[size=14pt]Boko Haram a “political tool” ?[/size]
On September 1, 2011 · In People & Politics , 
By Ochereome Nnanna

The bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja by a suicide attacker (it was clearly a suicide attack) has resurrected the South South People’s Assembly, SSPA, or at least some of its elements.

A day after the August 27, 2011 hit which claimed over 23 lives, the SSPA, which has been silent of late met in Port Harcourt under its Chairman, Ambassador Matthew Mbu. Retired Justice Adolphus Karibi-White and Dr Kalada Iruenabere later joined Mbu to issue a statement reiterating the widely held notion that today’s Boko Haram is more a political tool than the rag-tag group founded and led by the late Mohammed Yusuf.

The group described those allegedly behind today’s Boko Haram as “power hungry merchants and economic parasites” that have been orchestrating violence in Northern Nigeria. They warned that the group would lose more if they pushed the country to the brink of war, adding: “Let all those sponsoring these acts of terrorism know that while it is easy to tell the beginning of a war, no one can tell its end”. They also added they do not believe that the Boko Haram of today is the same as the original one led by Yusuf.

If you examine the Boko Haram phenomenon at close quarters, tying up some loose ends in our recent political history, you might be led to this same conclusion. When Yusuf came up with his group in 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua was still fit enough to order a military campaign that squelched it with the leader captured alive and extra-judicially executed.

Between July 2009 and the beginning of the 2010/2011 political season, all was calm from Boko Haram. In the build-up to the April general elections of this year, there was an intense series of power struggles between some political leaders from the North and President Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan was running for president on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, platform, but some members of the party from the North reminded him that Yar’ Adua occupied only about 29 months out of the “rightful” eight years of the “turn of the North” in the party’s rotational presidency/zoning mechanism. When the President ignored this argument, first a Northern gang-up against his candidacy was contrived, but it failed to stop him at the PDP primaries. Majority of the North’s voters lined up behind General Muhammadu Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, for the presidential election which Jonathan won.

At the National Stakeholders Conference of the Northern Leaders Political Forum, NPLF, on December 16, 2010 attended by the who-is-who of the Forum, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and consensus candidate of the Malam Adamu Ciroma group threatened as follows: “Let me, again, send another message to the leadership of our country, especially our political leadership: Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable”.

It was after the conclusion of the PDP primaries in Abuja on Thursday, January 13, 2011 that the Boko Haram gradually resumed its gruesome comeback. It attacked police, military and security personnel and facilities in Maiduguri and environs. This intensified after Jonathan won the presidential election in April 2011 and in June the hit on police headquarters in Abuja prompted the ongoing military response. Unlike in the past when military expeditions quickly brought such menace to heel, the activities of the new Boko Haram have actually graduated to suicide attacks.

Today’s “Boko Haram” is faceless and has no known leaders. It is more like what the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) became after its leader, Henry Okah, was arrested. But even at that, we still heard of such other “generals” as Tompolo, Boyloaf, Ateke Tom, Farrah Dagogo and others, all masquerading behind “MEND”, with “Cynthia White” or “Jomo Gbomo” signing their press releases.

Structurally, the new “Boko Haram” does not have a semblance of other groups around the world linked to Al Qaeda. The Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, was founded by Mokhtar Belmokhtar in Algeria after it pulled away from its original identity with Hassan Hattab’s Salafist Group for Call and Combat, SGPC. Its theatres of operation include Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Senegal.

The Somali Al Shabaab militia also affiliated to Al Qaeda has as its leaders Sheikh Mukhtar Robow and Hassan Dahir Aweys. Leading a faction of foreign fighters is Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr. And of course, the original Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was well known even before he was captured. By general tradition, Islamic militants never conceal the identity of their leaders. Even when Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2 this year, his successor and former number two, Ayman Zawahiri, was unveiled to the world. These militant groups cannot tactically afford to hide the identity of their leaders because the suicide fighters need their “inspiration”; and the disclosure of identity is a statement in courage and defiance.

But the new “Boko Haram” has no known leader or leaders, not even one with an assumed name. Their mode of operation is more like a copycat of MEND’s methods. The thinking pattern seems to be to copy closely the MEND’s method through which it was able to wrest the presidency for Jonathan, their kinsman. There are those who allege that should this group succeed in, somehow or the other, driving Jonathan out of power and a Northerner finds himself in Aso Villa the attacks might cease almost immediately, just as MEND’s has since done.

The possible political nature of the new “Boko Haram” campaigns appears also justified by the containment posture the Presidency seems to have adopted. Spokespersons of security agencies long ago disclosed that they knew those behind the bombings, though conclusive evidence was still being gathered for a watertight case. Perhaps, the Presidency is hoping that since this method was adopted to escort the “Sharia” phenomenon to expire itself, it will also work in this case. Perhaps, it is being reasoned that a frontal engagement with those behind the attacks could backfire politically.

Whatever the issue is, it needs to be noted that the nation may be brought to the brink of ethnic and religious disaster if the perpetrators of the bombings take their sick venture beyond certain bounds. If this happens, then nobody can predict what will follow, as indeed, those who start wars hardly know how they will end.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/boko-haram-a-political-tool/

[b]Security threat called AFRICOM - by Kamati kaTate



You might not know or heard about AFRICOM. If you saw the name once, you might have dismissed it thinking AFRICOM is a new company to sell cement like Afrisam. Some might conclude that since it has a ‘com’ at the end, maybe it is something online.

These are wrong conclusions. At the end of this column, you will know what AFRICOM is, its activities and why it is a security threat.

AFRICOM, standing for Africa Command, was established by blood covered former US President George W. Bush and his Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. You will notice that Robert Gates, has continued with his duties under Obama who misled many of you except me. The idiots believed AFRICOM’s raison d’être terrorism in Africa. I would not expect you to know AFRICOM’s mission statement since many of you don’t read.

Allow yourself an Education as I make it known that the AFRICOM mission statement is “United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagements through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.” Meaning AFRICOM is a fundamental tool of US Foreign Policy.

We will return to it later. It’s ok that you didn’t know, even your leaders, many without education, didn’t know. AFRICOM is headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart in Germany and is led by General William Ward.

Why and how is AFRICOM a security threat to Africa? Firstly, its mission suggests so. In a 2009 journal article on Contemporary Security Policy, Laurie Nathan exposes four key fundamental principalities as regards to AFRICOM. The author correctly argues that AFRICOM, in undermining state sovereignty, will “alter the regional balance of power, and be divisive and destabilizing…It would undermine the unity and collective decision-making.” AFRICOM was to be located in Africa, General Ward probably plans to locate it in countries such as Botswana and Namibia with pro-western leadership.

Locating AFRICOM in Africa is a military opportunity for America to overthrow African governments and to attack countries seen as anti-American. Since African and American interest never gels, it would mean that AFRICOM would pursue American interest, on an African soil, at the expense of African interest. Those with sharp medulla oblongata know that AFRICOM is undermining the African Union (AU) and its Peace and Security Council which deals with Peace and Security on the continent. We might as well sell the AU to Americans.

I had mentioned American foreign policy. In this domain, Nathan (2009) sees American foreign policy in light of its “unsympathetic attitude to the liberation movements, its unwavering support for Israel despite the illegal occupation of Palestine, its exceptionalism in relation to the International Criminal Court, and its long history of unilateralism, aggression, and disdain for international law …pursues its own interests at the expense of others, and is willing to deploy force offensively to advance those interests.” So if AFRICOM is to achieve its mission statement we discussed earlier, Africa must support and embrace the above as discussed by Nathan.

As your teacher, I need to share recent information made available to us by Wikileaks.

The communication cable dated on Monday, 11 January 2010, at 17h30 UTC, indicates a meeting of AFRICOM Commander’s discussion with French officials on Aqim and other African Security Threats. The meeting, held in Paris, was attended by President Sarkozy’s Diplomatic Advisor Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy’s Military Advisor, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, and others briefed U.S. AFRICOM Commander General William E. Ward. Wikileaks has also revealed to us how AFRICOM planned the assassination of legendary RG Mugabe and the fall of his government through the so-called Operation Shumba (damn bastard, may God bless Zimbabwe).

AFRICOM Commander General Ward visited Namibia in April 2010.

Reading his report was so disgusting in many ways. He referred to my country as “Southwest Africa.” Cleary Americans still use lenses of Cold War geopolitics.

General Ward met with Health Minister Dr. Kamwi, they apparently discussed how AFRICOM “could help the Namibian military and U.S. country team efforts to assist in health related issues.” At a meeting with the Ministry of Safety and Security, they discussed supporting the then “upcoming Namibian police visit to Ramstein Air Base in Southwestern Germany.”

The American was dignified with a fifteen minute appearance on Good Morning Namibia, with Kazembire Zemburuka, in order to brainwash, hypnotize and shower us with American propaganda. General Ward met Education Minister Abraham Iyambo to discuss the school AFRICOM will build in northern Namibia. Lastly and shockingly, he met with the then Defence Deputy Minister Lempy Lucas. He said “it was very gratifying to hear Ms. Lucas praise our bilateral relationship and her wish to see Africa Command play a greater role in military-to-military relations in the future.”(what?). A close friend said General Ward met significant others not mentioned.

These cosmetic initiatives are not genuine, they devil’s initiative are never genuine. These are attempts to win the hearts and the minds of the Namibian people.

What is in for them anyway? Also monitor and analyze the work of MCA very closely.
There is no good devil, the good devil is the dead one.

This is enough for today, add me on Facebook for a more robust engagement of these issues.

‘Shaamonathana omuti nomuti’ – We shall meet again

• Kamati kaTate is a Community Mobilizer whose area of interest is observing Politics as both an art of the possible and as a medium of distribution of resources as to who gets what, when, where and how. kamatikatate@gmail.com[/b]

Political or no political, where is our security? No excuse for these silly deeds.

Yes! I would say it  is political as well as religious. Political in the sense that the group is asking for their own persons to be in hem of political leadership in conformity with their beliefs and ideologies. On the religion side, it is fighting to institutionalize Sharia laws which are in accordance with the Quran and the name has a religious undertone of Western education is infidels' - meaning Western education is unlawful because it is not Islamic!

<quote>

But the new “Boko Haram” has no known leader or leaders, not even one with an assumed name. Their mode of operation is more like a copycat of MEND’s methods. The thinking pattern seems to be to copy closely the MEND’s method through which it was able to wrest the presidency for Jonathan, their kinsman. There are those who allege that should this group succeed in, somehow or the other, driving Jonathan out of power and a Northerner finds himself in Aso Villa the attacks might cease almost immediately, just as MEND’s has since done.

</quote>

This is quite shocking and hard to believe that SoutH-South leaders in a meeting to revive political significance will make a statement such as this public. It shows arrogance and lack of forethought.

I didn't hear the say anything of the October 1st bombing by MEND. Where is that in the context of subsequent eruptions by Boko. Could Boko have interpreted that action as a challenge? Where's the analysis on that relationship?

On Kamati's AFRICOM, I wrote a post long time ago on the action and interest of Eric Prince (Blackwater) in his dealings with a sub-contracted security group whose members are former Apartheid squad members to combat militancy and wipe out al shabaab in Somalia.

Mr Prince is so hungry and eager to get in Nigeria on a security detail that I won't under-estimate his involvement covertly to forment security threats and stimulate response to contract his services.

When Bush was in power and Rumsfeld was defense secretary, Prince lobbied aggressively to enter Delta and wipe out MEND. The Abu Ghraib and other problems beset Rumsfeld at the time and Blackwater was not successful in its bid.

I'm not concluding or alleging anything but the knowlledge is a piece worth shining light on.

Really? So politicians are paying people to kill themselves or what?

Boko Haram are religious fundamentalists. Simple as A B C

Anyone who thinks the sole purpose of Boko Haram is religious must be either deluded or not observant of current events. It is beyond obvious that it's the Northern Elite sponsoring these guys and i'll cite two latest examples :

(1)The Boko Haram members on their blog site threatened to constitute more mayhem if one of the Northern top politicians (A speaker if i remember correctly) wasn't released by the SSS. This was a man who was arrested as a suspected sponsor of terrorism and the very terrorists threatened to break him out of jail and the end, the government ordered this man's immediate release. WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU? Hmmm?

(2)Few days ago, GEJ ordered the release of the non-violent protest group members (MASSOB) after their unlawful arrest,detention and jailing. Their "crime" was gathering in large numbers to pay homage to Ojukwu (As if that isn't done all over the country). The South East was already getting restless and wondering why this would happen to them whereas the very terrorists called Boko Haram who kill,maim,bomb and decapitate people to pieces are being NEGOTIATED with via a govt that is already promising AMNESTY! Is that fair? As GEJ ordered their release,  a northerner governor ordered the release of ALL BOKO HARAM SUSPECTS IN DETENTION all over the state. Imagine that! How can you compare a non-violent protest group with a well established terrorist group? What do both of them have in common? Hmmm? WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU? You don't need look very far to know who are the sponsors of Boko Haram.

Furthermore, anyone who is observant would have noticed that the Boko Haram violence skyrocketed IMMEDIATELY after GEJ was declared winner of the last presidential elections. What does that tell you? Hmmmm? The very Northern Elite who advised and supported Obasanjo to use brutal force in crushing the Niger Delta militants are the same people advising GEJ to consider the demands of Boko Haram! Imagine that!

WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU? ?

Ene Izon bina otu-ama. A kileme. Tamara okaribo namme. Meme wefie memime.

Nigeria's intelligence services have confirmed meetings and dalliances between Al Qaeda elements and Boko Haram.
Suicide Bombers are being utilized for the first time in Nigeria!

Yet people are still talking about Boko Haram being a 'political tool'!

Nigerians are the best at playing the ostrich and burying their heads in sand. The sooner we treat these guys as the religious terrorists they are, the better for us all.  Who will pay a Nigerian to blow himself up for money?

texazzpete:

Nigeria's intelligence services have confirmed meetings and dalliances between Al Qaeda elements and Boko Haram.
Suicide Bombers are being utilized for the first time in Nigeria!

Yet people are still talking about Boko Haram being a 'political tool'!

Nigerians are the best at playing the ostrich and burying their heads in sand. The sooner we treat these guys as the religious terrorists they are, the better for us all.  Who will pay a Nigerian to blow himself up for money?

Do they beleive it when they read issues like that from the intelligence services? They will cry it is propaganda.

Nigreians can dribble around issues.This is clearly a religious thing.Without us believing this,we will never be able to make an head way.

Anybody who still think Boko Haram is NOT a terrorist organisation should examine his head. The northern political elites are even more afraid than any group. Look at how Kaduna was deserted by those Alhaji. Most whom were caught sneaking out of the country.

The actions of few should not be used as yard stick, as we have notice how serving senators and ex-governors shamelessly apologising to Boko Haram on pages of news paper.

As it is, you have to delcare overtly or covertly in support of Boko Haram in the north if you want to survive. The links between Boko haram, Al-qeada and Al-shabbab is now very glaring and adequate measures must be put in place to curtail this sqaulid.

The few people protesting against the Boko haram activities in the north are either dead or mysteriously disaapear. The threat is real and should be treated as TERRORISM.

boko haram is political from religious angle

Boko Haram is a Northern political tool.

Is Beaf suggesting that Boko Haram will be given a free reign of terror once it can be proved that it is a political tool  ? At this rate, the international community may decide to select a Prefect to oversee Nigeria before the incompetence of the country's leadership gets out of hand and starts to affect their interests negatively.

My question is" If Buhari or Atiku happens to be our present head of states,will there be any attacks from BOKO MADNESS?"

Yar'adua was President and there was Boko Haram madness. It took a 3 day battle with a combined squad of military and mobile police men to subdue the sect and kill hundreds of their members. It was after this battle that their leader was captured before being killed extra-judicially by the police. This in fact is the last major battle fought on Nigerian soil.

Facts are facts read about Boko Haram madness in 2009 under Yar'adua here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Nigerian_sectarian_violence

Don't let the likes of Beaf fool you. It is GEJ's administration's lily-liveredness that is making these Boko Haram guys bolder and ever-so-more dangerous.

The international community are moving-in to ensure that it does not spread to their countries and our President thinks he is co-operating with them to stop the bombings in Nigeria. I laugh in sadness, they will only protect their interests; not ours!

We need to make this government know that they cannot play chess with our lives!

Yes and No


Yes because politicians could use them as a tool and dump them when needed.

No because these terrorists are ideological fanatics who are fighting Jihad for a cause.

They both ( politicians and terrorists ) will eventually destroy each other.

It was set up as a political weapon

Now it has become independent political military set up by a political ring

Anybody that does not understand what is going is truly BLIND.

What part of JIHAD do these people in self-denial not understand

From Sharia by stealth with this so called 'holy' banking to the orchestrated violence in JOS, to the Boko Haram in the far North, you think these are ONLY political issues

Go and read , guys and gals and come off facebook and twitter

And then the Boko Haram said the civilians are not their targets, meanwhile, the civilians had always been their targets. And then they rob banks and carted away large sum of money. One would have thot they will throw the money to masses, but not at all. where are the stolen cash.!!!

"

If you examine the Boko Haram phenomenon at close quarters, tying up some loose ends in our recent political history, you might be led to this same conclusion. When Yusuf came up with his group in 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua was still fit enough to order a military campaign that squelched it with the leader captured alive and extra-judicially executed.

"

Agreed but what did Jonathan do since Yar Adua's death?

Here is a quote from one of the daily papers 2 days ago;

[quote]In the case of Boko Haram menace, for example, the facts and the logic of the involvement of the former Governor of Borno State Alhaji Modu Sheriff, with the sect's leadership before the extrajudicial murder of its leader Mohammed Yusuf, provide a clue to its possible solution. [b]Yet because the former Governor played a key role in securing much of the votes in the North East for President Goodluck in the last presidential election, all indications are that Abuja has neither the will nor the intension to pursue that clue.[/b]Instead the authorities have been too keen on pursuing the easier scorched-earth policy of collective punishment on the residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital, [b]when it is obvious that such a policy is no solution to the problem.[quote][/quote][/b]

Their activities are not justifiable whether political or religious .

definitely its political to distract the present government.i have three unconfirmed suspects from the north:IBB,ATIKU AND BUHARI, but our security chiefs are looking the other way .may be its because of their powerful nature.but where do we go from here? i still feel the present government is not deterred BECAUSE power supply in my lagos area has SIGNIFICANTLY improved.

"Whatever the issue is, it needs to be noted that the nation may be brought to the brink of ethnic and religious disaster if the perpetrators of the bombings take their sick venture beyond certain bounds. If this happens, then nobody can predict what will follow, as indeed, those who start wars hardly know how they will end."

Instead of issuing threats as if they themselves are not Nigerians the SSPA should advise the President on what to do. Dismantling the country is never a solution for every serious problem that confronts a nation no matter how strong the rumours of conspiracy are . Every country has some tendency to dis-integrate because even within a household interests can differ between individuals. It is Obama's duty to keep the unity of the US, Cameron's duty to keep UK united, Zuma's duty to keep SA one and Jonathan's duty to hand over a United Nigeria to someone in the future. When there is weakness in leadership and poverty of ideas a clueless leader may be tempted to yield to agitation of egomaniacal thugs and he agrees to  supervise the dismantling of his command. [b]Such a leader will go down in history as a failure ,very weak and incapable of coping,thus retracting to a seemingly manageable enclave.[/b]It would be an abysmal failure for GEJ and his new country - Bayelsia , I suppose.

nagoma:

Instead of issuing threats as if they themselves are not Nigerians the SSPA should advise the President on what to do. Dismantling the country is never a solution for every serious problem that confronts a nation no matter how strong the rumours of conspiracy are . Every country has some tendency to dis-integrate because even within a household interests can differ between individuals. It is Obama's duty to keep the unity of the US, Cameron's duty to keep UK united, Zuma's duty to keep SA one and Jonathan's duty to hand over a United Nigeria to someone in the future. When there is weakness in leadership and poverty of ideas a clueless leader may be tempted to yield to agitation of egomaniacal thugs and he agrees to  supervise the dismantling of his command. [b]Such a leader will go down in history as a failure ,very weak and incapable of coping,thus retracting to a seemingly manageable enclave.[/b]It would be an abysmal failure for GEJ and his new country - Bayelsia , I suppose.

for how long are you going to keep killing and maiming yourself before you can understand the handwriting on the wall? do you want this to be like that of sudan before you start talking? on division of this country i stand.the north shares everything in common with north sudan and the rest of volatile arab world.

This is just the beginning of the consequences for voting PDP into power again

they are nothing but cultist who fights irresolute quarrels even within themselves


Now we have handed them the magic wand to waggle this nation into wanton terrorism

The bombing is a melody of dissatisfaction in the betrayal of PDP constitution by the PDP, if they are unfair within how can they be fair to the nation,


We need a party\ruler other than PDP after GEJ if we are still alive

Ayoobscom:

This is just the beginning of the consequences for voting PDP into power again

they are nothing but cultist who fights irresolute quarrels even within themselves


Now we have handed them the magic wand to waggle this nation into wanton terrorism

The bombing is a melody of dissatisfaction in the betrayal of PDP constitution by the PDP, if they are unfair within how can they be fair to the nation,


We need a party\ruler other than PDP after GEJ if we are still alive

HILARIOUS!

Regardless if the outfit is either religious or political, something significant must be done by the leaders in this country to put a stop to this group and every other bunch of cowboys bent on disrupting the peace of this nation.

Unfortunately our dear president is confuse, he still hasn't made any public address since last friday. All we hear is from his press secretary. What a faceless president we have.