Boko Haram Call Of Ceasefire: The Buhari Connection

By Babalola Yusuf Abiola

When the dreaded Boko Haram sect announced its readiness to cease fire should the government of the country meets its demands, everybody in the country especially those who were directly affected by the level of insecurity were happy that at last peace will return to the northern part of the country and the country at large.

Part of those who were happy were mainly the business men and women whose businesses and source of livelihood were affected by the crisis also, my Igbo brothers that have lost all what they have labored for. But why some of them were lucky to come back to their region with their lives many were not fortunate as their lives were lost.

Though, considerable numbers of the Easterners has returned to their respective villages and states but lives have never remained the same for most of them since their arrival in their home state so when the call for ceasefire was announced by the sect the joy of many who wished to go back to the region to continue their business knew no bound and were praying for the condition to be what the government can meet.

The conditions as announced by the sect were the arrest and persecution of the former Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, government should compensate the group, rebuild their place of worship that was destroyed during the 2009 uprising, release all their members in police custody and rehabilitate into the society the children and wives of their members that were displaced.

However, the sect in their bid to stop the killings and bombing of innocent lives and properties want Saudi Arabia to be the meeting point with General Muhammadu Buhari, Shetimma Ali Mongonu, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Gaji Gaitima and Barrister Aisha Wakil and her husband as mediator. Also, at the round table negotiation discussion on the side of the sect are Abu Mohammed Abdullaziz, Sheik Abu Abas, Sheik Ibrahim Yusuf, Sheik Sani Kontagora, and Mamman Nur.

But, of all the issues mentioned by the Boko Haram sect what has attracted the attention of Nigerians is not the call for the arrest of the former governor of Borno state neither is it the compensation to the wives of their member that was killed during the uprising rather it was the nomination of (RTD) General Muhammadu Buhari as the chief negotiator between the sect and the federal government.

Moreover, Since the sect has named the former head of state and five others a lot of verbal attacked has been hauled at Buhari while some Nigerians were calling him the leader of the dreaded group some were calling him the financier and that the blood of innocent Nigerians that have lost their lives are on him.

This people that resorted to name calling has forgotten that Buhari is one of the most loyal, dedicated and disciplined leaders left in Nigeria as while other past head of states collect salaries and arrears whenever their helps are needed in the country Buhari never did.

When he was the chairman of the petroleum trust fund during the tenure of General Sanni Abacha he never collected salary or arrears from the federal government of Nigeria saying he receives salary from the government as a former head of state so he needs not collect salary for rendering service to his beloved country.

My question is who among the present crop of leaders we have in the country can do that, what about Buhari’s call for audit into his years as the petroleum trust fund chairman  who among Nigerian leader can single handedly call for probe after his tenure except the only disciplined Mai Gaskiya meaning the honest man in Hausa language.

Some even call him religion bigot who thought because of his ambition to Islamize Nigeria makes him sponsors the sect, but the move to tell this same people that Buhari’s personal driver and cook are Christians falls on deaf ears. 

Add to it that one of the people Buhari respects most in the country is Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, a Christian, former Chief of Army Staff, and later Defence Minister, they block their ears with wax. And to further prove that he has no antipathy towards Christianity, remind them that Buhari picked a pastor and preacher as running mate in last year’s presidential elections then they will tell you Tunde Bakare was formally a Muslim before converting to Christian.

To me the choice of the retired General Muhammadu Buhari was not unconnected with the fact that the sect knew that buhari is one of the remaining loyal northern leaders in the country or if in doubt call a Hausa motorcyclist and asks him about Muhammadu Buhari then you yourself will hear what they will say about him.

Am not holding brief for him neither am I supporting him but everybody in this world has his own past, so saying Buhari is being hunt by his past won’t be an understatement but I won’t advise us to throw away the baby with the bath water, we should not hastily conclude that because Buhari has promised fire and brimstone after the presidential election then he is part and parcel of the dreaded group. 

But what about the statement made by some Northern People Democratic Party (PDP) leaders that promised to make the country ungovernable for president Goodluck Jonathan if he should run for the presidency, what was done to them what about the words of one of the presidential aspirant of the party, then why label Buhari a dog because we want to crucify him.

Now that Buhari has refused to be a negotiator between the federal government and the sect that means there will still be continuous loss of lives of innocent Nigerian who know little or nothing about the Boko Haram reason for insurgencies.

Also, will the attack on the respected general by the president attack dog for asking the PDP to put it house in other and who will the Boko Haram call upon in the North to do the lob respected General Buhari has dissociated himself from.

I won’t blame him for doing that because should he accept the role then what we hear from Nigerians will be, Buhari has gone to Saudi Arabia to pacify his foot soldiers, Buhari has ended what he started and on like that and the name he has built over the years will be soiled by hell bent individual who have been looking for every thing to nail my own MR INTERGRITY. 

Also, before the federal government jumped to accept the call for negotiation we need to decipher whether this group calling for ceasefire is the real member of the sect because the way and manner in which they called for the truce is suspicious.

According to Daniel Elombah, in an article posted on the Internet under the headline, ‘This desperate attempt to link Buhari with Boko Haram,’ Elombah asked pertinent questions about the olive branch waved by Boko Haram through one Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, who spoke on behalf of the sect last week. 

The germane posers are as follows: this purported spokesman had not hitherto been known to the media, how then can anyone be sure he is authentic? Two, he spoke in English, a language never known to have been used by Boko Haram spokesmen, who usually speak in Hausa, and use the name Abu this or Abu that.

Three, Abdulazeez did not ask for the implementation of Sharia law across Nigeria, a long-term demand of the sect. Four, the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, had always disowned any idea of talks with the government through videos posted online.

 Is Shekau now part of this deal? Why not then come out to authenticate it? Elombah concluded:

Left for me the truth remains that (RTD) General Muhammadu Buhari is somebody who does not have the resources or financial capacity to finance or sponsor the dreaded Islamic sect but for anybody who have a genuine evidence and case that can link Buhari with Boko Haram should come out with it because not even the federal government have it because should they have it, Buhari who happened to be the number one enemy of the purported mafias in Nigeria should be in jail by now.

So, I believe this man called Muhammadu Buhari still remains the best president Nigeria never had like the late western region premier Chief Obafemi Awolowo and I hope we never regret it as a country.