By Bisi Lawrence
I am in one of my dull moments again when simple situations that are as clear as daylight fail to emerge from the depths of confusion for me to grasp and comprehend like all others around seem to do.

Why can’t I understand what is going on? Just when I think I am on top of the unfolding events, something that leaves me panting turns up again.

We at last arrived at the point where we were going to convene a meeting between some leaders of the Islamist insurgent group, Boko Haram, with the intention of working out an arrangement by which they could be considered for clemency — I beg your pardon, amnesty.

I did not get the impression that President Goodluck Jonathan was entirely for the idea until there were suggestions that members of the group—call them terrorists or whatever—were going to shed the heavy veil under which they operated so far. The President was openly pressurized, almost blackmailed even, to yield grounds in the proposition to participate in a confab with “ghosts.” He averred that he was all for a meeting with real people but had no faith in communicating with masquerades. But he was given the assurance that it would not be case.

Accordingly, the government commissioned a technical committee to “review fresh ways” of tackling the security problems in the North — in other words, the Boko Haram menace. Based on a report submitted by this committee, The National Security Council recommended a Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North. Twenty-six good men and true were promptly appointed as members of the panel which is known as the “amnesty panel”.

They are to engage members of the Boko Haram in a parley to find a way out of the unrest unleashed by the group on the rest of the country; to “design a framework” by which amnesty can be processed; to prescribe an agenda for the disarmament of the belligerent group within a period of 60 days; to invent a programme for the support ,of the victims of the Boko Haram terror; and fashion a plan for eradicating, or combating, the root causes of insurgency in the country. A tall order; an ambitious project; but a beginning of some kind.

The twenty-six Nigerians, good and true, appointed to serve on the panel, headed by the Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki. Every member seems to be of Northern extraction with the exception of Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs who, at the last check, was a South-western and by all accounts, still is. His inclusion in the list raises an eye-brow or two, not for being a Non-Northerner, but as the only Southerner appointed to serve in the group.

In the first pace, the emphasis of this issue as it is given an absolutely Northern coloration neglects the important aspect of its effect on the entire country. It also seems to deliberately twist the resolution in a northerly direction in spite of the fact that most of the victims are Southerners.* So there ought to be an infusion of Southern elements in the resolution of an issue that affects them as much, at least, as it affects any other group, not a token representation.

This tendency to cast an overlay of Northern concern only deepens the division that the Boko Haram scourge has thrust upon the country. That was why we had always felt that the voices that are raised loudest for amnesty could have spared a decibel or two for the cause of the victims.

The scourge is not only inflicting havoc on our slender chances of nation-building: it is set on re-orientating our vision of development as a people. In these past several months, each ethnic group’s consciousness of itself as a distinct entity has become heightened.

Other objections have been made to the constitution of the panel. For instance, according to the Executive Director of the Civil Rights Congress, Shehu Sani, the appointment of the panel was precipitate. An earlier meeting should have taken place between the Boko Haram members and people they could have confidence in.

He gave out the names of three of such people. That had been his standpoint before the creation of the panel, to which he was all the same named; he therefore had no qualms in withdrawing his membership from the body. Yet, at least one more nominee has also pulled out.

But you must have heard that in the midst of all this, the Boko Haram has remained its old self —steady of purpose, unconcerned with other people’s anxieties, and totally unflappable. They have seen no rationale in the clamour by a section of the community for amnesty, since they hold themselves to be innocent of any crime. That is the point at which I really get nonplussed … that is, confused, concerned, baffled, bewildered, at a loss …

Who needs the amnesty? For whose benefit is the amnesty? Who should be asking for the amnesty? THEY SAY THEY HAVE  COMMITTED NO CRIME! If so, they indeed deserve no pardon since they have committed no offence. But what name do you give the murders, the bombings, the demolitions?

The laws of this country call them felony, that is, what felons do. And yet the country is made to witness this farce of peace­making with people who have not broken the peace? WHO IS TO BE PACIFIED? WHO IS TO BE APPEASED? Who should apologize? Who is to make amends? I am not clear. There must be some facts that I am unaware of.

celebrating insecurity

Slim = that was his name— worked in a gas station in downtown Washington, DC. He was so called because of his slender frame. He did everything gently, as though to complement his peaceful appearance. Then on his way home, one day, his car was stopped by a cop for no known reason.

The cop dismounted from his motorbike and reached for his gun. That was standard operational procedure (S,O,P) in that part of DC. But somehow, at the sight of the gun, Slim “flipped!” The man lost control, and went for his own gun, and shot the policeman dead. Then he began to run. Pandemonium!

Next day started out with the expected headline — “Cop-killer on the run”…. that sort of thing, as if any cop-killer ever stood stock still. The funeral took place at high noon. It was a dignified motorcade which several people stood by to watch. Everything remained calm.

However, the streets were sparsely populated, though not deserted, because everyone knew what was to follow. At about half-past seven in the evening, it began. A tidal wave of sirens, of different pitches and various tones shook the air. It went on and on till past midnight. And then, it tailed off.

In the morning, it was bright and breezy. Everyone grinned at nothing. We knew that Slim was past tense. When you kill a cop, you get a “fair” trial, but fast. You don’t kill a cop and get a chance to tell the story — who needs it? You don’t kill a cop— period. Of course, when it comes to gunning down ten, 12 policemen, you ‘dead, Pete.

How many days now since a Commissioner of Police was killed here in our country? Promises, promises, that’s what they are still dishing out. The reaction should have been short and sharp. The killing of a police officer in such a licentious manner should hardly be contemplated in the presence of adequate security preparedness. But we have now arrived at a point where we even seem to celebrate our insecurity.

Boko Haram only complicates the issue. The fact is that miscreants have little regard for the law enforcement capability of the land. For instance, MEND gleefully announced that they would wreak devastation on the land, and they do. Then the group proceeds to frighten the nation by promising to extend its nefarious acts to attacks on mosques.

And all this is because they believe that the government is implicated in the conviction of their erstwhile leader, Henry Okah. But what has mosques and Islamic worship got to do with that? This nation is now stretched between amnesty, which those for whom it is meant aver is not their portion, and immunity which everyone aspires to claim for himself.

In the meantime, the police have the gall to clamp down on journalists who are told to violate one of the most revered tenets of their professionalism. The Leadership journalists may clap and sing, engaged in a battle which they cannot lose and which the police dare not win.

Echoes: Why is it that you have not deemed it fit to write about Margaret Thatcher?(Eddie … 0802122193)

Well, I really think she was a magnificent piece of work. One in a million! She gave Britain a higher world position than she found her in.

She corroborated with Gorbashev, whom she described as a “man you could do business with” to end the Cold War with the fall of The Berlin Wall; she maintained a good relationship with France and most of the East European countries, who dropped the epithet of “Iron Lady” to give her the nick-name of “TINA”, the acronym of “There is no alternative”; she enforced the No Standing” rule in football, which has brought down the incident of football rioting in England, and she won her country a war. She was Prime Minister! For three consecutive times, she was.

The evil that men (and women) do lives after them.

Time out