Badeh and Clark’s bombastic statements!

I was going to write about Ariel Sharon — the former Prime Minister of the State of Israel. He had a storied military career before entering politics as a member of the Likud Party. After several ministerial positions beginning in 1977, he became the leader of his party in 2000, and serving as the 11th Israel’s prime minister from 2001 until 2006 when he suffered a debilitating stroke. Whether in a negative or positive sense, or both, you cannot write about the history of modern Israel or indeed of the Middle East without a mention of Sharon.

But when he died on January 11, 2014 at the age of 85, much of the world was silent. In fact, there was a profound indifference to the passing of a man who was considered a colossus in his heyday. It was telling that much of the world neither jubilated nor mourned his passing. Unlike the passing on of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez in the spring of 2013, or of Nelson Mandela in the winter of the same year, the world did not celebrate the life of Sharon. Nonetheless, his country and his people did not forget. He did everything he could to advance the cause of his nation and his people.

What would the world and Nigerians say when Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, and Goodluck Jonathan pass on? What would history and posterity say about these men and others – men who betrayed and dehumanised their own people and exploited their own country for their selfish interest? Although all three men are alive today, I wonder if they ever think of their own mortality and obituaries. What a waste!

And especially in terms of how they ruled the country, were they, in the words of John F. Kennedy, “truly men of courage—with the courage to stand up to one’s enemies—and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one’s associates—the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed…were they truly men of good judgment…were they truly men of integrity…and were truly men of dedication—with an honour mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest.”?

Be that as it may, according to The PUNCH, January 21, 2014, “the new Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, has given an assurance that the military will bring the Boko Haram insurgency in the country to an end before April this year… it was mandatory for the military to eliminate the Boko Haram insurgency in the next three months in order to prevent a constitutional problem in the polity…” Wow! Really?

The new Chief of Defence Staff went on to say that, “I can say confidently that this war is already won.” The questions for the new CDS include: (1) Was the military not mandated by Jonathan to eliminate Boko Haram and the scourge it posed; (2) what are the likely constitutional problems he has in mind; (3) what does the military now know that it did not know under previous CDS; (4) under what political or governing theory or practice does one declare a war or battle won when it is still ongoing and the opponent seems to have the upper hand; (5) why did he promise April 2014 as the day/date when Boko Haram will be completely annihilated?

Every administration that has ever boasted eliminating terrorism has fallen flat on its face. And for that matter, every military general who has ever given a specific date and time when a war would be concluded has lived to regret it. For instance, John G. Stoessinger reminded us that, “The generals who sent their men to war in August 1914 thought in terms of weeks, not months, let alone years.” And in the initial stages of President George W. Bush’s War on Terrorism, many of the promises he made fell flat.  Boko Haram will still be around and alive on May 1, 2014!

However, Badeh’s assertion may come true if there is a prior arrangement between Boko Haram and some powerhouses. In other words, Boko Haram will listen to known and unknown sponsors and sympathisers and agree to “stop, cut it off!” if there is proper appeal and intervention. Should this happen, well, we’ll have Sambo Dasuki, Aliyu Mohammed Gusau and Alex Sabundu Badeh to thank.

But unlike Badeh who is virtually unknown outside of military circles, and who may have just committed his first and only verbal blunder in public, Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, as AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL pegs him, is a “prominent player in Nigerian regional politics and an ally of President Goodluck Jonathan.” The Chief is not known to shy away from controversies. For instance, on January 22, 2014, The PUNCH  and several media outlets reported him as saying that: “Those fighting Jonathan are fighting God.” Unless Clark misspoke or the media misquoted him, one can only wonder if he has a direct line to God — be it the God of Abraham or the God of our ancestors.

Since the colonial era, Nigeria has never been short of men and women who bow and prostrate before any government-in-power to pledge their allegiance. The country has never been short of people telling presidents and heads of state: “You are the anointed!” They said it to Gowon and Muhammed and to Obasanjo; and they also said it to Sani Abacha and Babangida and Umaru Yar’Adua. Today, Clark is saying it to Jonathan.

I hope Jonathan does not delude himself into believing he is divinely positioned by any deity. Deity doesn’t elect leaders, the people do. When you do what is right and beneficial, the people will elect you. They will support you. If this President’s party thinks he has done a reasonably good and commendable job, well then, the Peoples Democratic Party should nominate him. And come February 14, 2015, if the majority of the electorate think he deserves a second term, oh well, that is good, too. That is democracy!

But it must be emphasised that the idea that criticism against Jonathan is a form of persecution against an Ijaw man is not only false, it is also misleading. The public, the press and public intellectuals have treated Jonathan no harsher than they treated his predecessors. Clark should not tread the same path as some fire-spitting militants from the region. It does the President no good!