Going abroad to fix local problems

Also published in Daily Trust

In the absence of the culture of independent and thorough investigation into government processes in Nigeria, cases of monumental corruption and alleged involvement of some government officials and their cohorts in treasonable acts usually come into the open only by accident, or when some real or perceived political opponents are deliberately targeted and discriminatorily victimized.

In any case, such scandals often end in bogus investigations; the purported findings of which are dumped in the archive, or some unnecessarily and indeed deliberately extended trials that eventually deliver ridiculous sentences that neither return back the looted resources to the public treasury nor deter others already engaged in similar corrupt practices or even destabilizing activities.

A Friday in history

Also published in Daily Trust  

Though Friday is and will always remain the most preferred day in the sight of Allah the Almighty (See Sahihu Muslim, Hadith No. 854), a Friday 1,426 years ago, was and will forever remain, particularly significant, because it was the day the messenger of Allah (pbuh) delivered his last major sermon known as the Farewell Sermon.

The event was the first and the only Hajj the messenger of Allah performed in his lifetime and the place was the Arafat ground at the foot of the famous mountain, Jabal-Arafat or Mount Arafat some 20 kilometres east of the holy city of Makkah.

It was the 9th year after Hijira just less than 100 days before his death after spending almost 23 years delivering the message of Allah the Almighty to the humanity, the first thirteen years of which he had spent in his native Makkah before his forced migration to Madina where he spent the remaining ten years.

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.