The knot unravels

Also published in Daily Trust

One interesting thing about a knot, be it literal or metaphorical e.g. a conspiracy is that, no matter how it is intricately knitted, once it begins to unravel, especially in an abrupt manner, it can hardly if at all be stopped, as it will simply continue to unravel until it exposes whatever hidden in it.

This is exactly what is gradually unfolding in Nigeria, which is also exposing the treacherous elements among the Nigerian ruling elites and their cohorts who are hell-bent on prolonging the current Boko Haram crisis for their personal interests.

The plot thickens….

Also published in Daily Trust

Just as the denial of the existence of Boko Haram altogether or claiming that the real Boko Haram insurgents were crushed by the Nigerian army in 2009 when the insurgency broke out is prejudiced, so also the denial of the existence of any conspiracy behind the persistent escalation of the crisis.

In any case, it is increasingly becoming clear, particularly ever since the scandalous disclosure of the federal government’s involvement in a failed attempt to link Boko Haram to the Eagle Square twin bomb blasts in Abuja on the National Day 2010 that, apart from the misguided Boko Haram terrorists there are also some highly influential vested interests out there who capitalize on the situation to plot and execute a subversive agenda against northern Nigeria in general and northern Nigerian Muslims in particular.

Diplomatic counterinsurgency

Also published in Daily Trust

The Nigerian military’s embarrassing display of tactical cluelessness in the battlefields against Boko Haram terrorists and the obvious failure of the country’s security intelligence agencies in intelligence gathering, processing and utilization simply reflect the amount of confusion at the country’s political leadership level.   

Though my comment will definitely attract a sarcastic dismissal from the army personnel and their apologists as a mere naïve assessment by a “bloody civilian”, yet considering the rate at which the terrorists continue to capture more Nigerian territories, force the army to take to their heels, which the Nigerian military authorities shamelessly call a tactical manoeuvre, I wonder if the situation could be objectively described in a different way.

Re-Reflections on Imam Mahdi (lll)

Also published in Daily Trust 

In the second part of his interventional rejoinder that appeared yesterday, Hajiya Bilkisu’s Sheikh continued to ignore the excerpts I quoted in the first part of my rejoinder three weeks ago, from the Shiites’ most recognized reference books, which expose their actual belief that, when their Mahdi emerges he will effectively abolish the holy Qur’an, introduce a new religion and a new judicial system, exhume the prophet’s two leading companions; Abubakr (RA) and Umar (RA) from their graves, burn them down and scatter their ashes to the wind, then he will exhume the prophet’s wife; Aisha (RA) from her grave and flog her, among many other blasphemous acts and atrocities.

Instead, Hajiya’s Sheikh went on quoting some Muslim scholars to prove the prophesied emergence of Mahdi towards the End time but in a way cleverly hinting that the scholars referred to the Shiites’ Mahdi, which was clearly misleading. He simply ignored Muslims’ arguments that, the Shiites’ Mahdi is irreconcilably different from the actual Mahdi prophesied by the prophet Mohammad (pbhu)