Editorial Suite

Fri, Feb 21, 2014 | By publisher


Editorial Suite

WHAT Boko Haram has turned out to be today should be a good lesson to politicians in Nigeria who always think that they cannot win any election without resort to the use of thugs. When it first started, it comprised a bunch of political thugs which politicians used to rig elections into political offices in Borno State and later dumped.  As the saying goes, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. These idle minds, who were roaming the streets as sheep without a shepherd after their abandonment, became the workshop which Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Islamic sect, later organised, indoctrinated and used to carry out his anti-West campaign, which he started in 2009. If the politicians had not conspired to cover their tracks by killing Yusuf, who was captured alive by the Nigerian army in Bauchi after an encounter, and handed over to the police, perhaps, Nigeria might not have undergone what it is today passing through. Perhaps, if Yusuf were alive, he would have spilled the beans. The unexplained death of Yusuf is said to have hardened his followers to embark on a jihad in which innocent Nigerians have become victims. Today, Boko Haram has become Nigeria’s Frankentein’s monster, which is very difficult to tame.

Last year, when President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in order checkmate the activities of the fundamentalist sect which had threatened the corporate existence of the country, some politicians from the opposition camp, tried to politicise his intention. But now, the same people are calling on him to do something drastic before the sect overruns the country. Even those who thought they were not affected by the activities of Boko Haram, have suddenly discovered that they are now on the sect’s hit list. As the sect gets bolder in its campaign to achieve its goal as a result of increased foreign connections and funding, Nigerians of all persuasions have accepted that Boko Haram is now a common problem and no more that of President Jonathan. We in Realnews are equally worried by the development and have decided to devote this week’s cover story to examine the renewed activities of the sect and its negative impact on the socio-political life of the people. Olu Ojewale, our general editor, handled the story entitled: Boko Haram: A Pain in Nigeria’s Neck. It’s very pathetic.

Mike Akpan
Editor-in-Chief

mikeakpan2003@yahoo.com  |  mikeakpan2014@gmail.com

— Mar. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT

Tags: