Throbs of Asari’s War Drums.

by Mahmoon Baba-Ahmed.
Nigeria is no longer a land of milk and honey, having been transformed into a play ground for all sorts of villains where tears and blood flow freely. Its blazing glory is growing fainter by the day, giving way to a pall of misery and uncertainly. It is equally shrouded in despair, distrust and despondency with no vista of hope for imminent recovery. It was possible under such distressing circumstances for vices to thrive and for the government to become ineffectual and indecisive enough to achieve its primary objectives. For these reasons, therefore, anarchy is gradually setting in, with everybody doing what he likes without let or hindrance even as the incumbent administration is progressively mired in incompetence and ineffectiveness. 

It can therefore be rightly argued that President Goodluck Jonathan has lost grip of the prevailing situation in the country which has accentuated the prevalence of terror and the attendant unrest. He had proved to be totally incapable of arresting the sad state of affairs rendering the nation and its people laughing stock in the comity of nations. In grappling with this circumstance he was found to be either complacent in acting resolutely to stamp out such iniquities or is complicit in their commission. 

How else can one convincingly interpret Jonathan’s disturbing silence over the seditious acts perpetrated in the Nigeria Delta area where he hails from? His Ijaw kinsmen in Bayelsa State and the Ogoni tribesmen in neighboring Rivers State have embarked on subversive and treasonable acts by contemplating separatist moves to guarantee their people self government based on universal spirit of self determination. The two communities have hoisted their pro-autonomy flags, composed their anthem and rolled out their manifestoes.

These include controlling fifty percent of the derivative oil wealth by abrogating what they called the lopsided revenue sharing formula and bringing to an end the regime of carting the entire oil proceeds to central coffers after which they are apportioned meager portion of what was rightly their birthright. Clearly these acts are rebellious and grossly unconstitutional and their perpetrators ought to be apprehended and appropriately prosecuted. But apparently President Jonathan, whose responsibility it was to preserve the sanctity of Nigeri’as constitution and to also protect its provisions from degradation and infringement, was vacillating. He was totally muffled and lacked an ability to recognize clearly and intuitively the complexity of the impending catastrophe. 

What that has obviously shown was that President Jonathan is unfocussed and undaunted by the grim prospect of Nigeria’s disintegration, hence abandoning it to suffer a cruel fate dictated by instability and insecurity. That is evidenced by the fact that the binding ties of its unity are weakening, and in course of time will snap under the agonizing strain of aggressive patriotism based on prejudiced loyalty to an intolerable cause.

News of unpleasant happenings emanating from the Niger Delta area is disconcerting. That clearly shows that activities of militant tribal groups are pushing the already precarious situation to the limit. Chief Asari Dokubo that sworn enemy of whatever is northern, has been threatening fire and brimstone, spoiling for war with the north, which he said would be prosecuted to ensure total destruction of the region and the extinction of its constituents. His well structured organization, Niger Delta Volunteer Force NDVF, is the precursor of similar outfits that mushroomed in the area purposely to lend credence to the struggle for autonomy of the so-called minority ethnic groups in the South-south zone within a sovereign state. They have now found their bearing and voices and are poised to execute their threats of secession.

By his utterances and body language, Asari Dokubo is tactfully reeling out the agenda of accelerating the disintegration of Nigeria which the ethnic groupings in the south-south zone have been nurturing for long. If they failed to expel a section of northern region, in a military insurrection sponsored by Great Ogboru and his cohorts, under an intrepid northern officer, Gideon Orkar, they can at least organize a pull out from the federation, so that each ethnic nationality can go its own way.

Now in considering problems confronting President Jonathan particularly the security challenge posed by the activities of his pro-self-government kinsmen, and his glaring inability to tackle them effectively, one is bound to predict that Nigeria under Jonathan is fast slipping into rebellion and disorder. Allowing the continuation of that ugly trend could compound the President’s unmitigated problems and amplify his shortcomings. It is indeed pitiful to realize how Jonathan’s government excuses frivolities and overlook bigger challenges. 

It is a pity how Jonathan’s kinsmen are making things difficult for him by making the country ungovernable for him only to turn round and make some people the scapegoats of their reprehensible acts. They boast of bringing the President into power but discreetly thwart his effort to succeed by unnecessary distraction and denying him the necessary support to accomplish his objectives. A handful of such indefatigable hacks hang around President Jonathan making him ill at ease and unable to take firm and constructive decision. Interestingly most of them are from the President’s ethnic stock. 

Invariably such men are more of a liability than tangible political asset politician, yet he could not get rid of their menacing pestilence, allowing them sufficient leverage to make or mar situations. This can be adduced from their frantic effort to actualize the long standing ambition of the south-south people for acquiring self-governing status through illegal means. No doubt that was an objective that will not only put paid to President Jonathan’s checkered political career but will also occasion disastrous destiny for the country. It is therefore incumbent for President Jonathan to exercise his powers by dealing squarely and decisively with strident calls for unnecessary belligerency and gratuitous revolution by muffling the throbs of Asari Dokubo’s drums of war.