by Deji Adeyanju

“The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has issued an ultimatum to President Goodluck Jonathan to bring an end to insurgency in all its manifestations and produce the abducted Chibok school girls before the end of October, 2014 or forget his 2015 ambition.” – culled from ThisDay Newspaper, August 11^th, 2014

How can Goodluck Jonathan end Boko Haram with this approach of threats and political witch hunting by this desperate group of #BornToRule people all in a quest for #2015? Our nation is witnessing Political insurgency not religious insurgency and these same Elders are not willing to corporate with Government to finding a lasting solution. All they are concerned about is taking over power or pushing GEJ aside with threats, intimidation and blackmail.

Having failed through series of bombings and several other tactics, it is understandable that the #ChibokGirls abduction was their perfect game plan to cajole and threaten GEJ with ultimatum. It is now very clear that they intend to use #ChibokGirls as a manifesto issue for 2015. Those of us who have always suspected that the #Chibok abduction was never carried out by Shekau just got additional proof of our earlier assertions.

The #Chibok abduction was carried out as a last resort to tarnish and malign the GEJ administration by these desperados from Northern Nigeria. I have never seen where a president overcame insurgency especially a politically motivated one for that matter without the support and corporation of the people of that zone. We still remember vividly how the Elders and people of the Niger Delta rose-up together to support their Political Elites to solve the problem ofmMilitancy that was plaguing their land then. Now some power hungry people are giving GEJ an ultimatum to solve insurgency and produce #ChibokGirls abduction that they themselves organized. What an irony.

 

You will all recall that when the abduction took place some hypocritical Northern elders and two other groups met GEJ and offered to reach out to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to secure the release of the 276 abducted girls. 

You will all recall that when the abduction took place some hypocritical Northern elders and two other groups met GEJ and offered to reach out to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to secure the release of the 276 abducted girls. The options they tabled included either payment of ransom or the release of some detained members of Boko Haram as a form of prison swap.

The President gave them a listening ear thinking these were genuine patriotic Nigerians. The Groups even said if the options were acceptable to Government they might meet with a team from the insurgents at a neutral ground to negotiate. But when the President realized that these are a group of insincere people who just want dangerous Boko Haram elements in custody released so that more girls could later be kidnapped and one day they now ask him to resign, he turned down their hypocritical options. Despite the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan ruled out the possibility of swapping abducted schoolgirls for members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram detained by security agencies across the country, some of these Northern leaders have continuously kept on agitating for the Federal Government to accept the insurgents’ proposal.

How can a President with a sound mind accept such a satanic proposal? These leaders kept using blackmail phrase like “no sacrifice was too much to #BringBackOurGirls.”

I was particularly impressed when one of the parents of the abducted girls, Ishaya Abama, said: “government should only take decisions that would result in total eradication of the activities of the Islamic sect.” This is how patriotic citizens should talk not these satanic so-called Northern Elders who just want to plunge our nation into more crisis by realizing dangerous Boko Haram elements in custody. I have observed that, these so-called Northern Elders do not love or care about the #ChibokGirls, all they want is maximum anarchy and total destruction so that may be GEJ can be overthrown by the military because if not why will they ask for the release of dangerous Boko Haram elements who can later kidnap thousands of other girls?

My question to these crazy elements parading themselves as so called Northern Elders is what part of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is this their ultimatum coming from?

I will like them to enlighten me on this Section of the Constitution from where they are giving GEJ this Ultimatum.

There is no doubt that  by the provision of the 1999 constitution as amended, a Nigeria President can only spend maximum of eight years in office. Section 137 (1) (b) of the 1999 constitution as amended has spoken to the President already, so no need wasting your spittle on the subject matter of GEJ seeking a 2nd term as that can only be decided by GEJ’s decision to contest and the Nigerian electorate.

GEJ has the constitutional right to seek re-election. These reckless and senseless so-called Northern elders keep making unconstitutional statements. What a pity.

How can you give a Jonathan who didn’t create Boko Haram an ultimatum? Why haven’t you given your boy “Shekau” an ultimatum?

How can you give a Jonathan an ultimatum when you and your people are not willing to expose your fellow brothers sponsoring Boko Haram or those participating in it?

Before you can successfully give GEJ an ultimatum of forgetting about 2015 elections, you people should first #BringBack all the innocent people of North East killed in your quest to take-over power and also give the Governors of the North East this same ultimatum.

———————-

Deji Adeyanju writes from Abuja and can be contacted on Twitter @adeyanjudej9 or [email protected]