Goodluck Jonathan's Slow Motion Response to an Appalling Crisis

Goodluck Jonathan's Slow Motion Response to an Appalling Crisis

By Stephen Hayes - Associated Press 

The kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls, followed by the announcement by the leader of Boko Haram – the terrorist group which has claimed responsibility for taking them – that the girls are to be either sold or forced into slavery is beyond appalling. It amounts to mass rape. It also does no honor to Islam. Although child marriage may be permitted under Islam, certainly kidnapping and rape is not. It is primitive and barbaric that deserves the strongest condemnation of the entire world.

According to news reports, more than 300 school teenage schoolgirls were kidnapped from their school in a remote section of northeastern Nigeria last April 15.
The mass kidnapping and the response by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's administration may determine the future of his tenure and who is to succeed him. So far, the political leadership has handled the situation poorly. The question that hangs over the whole matter is how could more than 300 girls be kidnapped en masse and no one seems to know where any of them are? The president of Nigeria has admitted publicly he has no idea where the girls are, and only now has he begun to ask for outside help in finding the girls.

The whole matter raises many other questions, including why few, if any, of the northern governors, most of them in opposition to the Jonathan administration, have publicly been of assistance. One hopes that some have been quietly working with helping in the search. Nigerian politics, like those of many countries, are especially complicated. The northern governors, nearly all of them Islamic, believe that Jonathan has twice broken a political understanding that the ruling People's Democratic Party has that the presidency rotate between the north (mostly Islamic) and south (mostly Christian). Jonathan is a southerner who assumed the presidency in 2010 when his northern predecessor fell ill and died. Some northern factions believed Jonathan violated the agreement by standing for election to a full term in 2011 and then did so again by announcing that he will seek re-election. There may be no sense of urgency by the governors of the north to help Jonathan out of this. That they seem to know as little as Jonathan about the girls also raises questions about the connection between the rulers and the ruled, as well as the threat from Boko Haram that some may feel.

The Nigerian Government has also been slow in reacting to the crisis because much of their focus on Boko Haram has been a defensive one, aimed at protecting those participating in the upcoming World Economic Forum, to be held in Abuja this week. Several hundred of Africa’s top business leaders, along with various other representatives of Western governments and businesses are planning to be in Abuja for the group's annual Africa Forum. The forum’s presence in Abuja was to be a major feather in Jonathan's cap, and a showpiece of Nigeria for global business. Ironically, now the forum finds itself in a very awkward position of doing business as usual in the face of one of the most serious political crises in Nigeria since the Biafran Civil War. Yet, it is almost impossible for the group to cancel the forum, given that this program is a major part of their overall master plan for Africa. To cancel the forum would also be an enormous vote of no confidence in Nigeria’s ability to manage its most serious problems. The fact that the bulk of Nigerian security has focused on this meeting of the economic elite and not on the search for the schoolgirls has not gone unnoticed in Nigeria and elsewhere, as is underscored by demonstrations in New York and Washington.

How the Nigerian government handles these next 10 days may be not only the most important to Jonathan but to those that follow him.

Source: https://www.causes.com/causes/298145-for-a-corruption-free-nigeria/updates/911463-goodluck-jonathans-slow-motion-response-to-an-appalling-crisis?utm_campaign=post_mailer%2Fcause_update.cb_50474&utm_medium=email&utm_source=causes&ctag=9a229f9453c00f0b2d3ff4b9245d18ba96&ctoken=i6I-mGH4jKHnp-fSBu9ri0VP9fACWFicf0MsaWd1ufNph5zQqHvLkor_CB2j4i3TT73QATCQbVQEML3o6blXpKqBybHLDltK&uid=91781643

Boko Haram Bombs Bridge Linking Nigeria and Cameroun

The Boko Haram Thursday bombed the sole bridge linking Borno State, Nigeria and Cameroun. The strategic bridge is located at the border town of Gamboru, where the Boko Haram killed over 300 persons on Monday.

Residents of Gamboru told journalists that the downed bridge has cut off some of their relatives from Nigeria and left them stranded in Cameroun. One source who spoke to THEWILL said "The only option left for people traveling to and from Gamboru, is to go into Banki near Bama Local Government area of Borno into Cameroun and later enter Gamboru from another Camerounian village."

The source further revealed that 315 corpses were buried following Monday's attack.

Residents Malam Kolomi, a trader in the commercial city of Gamboru and Mamman Abu told reporters via telephone that several persons are still trapped under rubbles following the attack.

The Boko Haram a few weeks ago abducted over 200 teenage female students from a secondary school in Chibok town, Borno State and its leader Ibrahim Shekau has boasted that the girls would be sold into slavery or married off to men. The United States, UK, China, South Africa and the UN have promised to help Nigeria secure the girls' freedom.

Source: http://thewillnigeria.com/news/author/thewill_/

Stop those trivialising schoolgirls’ abduction, Falana tells Jonathan

May 8, 2014 by Ade Adesomoju

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to stop people from further trivialising the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on April 19.

The Lagos lawyer in a statement on Thursday said the comment credited to “some people”, including the President’s wife, Patience, that “no child was missing”, was “incendiary” and capable of deepening the agony of the abducted children’s parents.

“President Goodluck Jonathan should ensure that the abduction of the innocent girls is not further trivialised in the interest of our collective sensibility and public morality,” he stated.

He described as insensitive for some highly placed persons to insist that there was no missing child despite the step by the Christian Association of Nigeria to publish some of the abducted girls’ names.

He said, “In spite of the inauguration of the Presidential Committee to investigate the abduction of the over 200 girls  and the publication of the names of about 185 of the missing girls by the Christian Association of Nigeria some political leaders have insisted that no child has been abducted.

“Such level of insensitivity is being displayed by highly placed persons at a time that the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau has admitted that the criminal sect abducted the innocent girls and threatened that they would be sold into slavery.”

He queried the basis for the government’s accepting of international aid to rescue the children if truly the girls were not missing.

His statement also read, “Why has the Federal Government accepted the offer of the United States’ Government to join in the frivolous -search for the girls since they are no longer missing?

“No doubt, the incendiary statements credited to certain people to the effect that “no child is missing” must have accentuated the agony of the parents of the abducted some of whom had taken part in street demonstrations to demand ‘Bring Back Our Girls’.”

He asked the President to disband the committee set up by Patience to investigate the incident arguing that she had no power to do so.

He added that even the one set up by the President himself for the same purpose could best serve as a “ministerial act” and never as a Commission of Inquiry.

The Punch Newspaper.

US To Assist Nigeria In Rescue Of Chibok Girls

The US government has offered to assist Nigeria locate and rescue the girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, abducted three weeks ago in by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.

Accepting the offer on Tuesday, President Goodluck Jonathan said Nigeria would appreciate any support that would be given in ending the insurgency in Nigeria’s north east, reiterating a statement he made during a media chat on Sunday.

A statement by a spokesman for the president, Reuben Abati, said President Jonathan welcomed and accepted the offer.

“The offer from President Barack Obama which was conveyed to President Jonathan by the United States Secretary of State, Mr John Kerry in a telephone conversation, which began at 15:30 Hours on Tuesday, includes the deployment of U.S. security personnel and assets to work with their Nigerian counterparts in the "search and rescue operation."

“Mr Kerry assured President Jonathan that the United States is wholly committed to giving Nigeria all required support and assistance to save the abducted girls and bring the reign of terror unleashed on parts of the country by Boko Haram to an end,” the statement read.

President Jonathan thanked Mr Kerry for the call and offer of further assistance and told him that Nigeria’s security agencies, who were already working at full capacity to find and rescue the abducted girls, would appreciate the deployment of American counter-insurgency know-how and expertise in support of their efforts.

After speaking with the United States Secretary of State, President Jonathan on Tuesday met with the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs and heads of national security agencies in continuation of the national efforts to find and rescue the abducted girls.

He also received updates on the ongoing search and rescue efforts, and gave approval for further actions as recommended.

The terrorist group, Boko Haram, has carried out series of attacks on villages, churches and schools in Nigeria’s north-east. Scores have been killed in bomb attacks, with the latest attack on Chibok on April 14 resulting in the abduction of over 200 girls of a secondary school. The abduction occurred same day that the members of the sect carried out a bomb attack on a Motor Park in Nyanya area of Abuja. The attack left at least 70 persons dead and over 200 injured.

The abduction of the girls has sparked protests in Abuja, Lagos and some other states, with the protesters mounting pressure on the government to take drastic action in efforts to rescue the girls.

Last week a bomb blast also occurred in Nyanya few meters away from where the blast of April 14 occurred. at least 19 persons were killed while over 60 were injured.

The Nigerian government had declared a state of emergency in three states in the north east in an effort to quell the increasing insurgency. But many are saying that the state of emergency has not changed the situation.

The recent attacks in Abuja raised fears of insecurity as the nation prepares to hold the World Economic Forum on Africa from Mar 7-9, but President Jonathan during the media chat reassured the international community of the government’s commitment to the safety of participants.

Ahead of the Forum, there is increase in Police presence in Abuja and surrounding villages.

The Looming Food Scarcity

If the government wants to tackle the looming scarcity headlong, it should not pay lip service to it. So far, the Federal Government has demonstrated a high level of commitment on the issue of floods that have taken over various parts of the country in recent times. By now, there should be a workable master-plan on how to grow our food crops in Nigeria to cater for our citizens. However, one point still remains valid -- we are not fully exploiting the vast agricultural potential of the country. The minister of agriculture should begin to set up strategy on how to ensure stable supply of grains to farmers who are not affected by the floods. He should also begin to see the need to encourage more commercial farmers to go into increased food production. He should schedule town hall meetings with all Nigerian commercial farmers where opinions can be sought on the way forward for affected farmers. Some of us have criticized the Federal Government's budget allocation for agriculture in 2013. Nevertheless, if well-managed, the money can turn around the agricultural sector within the first half of 2013 through improved investment in arable farming. Some of the N17.4 billion intervention fund announced by President Goodluck Jonathan should be properly distributed to commercial farmers that have suffered so much in the course of the disaster. Importation should be a secondary option in the wake of the food crisis that is looming in our country. This is a clarion call for our leaders to encourage our people to produce our food crops locally for consumption and export purposes. It is about time we began to take practical steps in combating the "sit-down-look" syndrome that has eaten deep into our governance.