Goodluck Jonathan must learn from Obama and act swiftly
Between last Friday, May 30 and Sunday, June 1, 2014, some ECOWAS leaders assembled in Accra. According to press reports, the main items on the agenda for that meeting was Nigerian’s Boko Haram attacks and the hostilities in Mali.
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In Mali, there has been no peace since 2012 when the country’s armed forces staged a coup against the President, Amadou Toumani Toure. As late as May 17, the Tuareg rebels and other rebels battled the armed forces in their attempt to regain control of the northern part of the country.
For Nigeria, the agenda was a problem which began in 2009 but no serious action had been taken until it had blown out of proportion. The act of Boko Haram an Islamic state in Nigeria, where the strict Sharia will be in practice.
Boko Haram is reported to have killed over 10,000 since its inception, with a number of properties and communities burnt down in several raids, yet it seemed that the Nigerian government and its armed forces had been sleeping with very little action.
Nigeria has the biggest armed forces in West Africa and they are believed to be the strongest armed forces in the sub-region. So the question is, how can the biggest and strongest armed forces be beaten by a small insurgency, and for five years, generals, brigadiers-generals, colonels and other officers some with home-grown and protected moustache and pot-bellies, continue to wine and dine while the President and his ministers continue to give conflicting messages.
Since April 15, this year, more than 276 female students from the government secondary school in the town of Chibok in the Borno State were taken hostage by Boko Haram. By June 15, it would have been two months since these girls had been held by the Islamic Jihadist group.
Funny messages
There have been many funny messages from the Nigerian Armed Forces and the government, most of them very conflicting and disturbing. When Boko Haram demanded a swap of the girls with 100 of its militants detained by the government, two senior government ministers contradicted themselves – one said they (government) would not negotiate with terrorists to be almost immediately followed by another saying the government was considering the offer.
The Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, was finally quoted as saying he would not negotiate with terrorists and that he would find the girls and release them. Perhaps, his optimism was based on the statement by the Nigerian army officers that they knew where the girls were being held. But if they know where the girls are, what stops them from going to release them while their parents continue to live in sorrow?
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Until the Accra meeting, leaders of the West African sub-region had only joined the chorus being sang by international leaders and movements – ‘release the girls’ – without any concrete action.
Usually, all countries say “we won’t negotiate with terrorists”, yet they do when their nationals and state interests are at stake. On many occasions, the United States of America had loudly and repeatedly stated that it would never negotiate with terrorists groups. But the reality is that America has and always negotiate with groups it terms terrorists when American interests or citizens are in danger.
Only last Saturday, a US newspaper, The Washington Post, reported that a US soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was taken hostage by the Taliban in 2009 in Afghanistan was exchanged for five, not one, Afghan detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the detention centre operated by America in Cuba.
According to Associated Press report in April this year, about two dozen officials at the US State and Defence departments, the military’s Central Command, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Special Operations Command, the CIA and FBI had worked for all this while to get the soldier freed.
I hope Goodluck Jonathan has heard or read this news item that the almighty United States of America has swapped five Afghans it is holding for a single American, yet President Jonathan sits in his plush presidential palace in Abuja with his children and bluff “I’ll not negotiate with terrorists”.
Was it not Goodluck Jonathan who was captured on television and in newspapers happily enjoying the wedding ceremony of his daughter which was almost a state-run function? If that daughter was to be captured today by Boko Haram and the group demanded that 1000 of its members be exchanged for his daughter, he would quickly accept without blinking.
Diplomacy and negotiations
In diplomacy and peace negotiations, there is either a win-win or lose-lose for both sides. One thing I admire about America is that it will never abandon its citizens, no matter the cost. American governments usually secretly negotiate with all sorts of groups when American citizens or national interests are at stake, and once it gets what it wants, it finds a way to deal with the same terrorist groups.
It was time Goodluck Jonathan realised that the over 200 girls are Nigerian citizens loved by their parents just like he loves his children, one of whose recent wedding he joyfully participated in.
Jonathan must start serious negotiations with Boko Haram for the release of the girls. His government and armed forces can later find a lasting peaceful solution for the insurgency, instead of his belligerent but empty posture.
The Nigerian Armed Forces say they know where the girls are, meaning they are sure they are alive. The sensible thing for Nigeria to do now, as America has just done for Sgt Bergdahl, is to swap the 100 Boko Haram detainees for the girls to relief their parents of this unnecessary agony they have found themselves in for the last two months.
Like Jonathan, his colleague West African leaders talked the same in Accra, while Obama, the most powerful President of the world, was negotiating with the Talibans for one American. In the usual hypocritical manner, all the leaders returned from Accra to the embrace of their daughters and sons waiting for them at home, while over 200 families wallow in agony.
PS: Mr Inspector-General of Police, having openly accepted that the Police Service had done some wrong in recent past, would you please respond to the children and widow of Adjei Akpor, the 22-year-old man your men killed at Adenta on January 6, 2014, and give them justice? This is the 21st week since the man was killed. Sir, I’m still waiting.
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The author is a Journalist and Political Scientist. He is the Head of the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Pentecost University College, Accra. - fasado@hotmail.com