Date Published: 08/04/09
The Unity Forum
(Peace, Unity and Progress Association)
Suite 207 APC Plaza Nr. 12 Cape Town Str. off IBB Way, Zone 4 Wuse, Abuja Tel: 08033063826, 08033584659, 08033041663
The Religious Crisis in the North East: The Way Forward
The Unity Forum, at its meeting of Wednesday, July 29, 2009, deliberated on the recent sectarian crisis in the North Eastern zone of the country. The forum reviewed the nature of the crisis, the profile of the people seen to be involved and the response by the state among other issues. The Forum is concerned that such crisis is not only one too many but its decidedly anti-establishment stance is laden with lots of implication for the well-being of the country. It can be recalled that in 2006, a group of mostly young boys and girls, generally not uneducated and some of them children of the elite in the society, retreated to an enclave in a part of Yobe State disowning the constitution of Nigeria and all forms of state institutions and claimed sovereignty over their territory. The group, then referred to as the ‘Talibans’ attacked Police stations and other Para-military posts in Damaturu, Gaidam and in three more towns all in Yobe State. They were motorised and used modern and sophisticated weapons. The group was flushed from their Yobe enclave through the combined effort of the police and the military. However, they continued with their activities freely in Maiduguri and environs.
Media reports indicate that the group claims to be fighting the current order, which they say breeds corruption and injustice, is dysfunctional and results from modern education. These they claim, can be seen in the conduct of people in position of trust. It could be true that people in leadership position, at different levels, have shown insensitivity to the on-going socio-economic and socio-political problems such as the poor state of the economy, fraudulent electoral culture, collapsing educational and healthcare facilities and joblessness among others. It is equally true that they see the people in leadership engage in open electoral malpractice, vulgar display of ostentation during celebrations, anniversaries, weddings etc, but whatever the reasons, the way they go about it is objectionable, counterproductive and condemnable. To take up arms against the state under whatever guise is not only unacceptable but must be stopped.
The style employed and the kind of weapons deployed by the group gives cause for concern. The spontaneity with which the group acted in different locations in different states of the north, at the same time, is an Indication of how organized they may be or how much sympathy they possibly enjoy. The losses suffered most especially by innocent citizens and by our security agents and the way they responded to the crisis expose the vulnerability of our security agencies, their mobility or ability to respond to threats efficiently and effectively. Equally disturbing and curious, is how the intelligence and security networks seem to have disregarded such a group or if that is not the case, how the appropriate authority would have ignored intelligence information as sensitive to national security as that.
Even though the unrest may seem under control, it is necessary for the government to do the following:
- To overhaul the nation’s intelligence and security agencies by making them more responsive to local and external threats.
- To view the situation with seriousness and more comprehensively beyond the recent incidence and to handle the aftermath with utmost caution to avoid abuse or high handedness by the security agents.
- Re-inspire confidence in the public by ensuring them that grievances can be addressed without recourse to violence or other unconventional method to get alternative redress.
- Address the issue of education seriously so as to keep our youth off streets and away from undesirable influences.
- Create employment opportunities by being deliberate about job creation, reviving our ailing industries and fighting smuggling.
- Monitor political office holders, sanction any form of corruption, abuse of office and insensitivity in whatever way they manifest.
On the side of the public, people should be more vigilant, monitor their environment closely and report any unusual or strange incidence to the appropriate authority.
Musa Maigida Abdu (Signed)
Chairman
