Obasanjo’s visit was an insensitive ego trip , describing it as “It is an act of aggression, a slap in the face of the bereaved and wounded, including the permanently disfigured. It desecrates the memory of the fallen and casts doubts on any claim to humanism and capacity for compassion of the Nigerian people.”

It is widely believed that the visit is an attempt by the former president to negotiate with the sect, but in a swift reaction to this ,Obasanjo has denied that he went to Negotiate with Boko Haram. “No, far from it, I did not go there for negotiation; my visit was a learning process,” said the former President.. he affirmed that he was not representing the Federal Government in order to open a doors for possible negotiations between the Government and the radical sect as widely speculated.

However barely three days after Obasanjo’s widely reported visit to the family of the slain leader of the Boko Haram sect. the new head of Family Babakura Fugu who played host to the former president was murdered in cold blood. He was shot dead at his house by people believed to be members of the sect. but in a swift reaction A so called faction of the Boko Haram sect has denied involvement I the killing of Babakura Fugu describing his death as painful Hours after a splinter group of the Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad (J.A.S.L.J), aka Boko Haram was quoted on a BBC radio broadcast, claiming responsibility for the Saturday’s killing of their ex-leader’s brother in-law, Babakura Alhaji Fugu.

Leading some to think that Obasanjo’s visit must have sown a seed of discord among members of the sect, but is this so?

So many questions seem to be in the air, and the questions raising more questions.

Has Obasanjo’s Visit really caused a division in the sect ? are the members of the sect trying to prove that they have a code which Babraku has broken and they can go to any length to tie loose ends? Or do they just feel Babaraku knows too much to be trusted? Is it that those behind the sect are bent on destabilizing the country and wants to eliminate any probable avenue of negotiation that can possibly lead to a peaceful resolution? Obasanjo said in the interview in which he denied going for negotiation that “A group of people cannot just come together and start fighting and bombing. They are not mad people. Something must be responsible for their action; that is what we need to find out,”

Did he find out the true reason behind Boko Haram’s aggression attacks? Political, religion ethnic or a mixture of all three? Can you ever negotiate a favorable win-win outcome with a terrorist group? The president said he knows the sponsors of the sect, then what is he waiting for, are they untouchable? Who are those behind President Jonathan as his god father(s)? Who are those trying to make Nigeria Ungovernable? If the presidency is aware of the people trying to set the nation on fire, why play politics with the lives of the Innocent? Why cant the people of Nigeria rise up and say we have had enough we are starting an Arab style revolution?

It is clear that no sane society has ever successfully negotiated with any terrorist group with a lasting win-win solution for both parties, even the amnesty granted the Niger –Delta militants is a temporary solution, more like postponing the evil days. The solution seems to be for the stake holders to rise up to the occasion and take the bull by the horn and aggressively address issues on ground without playing any form of politics or postponing the evil days in any way as this is bound to tick as a time bomb on which the entire nation is sitting.

How long can we stay together as a Nation? Are we really meant to be together? Are we better off together or apart? The entity called Nigeria is a failed state and if nothing drastic is done about it now, then the prediction of an imminent bloody disintegration will become a reality. The bitter truth is that the principal political powers are most probably playing politics with the lives of innocent Nigerians like pawns being sacrificed in a chess game.