By John Udumebraye<\/p>\n
Looking back into our national history, the last time a top government official engaged in an act of sedition and rebellion against the Nigerian State was in 1967.\u00a0 That was when Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, then Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, proclaimed the region as an independent \u201cRepublic of Biafra.\u201d\u00a0 The rest, as they say, is now history.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that the regrettable consequences of that rebellion are still with us, although many would prefer that the lingering pains of that experience should be permanently sealed up in the inner recesses of our collective memory.<\/p>\n
It is sad that the Governor of Adamawa State, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako, is bent on dragging us into another bitter experience.\u00a0 That is the obvious conclusion that flows from the Governor\u2019s hate letter of April 6, 2014, addressed to the Northern Governors.\u00a0 What could have been the intention behind the letter?\u00a0 Not many Nigerians who have followed the Governor\u2019s activities since he ventured into the political scene, would be surprised at the venom and bitterness contained in the letter in which he expressed his disdain, hatred and contempt for the person of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and disloyalty for his administration.<\/p>\n
Personally, I have had, prior to the letter, reasons to doubt the governor\u2019s emotional stability. His physical appearance hardly recommends him as a model for Nigerian youths and his moods, utterances and idiosyncrasies have always reminded me of Professor Wole Soyinka\u2019s prescription that Nigerian politicians should undergo certain personality tests, before election or appointment into office.<\/p>\n
In spite of my reservations about Nyako\u2019s personality mien, I still find it difficult believing the contents of his letter, which I had to read over and again.\u00a0 His choice of language and level of indecorum are, to say the least, embarrassing to the core.\u00a0 More shocking is the volume of venom he is able to spill out in just one letter.\u00a0 Is this the same man who was once the nation\u2019s Chief of Naval Staff and who retired as Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, the second topmost position in the land?\u00a0 How sad, that a man, who had served this country at such a high level, would suddenly decline to the pitiable situation in which he (Nyako) now finds himself.<\/p>\n
Although the governor has never pretended to be a friend of President Jonathan or his administration, nobody expected that he would go as far as trying to cloak him with the devil\u2019s hood.\u00a0 Most of the governor\u2019s accusations against Jonathan are anchored on the on-going military campaign to check the atrocities of Boko Haram insurgents in the North Eastern States of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.<\/p>\n
In the crudest language, Nyako accused Jonathan of using the military to wage a war of \u201cgenocide\u201d against the North; he claimed that Northerners were being \u201cmassacred\u201d by federal forces and that it was Jonathan\u2019s plot to eliminate Northern elite.\u00a0 He was even specific in saying that there had been attempts to eliminate such Northern leaders as Senate President David Mark, two Northern governors, the Shehu of Borno and Emir of Kano.\u00a0 Nyako said that Boko Haram activities \u2013 bombings, killings and kidnapping of school children – were parts of a grand design by the Jonathan administration to destroy the North.\u00a0 The most dangerous assertion in the governor\u2019s letter was the connection he made between the campaign against Boko Haram and the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70, claiming that Jonathan, being from the defunct Eastern Nigeria, was merely continuing the agenda of the Igbo against the Hausa-Fulani, thereby calling him the \u201cAdolf Hitler\u201d of Nigeria. Totally unbelievable!<\/p>\n
One is almost tempted to describe the mentality displayed by Nyako in his letter, as infantile, but that would be unfair to infants.\u00a0 What we must not do is to ignore the potential dangers of the letter for what they are.\u00a0 Not many Nigerians would be impressed by the response of the Presidency which merely described the governor\u2019s utterances as \u201cirresponsible\u201d.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Nyako\u2019s hate songs are inciting and capable of creating uprising among the populace.\u00a0 They are, in fact, an open invitation to Northerners to attack other Nigerians living among them and a call on people to embark on an insurrection against the state.\u00a0 To that extent, Nyako\u2019s letter is seditious, treasonable and criminal, such that it must be treated, accordingly.<\/p>\n
Another reason why Nyako\u2019s letter must not be taken lightly is that the governor is one of those Nigerians acting the script of some international mischief makers who have predicted that Nigeria would break up in 2015.\u00a0 We pray God will not allow that to happen.\u00a0 It is curious that the letter in question was written by a trained professional soldier who rose to the peak of his career.\u00a0 Military men at such a high level are usually known to speak in measured terms, with respect and decorum.\u00a0 How Nyako derailed is a matter better left for psychiatrists to resolve.<\/p>\n
A final reason why Nyako must face the full wrath of the law is that in spite of Government\u2019s commitment and the efforts of the military, it appears obvious that Boko Haram has members\/supporters, not only in the Military but also among top Government officials.\u00a0 Jonathan said it long time ago that the insurgents had infiltrated all the arms of government.\u00a0 To any discerning mind, therefore, Nyako\u2019s letter amounts to a confession, inadvertently and openly, made before Nigerians.\u00a0 The onus is on him to prove otherwise.<\/p>\n
Mr. Udumebraye sent this piece from Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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