SIMON KOLAWOLE: NATIONAL CONSENSUS NEEDED TO CAST OUT BOKO HARAM

We continue to view these Boko Haram thugs through Christian and Muslim lenses rather than see them for what they truly are: bloody-sucking terrorists from the pit of hell. No genuine Muslim should be proud of the activities of these demons. No genuine Christian should rejoice at the unending slaughter of the innocent. 

No true Nigerian should be happy that a section of this country has been turned to killing fields by deranged fanatics, who murder children and women with brainless fervour, who haul bombs into crowded churches and mosques.

For too long, we have failed to isolate these retarded adults and treat them as a different bunch of gangsters who are a threat to all of us Muslims, Christians, Northerners, Southerners, PDP, APC, Jonathan, Buhari, etc etc. When this whole madness began to unfold on a large scale, we chose to treat it as a religious or political problem. 

To many Muslims, it was a problem for Christians ─ until Boko Haram went past churches and started attacking emirs and mosques. To many Christians, it is "these Muslims who hate us but we can now see that even "these Muslims" hate fellow Muslims. The attack on the Central Mosque in Kano last Friday is as barbaric as the one on St. Theresa's Catholic Church, Madalla, on Christmas day in 2011.

To many Southerners, terrorism is a problem for Northerners. "Let them keep bombing themselves" is their terrible attitude. But they forget that the victims in Abuja, Nyanya, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Kano and elsewhere are full-blooded Nigerians from different tongues. "Let us divide Nigeria" is a chart-buster among some Southerners as if having blood-drinking terrorists next door is going to be a tea party. 

Ask Kenya about the al-Shabab menace in neighbouring Somalia.  Ask Turkey about the hazard of ISIS in Iraq. Ask Mali about the fall-outs from the fall of Muammar Ghaddafi in Libya. It is pure ignorance to think that leaving innocent Northerners at the mercy of these lunatics is a great idea when they will eventually share border with you if your dream of breaking up Nigeria comes true.

The politicisation of Boko Haram is absolutely odious and horrendous. On the one hand, the All Progressives Congress (APC) sees it as a publicity tool to win votes by highlighting how clueless the PDP-led government is. A party chieftain once said APC would end Boko Haram within three months if voted into power. That easy? 

On the other hand, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been trying to demonise APC as the sponsors of Boko Haram all because of 2015. And I keep saying: if PDP is sure APC is behind terrorism, is it not the job of government to arrest and prosecute the suspects? Does the PDP government have a game plan to defeat terror? Is the game plan working? That should be their preoccupation rather than demarketing APC.

For too long, we have had a wrong attitude towards Boko Haram. We underestimated the problem. We played politics with it. We have been pointing fingers back and forth. We have been propounding all sorts of senseless theories. The only theory that I understand, and I will continue to say this, is that Boko Haram is a committee of vampires. 

They display their insanity by hiding behind religion, but they easily lose the case when even Muslims become their prey. What point are they making by killing worshippers at a Jummat service? What God do they believe in that takes pleasure even in the death of Muslims like them? The only sensible conclusion is that these hooligans are not Muslims. They are terrorists.

What exactly do these guys want? I have been monitoring and analysing Boko Haram's pronouncements since the emergence of Abubakar Shekau as their leader in 2009. He has never suggested ceasefire or complained about poverty or lack of infrastructure. He has been incredibly consistence with his mission statement: to establish an Islamic caliphate and get rid of the infidels. 

Infidels, in this case, are not just Christians who, in any case, are their natural targets but Muslims who do not share their bestial brain. From the very beginning, he said he had a divine mandate to kill human beings "like chickens". He said the Nigerian system is anti-Islam and he had a divine call to cleanse the land. He has said this again and again and again.

If we are wise enough, it should be clear to all by now that we are not dealing with a religious problem, even if it has a religious content. We are not dealing with a political problem, even though they have a political message. We are not dealing with a regional problem, even if the North-East happens to be their base. 

We are dealing with a security problem. A national security problem. A problem that spares no one. We saw this problem start in the backyard of Maiduguri. It became a Borno problem. It became a regional problem. They started with swords and daggers. Now they are using bombs. They started with hit-and-run. Now they are in command of towns and villages.

If we are to learn from the pattern of insurgency around the world, what we are seeing is just an introduction. Nobody knows the next frontier. Nobody knows their next strategy. And nobody is safe. Nowhere is safe. That is why it hurts me to my bones when we play politics with this insurgency. It hurts me to my soul that we cannot see beyond our nose. 

It hurts me deep when we introduce 2015 and regionalism and bigotry into this unambiguous national security tragedy. What we have in our hands is, evidently, a copycat of Al-Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS, name them funded, equipped and motivated by forces who have a global terror agenda, headlined by Osama bin Laden in the last decade.

Fellow Nigerians, I am convinced beyond reasonable and unreasonable doubt that this Boko Haram lunacy can only be tackled when we take away the religious and political veil from our face. We need the buy-in of every Nigerian to confront this insanity. We need the political class across the divides. We need Nigerians of all religious persuasions. We need a national consensus to cast out these devils. They are not Muslims. They are terrorists.

PROF OGBONNAYA: BOKO HARAM IS A PURE CASE OF REBELLION

We had insurgency before in Zakibiam when Obasanjo was President and he drafted the army to quell it and that stopped. But Jonathan had no military background. Then the issue is what has our military been doing? 

When Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika was the Chief of Army Staff, the insurgency was not as high as it is today but I don’t know why they removed him. But since they removed him, the thing has gone from bad to worse. 

The thinking in the international community is that we did not handle Boko Haram with the iron hand it deserved at the initial stage. If we had taken a rapid and stringent military action at that time, we would have probably reduced insurgency in the North East.

Boko Haram is a pure case of rebellion. What happened when Biafra attempted to break away? They were invaded. Weren’t they? Is Boko Haram more fortified than the whole federation of Nigeria? 

Some say if full military action is taken in the affected areas there might be casualties among the innocent ones or civilians but what about when Biafra land was invaded? Were there not civilian casualties? Was a whole generation not wiped away, and almost genocides being committed?

I recommend full military action because Boko Haram has rejected the offer for negotiation, and nobody knows their agitation or agenda if not to Islamise Nigeria which is not possible and justifiable. 

Besides, they keep killing people like fowls every day.

MUHAMMADU SANUSI 11: WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED

We will never be intimidated into abandoning our religion, which is the intention of the attackers.

From all indications, the attackers have been planning this for at least two months.

KHALID ALIYU: ALL MUSLIM LEADERS NEED TO BRAINSTORM ON BOKO HARAM

I think it is very important that this matter be looked at with all purposes and intents, and with a very serious focus on efforts from the government which has the constitutional mandate to look after the security and welfare of the people.

We have called with the loudest of our voice on the government but up till this moment, we hear only mere speeches not matched with actions and efforts aimed at curtailing this scourge and epidemic threatening the lives of the Muslims.

Where have you ever heard that even in a worship environment, a mosque for people to worship is bombed and over hundred people killed? Up to this moment, no arrest has been made; nothing from the government unto whom we are going to rely. 

I call on all Muslim leaders, elders, parents, Imams and scholars to come together to speak and brainstorm on how they can provide succour and help in any effort that we are going to get from the government.

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE: COUNTRIES MUST UNITE TO FIGHT BOKO HARAM

In Nigeria, an attack that killed more than 120 people coming out of a mosque — that’s what a sect like Boko Haram is capable of, that’s why we still need to fight together, always fight against terrorism.

We must unite against barbarism, against the risks posed by fundamentalism, notably in the Sahel, in Africa.

SULTAN ABUBAKAR: ISLAMIC SECTS SHOULD UNITE TO END INSURGENCY

I do not believe those perpetrating these are Muslims, because if they are Muslims, they are not professing what Islam teaches.

In the world over, it is the duty and responsibility of government to provide security for the citizenry. 

This is the time for all the various sects in Islam in this country to rally round one another and end insurgency in this country.

We call on stakeholders to join hands and end the problem of Boko Haram in the country.

YAKUBU GOWON: AMERICA HAS ALWAYS REFUSED TO HELP US

The same thing happened during the Civil War. The Americas refused to sell arms to us. I wanted them to help me with some modest aircraft so that I could chase out Ojukwu’s B52 or B56 as they called it. That was all I wanted; not to shoot it down but to chase it away so that it does not drop bombs and kill innocent people.

But the Americans refused to help us and they even refused to sell arms and ammunitions and the spare parts of the equipment that we got from them. And at the same time, the Americans were shipping aircraft and loads of arms and ammunition to Zaire. What sort of friends are they?

You call them your friends and they say that they are helping us to fight terror. We don’t want Americans to come and fight the war against Boko Haram for us but, at least, we need the equipment.

During my time, I had to go to the Russians to get the equipment we wanted in order to prosecute that war. If they cannot help us, they should allow us to go elsewhere and get what we want to ensure that we deal with this particular problem.

MUHAMMADU SANUSI 11 CALL TO STAND UP TO BOKO HARAM

People must stand resolutely in the face of attack and not abandon their towns, women and children

These terrorists slaughter our boys and abduct our girls to force them into slavery. 

People should not be afraid of them because of the recent success they seem to have achieved.

People should not sit idle and say prayer is the only solution. 

People should be made aware of the importance of being in a state of preparedness and make sure they acquire what they need to protect themselves.

People must not assume that the crisis will not reach their area. 

If it comes, we are asking God to give us fortitude, but if He wishes to take martyrs from amongst us, we should be ready to give our lives.

People must not wait for soldiers to protect them. There are soldiers who even throw away their guns and flee.

God will grant us victory over them.

SANI KABIR: MORE THAN 1000 BOKO HARAM MEMBERS ARRESTED IN SOUTH-WEST

So far in the South-west, we have peace and this is achieved through the collaboration of Arewa people and Arewa chiefs.

If you can confirm with the security agencies, we have arrested more than 1,000 Boko Haram members throughout the South-west states. 

Any suspicious movement, we promptly report to the security agents because we believe that the problem is actually the Nigerian problem but if there is any breakdown of law and order in the South-west, we are the prime targets irrespective of whether you are a member of Boko Haram or not.

All the Arewa sarkis (kings) in the South-west are up and doing to make sure that we do not allow any breakdown of law and order in our communities.

We inform our leaders that when new people crime into their midst, and they observe their behavior.

Some of the leaders in the South-west are northerners, some of them are from Borno state, they can know. 

There were even instances where JTF do come from Borno state to identify some of them.

OBASANJO: DON'T CALL BOKO HARAM ISLAMIC JIHADISTS

Boko Haram is a menace and a dangerous one at that, but why must it be emphasized as an Islamic jihadist?

Both words are unhelpful in the context of our own situation which requires bi-partisan and collective national understanding of the issues at stake and action to be taken.

When they are described in such a way, it heightens the division and tension within our own society.

A menace is a menace, a thief is a thief, a terrorist is a terrorist; not a Christian thief or an Islamic thief.

Within our society, what is wrong is wrong. Boko Haram is dangerously wrong and we should all stand firmly against it while doing what is right to deal with it. 

Where there is need for advice, let us offer it; if the need is for correction, let us make it, where there is need for socio-economic intervention, let it be applied; if it is sanction, let it be given unstintingly.

My learned Muslim friends tell me that Jihad means struggle, inner struggle.

And I say if that is the true meaning, who then is not a Jihadist? I don't know about you but I am perpetually struggling to achieve one thing or the other.

Those who emphasize and politicize religious division cannot be right. God does not create religion to destroy but to build nor to divide but to unite.

Anything contrary to the desire of God in religious practice will amount to sin.

Without security, you cannot have development and without development your security is seriously impaired. Prolonged lack of development is a fertile breeding ground for insecurity.

OBASANJO: CARROTS FOR DEALING WITH BOKO HARAM

Let me make bold to say that if we continue to apply force alone, since Boko Haram has become an industry within the government circle and within Boko Haram itself, it may be suppressed for a while but it will not be eliminated.

To deal with the menace root, stem and branches requires effective development programme for the zone of incubation and existence of the menace.

If not, that zone or any other zone like it will be a fertile breeding ground for a similar menace in future or a rich harvesting ground for recruiting candidates for mischief and perpetration of insecurity internally and externally.

Carrot must involve not excluding negotiation at the appropriate time for ceasefire, laying down of arms and peace-making terms and intervention with positive socio-economic measures to deal with apparent root-causes of the conflict and violence.

It would appear that this understanding is beginning to be appreciated within the right circles. Better late than never!

Just as no country is guaranteed to be permanently at peace, no country is destined to be permanently in conflict, chaos and violence because of its societal divisions.

It is all a matter of how it is managed by governments and the institutions put in place to reduce, placate, address and redress tensions and divisions and the flows from them.

Timely intervention in addition to early warning is both cost-effective and life-saving. We must not define ourselves in simple stereotype of Western media and so-called experts, who see us only through religious prisms. Those who do so, whether they are politicians or religious leaders, are the enemies of this country.

OBASANJO: EDUCATION IS THE STARTING POINT FOR SOLVING BOKO HARAM

Those who say that Boko Haram is a menace waiting to happen are evidently correct. Some people have blamed the governments of the zone at the state and local government levels for the unacceptable socio-economic situation in the North-East. Of course, they must accept part of the responsibility.

But, I would rather say it is a collective responsibility and, collectively, the situation must be addressed and redressed. The beginning of redressing the situation is education. I appreciated the importance of education in human development, state and nation-building, national development, employment generation, wealth creation, national unity, security and stability.

When I had the opportunity as both military Head of State and elected President, I paid particular attention to education nationally through Universal Primary Education (UPE) as military Head of State, and Universal Basic Education (UBE) as President.

In the first case, it was abandoned by the successor regime and in the second case, some states went to the Supreme Court to secure order for the Federal Government not to participate in basic education.

It was claimed that constitutionally, it is the preserve of states and local governments and some of them did not live up to their responsibility.If we do not collectively invest in primary education, how can we address the situation?

The counterpart funding instituted as a legitimate means of intervening by the Federal Government in basic education turned out not to be adequately supervised by the successor regime and became a veritable source of corruption at the state level and between the Federal and the State officials.

And yet, the cost of primary education to the states has gone up with the policy of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) as minimum qualification for teachers in primary schools. With that policy and closure of Teacher Training Colleges not certified for NCE, there is great shortage of primary school teachers in many parts of the country but particularly in the North.

This is a situation that cannot be rectified by states and local governments alone.

I have never been against application of force in dealing with insecurity situation, but we must understand the genesis, the content and the context of each situation to determine when, where, how and what quantum of force to apply and what amount and type of carrot to feed in.

JOHN CAMPBELL: U.S. Policy to Counter Nigeria's Boko Haram

The Council Special Report titled U.S. Policy to Counter Nigeria's Boko Haram is based on seven premises.

• First, Nigeria is too big and too important for the United States to be indifferent to its present crisis.
• Second, the Islamist insurgency called Boko Haram poses no security threat to the U.S. homeland, but its attack on Nigeria and a heavy-handed Abuja response characterized by human rights violations challenges U.S. interests in Africa.
• Third, even after five years of insurrection, we know remarkably little about Boko Haram.

Unanswered questions range from its leadership structure to the sources of its funding to its links outside Nigeria.

Its stated goal – the creation of God's kingdom on earth through justice for the poor by the imposition of sharia – sounds more like a creedal formula than a political manifesto.

We don't even know whether Abubakar Shekau is a real person or a composit, rather like MEND's Jomo Gbomo or Cynthia White.

Fourth, the Boko Haram insurgency is feed by poor governance, the political marginalization of northeast Nigeria, and the region's accelerating impoverishment. While its interntional links may be growing, Boko Haram remains primarily (if not exclusively) a Nigerian domestic phenomenon.

That could change.

• Fifth, security service abuse of the civilian population in the North is a driver of Boko Haram recruitment, though by how much we do not know.
• Sixth, the February 2015 national elections, presuming they take place, will shape the country's immediate trajectory. The electoral process is likely to be violent, especially at the local and state levels.
• Seventh and finally, the United States and the international community have relatively little leverage over the Jonathan government.

The intended audience for this Report is American policy makers. The Report includes short-term and long-term recommendations to the Obama administration. They reflect my view of what is politically possible in the current Washington political climate.

The short-term recommendations may be summarized as:

• First, pursue a human rights agenda with Abuja, pressing the Jonathan administration to investigate credible claims of security service human rights abuses and to prosecute the perpetrators.
• The human rights agenda should be complemented by a democracy and governance agenda – including support for credible elections in 2015.
• Second, the United States should facilitate and support humanitarian assistance in the North. There has been little or no planting or plowing in the North, and there are hundreds of thousands – if not millions—of internally displaced persons and refugees. Famine would seem to be inevitable.

The United States should pressure Abuja to allow the unfettered operation of international famine relief agencies such as the World Food Program and other relevant UN agencies and international as well as domestic NGO's and should provide those agencies with logistical assistance as required.

• Finally, the Obama administration should proceed with establishing a consulate in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, notwithstanding the costs and the U.S. domestic fall-out from Benghazi.

Not only would a Kano consulate provide a needed diplomatic platform in the north where there is virtually no diplomatic presence by anybody, it would also be seen as a gesture of friendship by the Islamic population.

Over the long term, the reports recommends that Washington administrations should:

• identify and support individual Nigerians working for human rights and democracy;
• The State Department should revoke the U.S. visas held by Nigerians who commit financial crimes or promote political, ethnic or religious violence.
• Finally, Washington should encourage Nigerian initiatives to revamp the culture of its military and police.

Some additional thoughts about these recommendations:

Many of these recommendations, both short-term and long-term, involve civil society. Just what is Nigerian civil society? There are professional organizations, such as the Nigeria Bar Association or the Nigerian Medical Association. There are various peace and reconciliation groups, often associated with Christian and Muslim religious movements. And there is a wide variety of others.

There are also organizations that work for good governance and credible elections, though they are often dependent on outside donors.

The point is that such organizations are weaker in northern Nigeria than they are in the South, and throughout the country, civil organizations are weaker than in, say, South Africa. Hence Nigerian civil organizations may require U.S. assistance in building their own capacity.

What about the Nigerian military, and what should the U.S. relationship with it be, if any.

The Nigerian military appears to be failing, and what victories there have been against Boko Haram seem due primarily to the Civilian JTF, essentially militias not under government control. Yet the Nigerian defense budget approaches 6 billion U.S. dollars.

Under the Leahy amendment, the U.S. is precluded by law from providing assistance to units credibly accused of human rights violations unless the host country investigates them and brings to trial alleged perpetrators. The Nigerian ngovernment stonewalls such credible accusations and has taken few if any public steps to investigate them. Because of the frequent rotation of Nigerian military units through the North, few now meet the requirments of Leahy.

In addition, the Nigerian government has shown little enthusiasm for closer cooperation with the U.S. military.

Hence the Report's suggestion that U.S. agencies work with Nigerian institutions that are working to change military and police culture, rather than working directly with the military and the police.

From today's vantage point, the next few months are full of uncertainty, even menace. Yet, if ever a state was too big to fail, it is Nigeria. Many Nigerians themselves seem bewilderingly confident that they will muddle through. Let's hope they are right.

OBASANJO: NIGERIA NEEDS PROGRAMS TO PREVENT AN ARAB SPRING

I have no doubt in my mind that youth unemployment, youth dissatisfaction and youth frustration were part of the causes of Arab Spring.

We must learn the right lessons and put in place, programmes that will address youth empowerment and youth employment.

I am made to understand that Saudi Arabia used $68 as benchmark for the 2015 budget. Our inadequate protection of almost all local industries with heavy cost of energy has dealt a hard blow on most indigenous industries.

We may have to borrow to pay salaries and allowances. Revenue allocation to states and local governments has already been drastically reduced. Capital projects at all levels may have to be drastically cut or stopped.

OBASANJO: BOKO HARAM IS A SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEM

Boko Haram is not simply a menace based on religion or one directed to frustrate anybody’s political ambition but essentially a socio-economic problem that is tainted with religion.

It took even the president more than three years to appreciate and understand that Boko Haram is a terrible mix of poor education or lack of education, misinterpretation of what is almost and the Quran teach and stand for, poverty,  unemployment, injustice,  drug, gun trafficking,  human trafficking,  fallout from Libya,  revenge,  frustration,  struggle against inequality,  imitation of international terrorism leading to training and part of the absorption by international terrorists groups and general poor governance including corruption.

I have always maintained that the solution to Boko Haram lies in the application of stick and carrot.

LAI MOHAMMED: DSS INVASION OF APC DATA CENTER MAY JEOPARDIZE 2015 ELECTIONS

The spokesperson for the DSS said the organisation had put the building housing the data centre under surveillance, and that it only acted after it was convinced that ‘unwholesome activities’ were taking place. 

What hogwash. If indeed they put the place under surveillance, would they not have been able to establish that it is an APC data centre? 

Even if they were not sure, what prevents them from obtaining a court order permitting them to enter and search the building instead of carrying out a Gestapo-like operation? Are security agencies above the law?

To highlight their crudity and lack of professionalism, they had to go and arrest one of the staffers who was not on duty just to get the password to the servers they vandalised and took away. This speaks volumes about the limitation of the DSS’ intelligence gathering ability. 

If they had broken into the Boko Haram computer, would they have gone to arrest Abubakar Shekau or any of his commanders to give them the password to it? Nigerians can now see why no progress has been made in using intelligence gathering to root out the evil Boko Haram.

Far from the lies concocted by the DSS, which has now become one of the enforcement arms of the PDP, the real reasons the service broke into the offices of the party were to deprive it of its membership data base so it can no longer contact its members, and also to aid and abet the rigging of the 2015 elections by the PDP.

With the membership data base now in their possession, it has become easy for them to collude with INEC to know which areas we are strong so they can scuttle the distribution of the permanent voters cards there and, during the elections, to also deprive such areas of voting materials.

The viciousness and barbarism of the attack on the data centre and the arrest of 26 innocent workers, which put a lie to the DSS claim, have disrupted and corrupted the continuous offline and online membership registration across the country.

The over 50 security men who invaded our offices not only vandalised the offices, they pulled out and carted away the server and computer systems. Their activities have therefore affected the process of online/offline registration and data capture of APC members across the country, hence we are left with no choice than to suspend the process.

It is important to get to the bottom of this unprecedented action in the political history of our nation, especially because it may have compromised the 2015 general election.

SHEIK ADAM ALBANI: GOVERNMENT CAN STOP FUTURE RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

The only thing that I think can prevent future violence is for our government to be fair to all, especially in the utilization of the country’s resources. Nigerians are not the Nigerians of yesterday. 

Now, even teenagers know their rights as they follow the developments in the world, largely on the internet. Gone are the days when government officials would go to FRCN or NTA to spread propaganda and expect Nigerians to accept it. 

Nigerians now have ways of knowing all the activities of their leaders and their country. Two, government should pay attention to the issue of religion. The government takes religion as the strict affairs of the clerics and their students. This is very wrong. 

A situation where government consults the clerics only when they need prayers should be stopped. Government should be sincere in its dealings with clergies. Clerics are the ones who are with the people at the grassroots. These people talk to the clergies freely about their problems. 

Buying cars or houses for clergies is not what I am talking about. Building mosques, schools or bringing books with government stamp or feeding people during Ramadan is not what I’m talking about. 

Government should be consulting the clerics to know the needs and the problems of the people at the grassroots. Islam was revealed in order to solve the people’s problems and provide the needs of the people. 

But buying big jeeps for scholars and big houses is not the solution to what is happening now because when you do that, the people would even become enemies of the clerics. 

We have all seen what happened in April, where houses and cars of some scholars were burnt or destroyed. Some scholars were even killed because they were seen as agents of this government. Government should be involved in the running of religion in this country.

Lastly, government needs to come closer to the clerics now being regarded as extremists. When I say close, I don’t mean to use SSS to be harassing them. They need to come to them to understand them and know what informed their perceived extremism. 

The government that is in constant war with its people or part of its people can never bring development.

SHEIK ADAM ALBANI: WE CAUTIONED ABOUT USING FORCE AGAINST BOKO HARAM

On the other hand, when the authorities decided to be aggressive on the movement of Boko Haram, we tried to advise them to be cautious in using force against the movement. 

The idea of the government that any youthful scholar, who wants to forment trouble should be allowed to do so as government has security agents to crush him, is a wrong thinking that is contrary to the modern civilisation. 

Now, where are the government’s security agents? Where are the weapons? Are all the forces able to tackle the present problems? Have all the checkpoints solved the problems? How many people were caught with explosives at those checkpoints? 

The innocent people being intimidated at those checkpoints would now begin to hate the government and its security agents. What about the huge resources which are supposed to be used in developing the country but wasted on security? 

These were all the things that we wanted government at that time to realize, but unfortunately, they did not listen. Everywhere now is scattered simply because the government, at that time, had refused to embrace dialogue.

When we were trying to caution the slain leader of Boko Haram, the government, traditional rulers and other stakeholders saw the issue as that of late Sheikh Ja’afar, Albani and their friends or students. Nobody supported us and we are where we are today because the right things were not done.

SHEIK ADAM ALBANI: WHY BOKO IS HARAM

When Mohammed Yusuf disclosed that he has left Shi’a and returned to Sunna, I was one of those who constantly talked to him about the ideology of Boko Haram. On some occasions, I sat with him with his students and in other occasions, only two of us sat. 

The essence was to convince him that Islam doesn’t accept the ideology of Boko Haram. I tried to convince him that since he claimed to be the follower of Sunna, therefore Sunna has its teachings and principles, and the idea of Boko Haram is contrary to those teachings. 

All our efforts, because I know other scholars like late Sheikh Ja’afar also engaged him on such issues, fell on deaf ears. He proffered some defenses, which are not authentic in the jurisprudence of Islam.

Among the reasons Mohammed Yusuf offered as to why Boko is Haram is the evolution of man that is found in textbooks of Western Education. What is obtained in those textbooks contradict the explanation offered by the Holy Qur’an on the evolution of man, based on their understanding. 

The other issue is how the Western Education corrupts our young men and women because they engage in committing sins like adultery. These, among many other issues, were some of the reasons they used in saying that Boko is Haram and when you look at those issues from the surface, you may be lured to believe in them. 

I have delivered many lectures on all the controversies and I know Sheikh Ja’afar has done many. I think to understand the whole issue, one needs to go back to those lectures and also get the arguments offered by the slain leader of the Boko Haram.

It should, however, be noted that many prominent scholars of Islam have provided clear explanations on the issue of Western Education hundreds of years ago and those scholars have resolved all the ambiguous issues regarding Western Education. This was why I said the idea of Boko Haram is against the jurisprudence of Islam.

OPEYEMI AGBAJE: NO DEMOCRATIC JUSTIFICATION FOR TAMBUWAL REMAINING SPEAKER

The context for the circus is well known and dates back to 2011 when Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, then a PDP House of Representatives member from Sokoto State; Emeka Ihedioha, another member from Imo State, and many of their colleagues in the PDP caucus conspired with then ACN members and their political leadership to defy an agreement within the PDP to “zone” the office of speaker to the South West. 

Tambuwal succeeded in the endeavor to challenge his party’s authority and was elected speaker and for the next four years was only a nominal member of the PDP. Indeed, political historians will date the formation of the APC back to that point or sometime just before when the ACN leader, Bola Tinubu, reached an apparent agreement with some northern political leaders to support fractionalization of the PDP in the House of Representatives.

To the extent that Tambuwal remained nominally a PDP member and kept a working majority in the House, he was entitled to remain speaker of the House. Then Tambuwal tried and failed to engineer an APC majority in the House; and there would be no debate about his political entitlement to retain the office of speaker if his efforts to forge an APC majority had succeeded. 

However, after the PDP fought back to retain its majority and the speaker announced his defection to the APC, there can be no democratic justification for a member of a minority caucus insisting on retaining the office of speaker over a majority party. 

Beyond political and democratic expectations, there is the constitutional provision which in fact questions Tambuwal’s entitlement to remain a member of the House given that the courts have ruled that PDP is not factionalised.

However, the PDP is as morally-deficient in this matter as the opposition. Since 1999, it has made a habit of luring legislators and governors elected on the platform of other parties – AD, A(N)PP, APGA, PPA, Labour etc – to defect to their side and often fomenting crisis and factionalisation in those parties in order to secure the constitutional cover to enable those defectors retain their seats. 

Most recently in Ekiti State, the PDP has just engineered a process that has seen a speaker elected from a legislative faction of seven or 10 members while the majority is exiled to Lagos! 

That exiled faction in turn appears guilty of seeking impeachment of a governor elected by an overwhelming majority of voters in a free expression of their democratic will! 

My point: concerning our political class, all of them have sinned and fallen short of democratic standards and glory! The unfortunate culmination of all these unprincipled actions was the shameful episode in which about seven members of the House of Representatives, including one who aspires to be governor of his home state of Kano and another who is a “learned gentleman” from Lagos and minority caucus leader, climbed over the gates of the House in order, as they now claim, to “defend democracy” or, as one “distinguished senator” argued on their behalf, to “defend independence of the legislature”! 

I now sufficiently understand the mindset of our political class to dismiss their lofty justifications as a load of bull! The foundations of democracy and its institutions, including the legislature, are constitutionalism, rule of law and the will of the majority! No one can defend either democracy or the legislature when he or she is acting against the constitution and the law!

In any event, in the particular events of the day, one can raise the posers – how did Tambuwal enter the house? Did he have to scale the gates? Why didn’t he jump over the fence? We’ve seen video footage that shows Tambuwal demand the gates be opened and the police complied (eventually)? 

Why were these other over-excited representatives willing to disparage their offices, families and constituencies by scaling fences in the glare of TV cameras and the entire world? How come hundreds of other legislators accessed the house premises without fighting anyone or scaling the gates?

I would be tolerant even of such aberrant behaviour as displayed by all sides in the political space and recently in the lower house if I thought it was about some higher values or principles or in true defence of some noble objectives. Unfortunately, in this case, it all appears to be politics without principles!