President Jonathan: SAINT or SATAN

By Samod Biobaku

Sixthsense34@yahoo.com

I remember stating in very clear terms in my last article on the subject of Boko Haram and President Goodluck Jonathan, I am not a political columnist and I have never shared the enthusiasm of some of my colleagues to express my political views as I openly did in the previous article.

However, I am a Nigerian and I’m not one of those to turn a blind eye certain heights of brutality, injustice, victimization and senseless killings.

I once asked a cogent question but this time, I’ll ask again but with more details: ‘What would President Jonathan do if his wife, Dame Jonathan had her throat torn open, a 7-inched metallic nail piercing through the softness of her left eye and lodging therein, her head being slammed against the concrete pills of an auditorium and the very essence of life draining out of her faster than a accelerating Dodge Viper; long before any medical help could come her way?

If the above scenario were to occur in reality, would our dear President Jonathan still assume his characteristically calm countenance to matters of burning national importance?

Your answer is as good as mine. He would most likely not because perhaps only then would he fully understand what it means to lose a loved one to the endless spate of senseless killings that have since turned our beloved country into an abattoir of sorts.

Once upon a time, kidnappers reigned supreme in Nigeria; a trend born in the creeks of the Niger Delta zone of Nigeria. Back then, millions of Nigerians would have sworn that things could never get worse than having friends and loved ones snatched off the streets, blindfolded and kidnapped by individuals who clearly towered above the law.

Today, we have all witnessed the barbaric slaughtering of innocent women and children by the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

What began as a seemingly harmless group protesting the evils of westernization has since assumed a terrorist dimension with bombs and explosives going off and taking countless lives along with it.

In the midst of all this madness, our Dear President Jonathan remains at the helms of affairs and the ‘Boko Haram’ evil persists.

Perhaps, there is something Jonathan is not telling us about this terrorist group that openly engaged its suicide bombers to strike abominable terror into the hearts of Nigerians on a day globally set aside for the celebration of the birth of Christ.

In a very organized fashion, the Boko Haram struck on Christmas Day and the resulting tragedy was familiarly alarming.

It has been said that the worst of men are those who maintain their neutrality in times of great moral crisis and as we can see, the moral language of shedding the blood of the innocent does not belong in the corridors of applause.

On the contrary, the outright murder of innocent citizens including women and children still battling the odds of poverty and the galaxy of problems Nigeria harbours are hallmarks of a Satanic crusade.

Therefore, one does not require the IQ of a genius to know where a president who continues to fill his cup with the blood of innocent men, women and children belongs.

At this point, we must make it crystal clear that the responsibility of bringing the evil reign of the Boko Haram group rests squarely on the table of Mr. President.

We will not drench our eyes and dampen our hearts with the statistics of victims; especially pregnant women and children that the Boko Haram has killed but as a matter of necessity, we must remind ourselves about two victims. The first being that of Mr. Emmanuel Obiukwu who lost four daughters to the Christmas Day bomb blast and the second being the death of a certain one-year-old child who suffered the misfortune of being in the spot where the bomb went off on Christmas Day.

Mr. Emmanuel Obiukwu, a knight of Saint John Catholic Church and a taxi driver at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, lost four daughters in the Madalla bomb blast on Christmas Day. His wife and another daughter were injured and are now receiving treatment at the National Hospital, Abuja. Obiukwu said he fled from riots in Kano in 1991 when one of the daughters who died was born, only for them to be bombed in Madalla.

As for the one-year-old child, vivid and graphically disturbing images of the child’s corpse revealed the child’s head blown open from the explosion and of course, the child died instantly.

How many more have to die because of a president who might as well be a direct descendant of the angel who was cast out of Heaven by Almighty God himself.

Well, I might be wrong but is there anyone who expects a teacher, nurse, journalist, cleric, carpenter, trader, engineer, doctor, actor, dentist, cobbler, lawyer, fashion designer, singer, pharmacist or any one else for that matter to wake up and confront Nigeria’s viral Boko Haram sect headlong?

We know President Jonathan is not a genius as his antecedent have shown and we do not expect him to single-handedly confront the Boko Haram but he is surrounded by egg heads, military fire power and predominantly, wise counsel and strategists. That is why he is the president and that is why he will take all the blame for allowing the Boko Haram explode out of domestic proportion into a threat to the international community or have we forgotten how they struck the United Nations building in Abuja; the nation’s Federal Capital Territory?

He must however focus on this problem and give it the priority it deserves rather than constantly attempt to distract the populace with the issue of the removal of oil subsidy.

For the umpteenth time, President Jonathan must find out what the Boko Haram truly desires. Perhaps, like softwares, they also update their demands.

Without necessarily adopting Obasanjo’s treatment of the controversial Odi episode, President Jonathan must understand that when dialogue becomes impossible, then war becomes inevitable except the president has conceded to the possibility that the might  and strength of the Boko Haram cripples that of Nigeria’s entire defense system.  

The matter at hand has nothing to do with the president’s political leaning – it is not a PDP or AC rigmarole. Rather, this crux of the matter dwells on the president’s competence to deal with the infiltration of Boko Haram into the psyche of the average Nigeria.

If perhaps the president is overwhelmed by the Boko Haram group, he should either seek wise counsel or take the bull by the horn this instant and put an end to this brouhaha once and for all without continually jeopardizing the lives of Nigerians who find themselves caught on the proverbial grounds where the elephants go to war. If he however, opts for the third option of towing the line of his misguided belief that prompted him to say: “Nigerians will get over it. Terrorism is a global phenomenon. It is Nigeria’s turn,” then he might as well just resign, step down and leave the responsibility of safeguarding the lives of innocent Nigerians to someone else with more regard for human life.

In our capacity as Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora, we will continue to pray to the Lord to keep us safe and deliver us from the shackles of killers in the guides of men.

Whatever he decides, Nigerians will never forget where Jonathan will belong after his tenure as president; on the golden pages where saints and heroes dwell or within the dark chapters of history where the Devil and his horned generals reside… Time will tell.