Jonathan’s could not Response To Obasanjo’s Five Questions. A seemingly remorseful President Goodluck Jonathan, could only plead for understanding and cooperation when he visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to seek his blessings ahead of the February presidential election. Jonathan it was gathered appealed for the support of Obasanjo at the meeting, choosing not to respond to some of the questions posed by the former president. The president had after his re-election campaign in Abeokuta, Ogun State, gone with the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and founder of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, to the residence of Obasanjo to seek his forgiveness and support. At the meeting, however, the former president had asked his estranged god-son the following questions, “ (1) Did you agree to run for only one term or not? (2) What did you tell me was your reason for not going after Boko Haram insurgents even when I told you this will boomerang? (3) What happened to Nigeria’s external reserve and Sovereign Wealth Fund? (4) Did you give licence to Niger Delta militants (Dokubo and Tompolo) to import arms in the name of their privately owned companies? If so, for what reason? (5) Did you not get correspondence from the United States consulate that a certain citizen named Buruji Kashamu is indicted for drug trafficking? Why did you appoint the same Kashamu as South West leader of PDP rather than hand him over to the US? And did the PDP give automatic Senate ticket to a wanted and convicted drug baron? However, it was gathered that Jonathan who either could not respond to the question or decided not, pleaded for Obasanjo’s understanding and cooperation as he goes into the election. A PDP source further hinted that the choice of the two revered pastors was to soften the ground for the former president to attend to him. Obasanjo had since refused to endorse Jonathan’s re-election bid. Their relationship had shortly after 2011 degenerated and culminated in the resignation of Obasanjo from the activities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

What Does Boko Haram Want In Nigeria? The Voice UK" GOING TO school can be a matter of life or death in certain parts of the world. Like the worried parents in regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, families in Nigeria’s northeastern states are facing the terror of militants, justifying their actions under the banner of Islam, kidnapping and killing their children. Boko Haram, Nigeria’s infamous Islamist militant group whose name roughly translates as ‘Western education is forbidden’, is currently waging an insurgency against the state. Caught in the crossfire are civilians and children, some of whom are being used as instruments of war. The most recent atrocities Boko Haram is suspected of were an alleged 2,000 deaths in the town of Baga, in the northeastern state of Borno, described by Amnesty International as the group’s “deadliest massacre” to date. Government soldiers apparently gave up counting the bodies of children, women and the elderly around January 3. Last weekend (January 10 and 11), suicide bombs killed at least 14 and injured dozens. What grabbed international attention was that the two separate blasts were allegedly carried out by a girl as young as ten years old, and two young women, whom witnesses described as in their early 20s. New York-based Nigerian human rights activist Dr Perry Brimah claimed the latest attacks are part of Boko Haram’s campaign to carry out an “ethnic cleansing” of rural populations in Nigeria’s “farming belt” to colonise land. “Boko Haram pretty much started using girls after April last year when they abducted the Chibok girls,” he told The Voice. “The girls are pressured. They have men telling them, ‘If you don’t do it, I’m going to kill you.’ “In a lot of the north there is so much poverty that you can literally buy kids. Poverty has an important role to play… enabling a pool of people to be recruited for terror, but poverty is one of the less important reasons for [the emergence of] Boko Haram.” Brimah apportioned a large amount of the blame for the chaos on the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election next month (Feb 14). “You have a situation of chaos and there is some kind of sponsor – a tactical brain behind them that is investing heavily and has a certain goal. You have the person behind Boko Haram with an agenda and a government permitting a level of insecurity.” He did not agree with the narrative that Boko Haram is truly seeking to create an Islamic caliphate, but claimed their motives are more worldly – resources and land. “What is the value in that area, the land, the farming belt of Nigeria?” the civil society campaigner speculated. “There is uranium in Borno and crude oil that has been discovered in Borno. What I see is that somebody wants that land – to colonise and occupy. A lot of people don’t focus on this, but at the end of the day, they are exterminating local populations.” AIMS Nigerian historian and author Max Siollun, whose books include Soldiers of Fortune: A History of Nigeria and Oil, Politics, and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture, said “the jury is still out on what Boko Haram’s ultimate aim is”. He said: “It’s a very fluid and evolving narrative. I would be circumspect over attributing any one theory as the ultimate aim of Boko Haram. “Their message has evolved. They originally stated they want to create an Islamic state from a remote fishing village, then their grievances changed and it was, ‘We want revenge against the security forces who have killed our members and imprisoned our brothers, sisters, wives and children.’ And now it has turned into, ‘We want to create an Islamic caliphate across the whole of northern Nigeria and we are anti-establishment, against existing Islamic authorities in Nigeria.’” The writer added: “During the first ten years of Boko Haram, this caliphate idea was never mentioned. It started after IS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] gained prominence and notoriety and when Boko Haram got lots of international publicity for kidnapping those schoolgirls last year.” Boko Haram’s kidnapping of children and alleged use of girls as suicide bombers has drawn international condemnation – following the recent suicide blasts involving minors, the UN’s children agency UNICEF said: “Words alone can neither express our outrage nor ease the agony of all those suffering from the constant violence in northern Nigeria.” Siollun claimed use of children is a useful “bargaining chip” for Boko Haram as it means “the military can’t attack them with the same ferocity as they did before, for fear of endangering the girls’ lives.” “The narrative I’ve heard more often is that they marry off the girls as prizes to their fighters,” he added. On the subject of religion, Siollun argued that it “is a symptom not the cause.” He continued: “When you have a grievance, you can’t just get up and say, ‘I’m going to kill people for no reason,’ you need to find some sort of self-justification for what you’re doing. “What you’re seeing is demographics, economic inequality, marginalisation and unemployment are coinciding in Nigeria to create a perfect storm of insecurity.”

Open letter to Goodluck Jonathan by Hafsat Abiola! Dear President, As young global leaders we would like to express our deep concern about the recent situations in Nigeria. The massacre in Baga has been Boko Haram’s deadliest so far and what has it met with? Your silence. Most disturbing still is the fact that you would send a message to France condemning the killings there, yet seem unable to address the Nigerian people who look to you for leadership. Unfortunately, it would not be the first time On 10 November 2014 a suicide bomber killed 47 people and injured 79 others. The following day, with barely a mention of this horrific incident targetting children, you launched your re-election campaign. And despite the ease with which you move on, even you will remember the abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok in April last year. It was 40 days before you addressed the country on that occasion. Nigerians waited, perplexed, as your government debated whether or not the abductions had even taken place. As a result, of all the girls captured, only 52 have secured their freedom – escaping on their own. The rest are still in captivity, still waiting to be rescued, 276 days after being taken from their friends, family and community. Could it be that your government also doubts that the Baga attacks happened? Amnesty International’s satellite images confirm that indeed a massacre took place, and as many as 2000 people are dead. Yet your army wastes time contesting the numbers. Whether 150 or 2000, we’d like to hear from you on your governments plans to secure the region and to bear witness to the loss of lives in Baga. We have seen a clear incompetency in handling matters of national interest. In the context of existing ethnic and religious fault lines, silence only says that Nigeria’s government does not care about the victims and is not dealing with the insurgency. True the global community has also failed to maintain pressure on your government that seems ambivalent about fulfilling its constitutional role to secure the lives and properties of its citizens. As 1.5 million Nigerians flee their homes, swelling camps within Nigeria and overwhelming border communities’ (if not same as before), it seems the only hope to see you act is global outrage. It was this that finally forced you to address the nation and the world 40 days after the Chibok abductions. It was only then that you reached out to other countries and, with their help, agree a plan for a regional security force to secure the porous borders between Nigeria, Niger and Chad where Boko Haram roams undeterred. Perhaps, had international pressure been sustained last year, a multi-regional force would have been based in Baga as planned. Perhaps it would have been strong enough to repel Boko Haram when the militants attacked on 3 January. Perhaps 2000 lives could have been saved. But Isis happened and the world moved on, leaving a small national military unit to stand between thousands of armed militants and a town of ten thousand people. We now know what happened. The world has seen pictures of bodies still strewn around the forest and river where they died. If these deaths do not generate the attention, outcry and action that they ought to, we can only prepare the ground for more bodies because Boko Haram shows no sign of relenting. The insurgents can be defeated but first you must decide if the lives of Nigerians are worth it or not. Break the silence, Mr. President. Call for global attention and support to avert a crisis that begins to echo the early days of the Rwandan genocide. Be the voice for the thousands of innocent people who have died and the millions who yearn for peace. They have the right to rebuild their communities and claim their place in the unfolding rise of the African continent.