By Gimba Kaka


Let's face it; Nigeria can't, and is
structurally unfit to, fight terrorism. A
people who cannot run a democracy long
thirsted for are only qualified to be the yes-
men of colonial governments, which is
what the so-called heroes of our past had done, for which they even earned their
Queen's medals Long before we realised that the foundations
that hold our mud-built nationhood is badly
done-bad is not irreparable. But how reparable
are our security lapses, since the coming of the
militants? Amnesty, yes amnesty I agree, is the
easiest way to hamper our exploding mortality rate. As I reflected on the state of our despair in the
rough hands of Boko Haram insurgents,
especially the killings in Baga town in northern
Borno when two elephants, the task force and
the terrorists, fought, I was attracted to the
misadventures of the Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida. He remains the only Nigerian reporter, as far as
I know, who has reported extensively on the
psyche and ideology and militancy of the sect.
In a sane country, with brains for security and
intelligence, our bogus security votes may be
invested in this journalist. Unfortunately, Nigeria couldn't protect him,
hence he fled the country. Just like that! Of course, I too wouldn't have given exile a
second thought if I were in his dilemma. 185
citizens killed and our world is still the same.
NTA is still airing pro-government propagandas
only the slowpoke watch. The Nasir El-Rufais are still tweeting some
useless budget statistics to their ego-massaging
crowds. And the Dino Melayes, drama queens,
are still screaming that assassins had come for
them and that everybody is just their
antagonist. And the Femi Fani-Kayodes are still writing some poems of the semi-literate and
bragging over these intellectual delusions. And the activists of past student unionism days
are here boasting over who spent the most
days in General Babangida's prison. These are
the activists who have chosen to fight for these
people, yet all they could offer are tweets and
status updates. None makes an attempt to ensure media
coverage and exacting of the massacres; none
bothers to really task the government with
upholding the sanctity of our lives; and,
perhaps, none bothers to call the attention of
international human rights bodies, which is what we are good at, to Baga; just a few taps on
keyboards and keypads from their air-
conditioned rooms and offices… dazall! Their brand of activism is only to tweet an insult
on the presidency and how their absence in this
cabinet, whereas they were no better in their
days, seems to be a loss. How we embrace their
Out-of-Office syndrome as solidarity with our
kind I don't know! Ahmad Salkida's latest interview with blogger
Abang Mercy takes us on a soul-depressing
journey down the precipice of a misfortune
initiated by an armed circus that calls itself
Nigerian security organisation. The uncontrollable storm that is now Boko
Haram militancy was, according to Salkida, born
with the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of
the sect, alongside "hundreds of sect members
and other innocent bystanders" under a
seeming conspiracy championed by the then Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and
taken over by the Federal Government. "I guess that crisis in July 2009 was never
meant to be prevented by the government of
President Umar Yar'adua," says Salkida, who
also says he had unrestricted access to
Mohammed Yusuf and was even to meet him on
the day he was executed but for unjustified detention by agents of our security circus. That was the beginning of a war for which the
sect reacted the wrong way, with reckless
monstrosity; the killings of innocent Nigerians,
churchgoers, social development workers,
dissenting Muslims and other non-aligned
citizens, all in retaliation of the extra-judicial killings of their leader and members. They have
carried out evils which have outdone the
jackboot attempts by the Federal Government
to stamp them out. I think the Nigerian security circus must be
regretting the unfortunate day they provoked a
downpour whereas they had no umbrellas. The
rain, however, has beaten us enough, and, yes,
we need to find a way to resolve our differences
and unscrew the lids off our egos. You can never fight a man who is ready to die!
It is a good thing that the Federal Government
hides its inability to crush who it earlier branded
"ghosts" under a bogus amnesty. But is Boko
Haram being approached the right way? Hear Abang Mercy and Ahmad Salkida: Abang: Do you agree for Amnesty to Boko Haram as proposed by some politicians and
religious leaders? Salkida: If you read my last interviews with Abul
Qaqa, he has always said that if amnesty
means forgiveness then they are the ones that
should forgive government for the wrong done
to them in 2009. According to them many
Nigerians don't see what they undergo instead it is only what they do that is easily shown in
the media. And I think issues as sensitive as amnesty
suppose to have been tabled first through a
trusted mediator who has access to the
leadership of the sect before you take it to the
media. The sect as I understand heard about
the amnesty on the pages of newspapers. Abang, how would you feel if you heard about
your marriage proposition with a man from a
third party and not from the man? I think you will feel irritated at best. These past
years I have been struggling to really
understand the brand of marijuana smoked by
the occupants of Aso Rock. Everything from them has been flawed and
logically dumb, from their proposed (sorry,
partial) removal of fuel subsidy to the imposition
of Cassava Bread project on uninterested
citizens. How can anyone organise a wedding fanfare
without the consent of the groom-which in this
scary case is Boko Haram? While it's morally impossible for me to
sympathise with Boko Haram, counting the
deaths it recorded in its rash of retaliation, we
must remind the members of our security circus
to be wary of the manner they kill innocent
citizens. Extra-judicial killings, and the enjoyed impunity,
are the reasons we are in this mess. This is not
the time for expressive prose; this is the time to
resist having our intelligences turned into volley
balls. First, which Boko Haram is the
government offering amnesty? Second, Ahmad Salkida has declared that any other, including
the so-called Abdulaziz's, aside from Mallam
Shekau-led group is a fraud. Third, if the
government proposes a genuine amnesty, what
happened in Baga? Fourth, if Boko Haram was
in the know of amnesty, and has agreed to be part of it, we need an explanation for the Baga
massacre! I feel that Ahmad Salkida knows more than he
can ever express in an interview. And being a
victim of our police/military brutalities, it's
understandable that he does not trust our gun-
toting men anymore. So long as the soldiers and the policemen treat
every innocent citizen as suspects and those
killed as collateral damages, for so long is our
fight against terrorism lost. The boy who lost his
mother is already an enemy of the state, and
his aunties and sisters his supporters. That is what ill-planned counter-terrorism showoffs
cause. Let whoever labels Ahmad Salkida a Boko
Haram member do so, but this mess can only
be redeemed by the Ahmad Salkidas, not by a
Cabal tasked with doing what they are good at-
arguing in air-conditioned conference rooms
and hiring small boys like us to ghostwrite their exchanges of "exotic" grammars. May God save
us from us! By Gimba Kakanda

Source : m.naij.com/news/32310.html

But the community harbored terrorists