TERRORISTS: THE PAMPERED CHILDREN OF THE NORTH NIGERIA

by Emmanuel Chigozie Osuchukwu

Nigeria is presently in a dangerous impasse and there are many who believe that the country is on the throes of disintegration. If the mindless insurgency and bloodletting ravaging particularly the Northern part of the country is not enough evidence, the ongoing national conference is a clear indication that all is not well. The primary question is how Nigeria got to this dreadful position – to a point where it is safer to live in Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia. Thanks to a new phenomenon called Boko Haram. Then we ask again, who or what is Boko Haram? I can only at this point say that it is a faceless organisation that we are unsure who they really are except that they are predominantly people drawn from the Northern part of Nigeria, with a clear proclivity towards Islamic fundamentalism and a violent disapproval of mainstream Nigerian, albeit western values. We could also say a sort of rebels without cause.


There is nothing really surprising about the emergence of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria. Many commentators saw it coming and many were condemned for ever predicting that Nigeria will come to such a state. Hence today the Nigerian press is full of comments such as: ‘serves the North right’; ‘they should have seen it coming’; ‘they brought it on themselves’ etc. It is not that such commentators are not appalled by the wanton killing of innocent women and children or grieve over the senseless killing of now mostly Northern Nigerian youths who could easily have become tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers, teachers and footballers. But many Nigerians have grown up to believe that the North somehow does not disapprove of senseless killing of innocent lives and we have strong reasons stretching over many decades to assume so. The only surprise is that those who should have anticipated it are the very ones expressing surprise and blaming others for the pitiable state of particularly Northern Nigeria and the country generally. Some supposedly knowledgeable Northern opinions have gone as far as accusing the federal government of President Jonathan of masterminding the ongoing killings in the north. But let us put Boko Haram and the problem of the North in its true perspective.