Terrorism in Nigeria, Former President Obasanjo Ignored Earlier Warning
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...By Seyi Oduyela
Published: December 29, 2009
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
By Samuel ‘Seyi Oduyela
If there is any military officer lucky in Nigeria, it is General Matthew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo. He is lucky because he never participated in any coup, but had been a beneficiary of coups. He enjoys taking other people’s credit when the job is completed. He claimed the credit of being a Civil war Hero because the leader of the Biafra Army surrendered to his Command. After the ouster of General Yakubu Gowon, Obasanjo became the second-in-command to Murtala Mohammed and after the assassination of Murtala on February 13, 1976, Obasanjo, “an unwilling candidate,” was forced to take over as the Head of State. The position he held for 3 years.
While he was arrested and jailed for his alleged involvement in a coup plot against late General Sani Abacha, he was lucky again to leave the prison alive but his second-in-command during his tenure as a military Head of State was not lucky, Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua died mysteriously in Abakaliki Prison. Obasanjo came out of prison to become the first Nigerian former military ruler to come back as a civilian president. So far, he holds the record of being the only civilian president spending second term in office. And he still on the road to making another news as the first person who rules “democratically” for 12 years.
Omar Bakri Mohammad
No one could have considered himself luckier than Obasanjo, who won where his fellow Yorubas failed. Late M.K.O. Abiola won the freest and fairest election in the history of Nigeria, but he was denied of his victory by Obasanjo’s first constituency- the military. Chief Obafemi Awolowo attempted to become President but lost; but Obasanjo was never interested but persuaded to rule. These and many more have made this man to become the most powerful leader of the most populous black nation in the world and by extension, wanting to become the most powerful man in Africa. Obasanjo played major roles in preventing these two people accomplish their political ambition. He confirmed in his book, ‘Not My Will’ that he voted against Chief Awolowo in the 1979 elections. He also supported the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election and was instrumental to the appointment of Chief Ernest Shonekan as Interim government Head of State rather than fighting for the release of the June 12 elections.
To international community, he is a lover of democracy, because he voluntarily handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1979. But what is not known to them is that it was not Obasanjo’s calling to hand over or not to hand over in 1979, he was simply acting the script of those who put him there as a Head of State. The same people, who released him from jail, kill Chief M.K.O Abiola and imposed him on People’s Democratic Party as presidential candidate.
Umar Farouk Mutallab
In 1999 Napoleon Igboku-Otu, journalist and environmental activist stumbled on a piece of information that borders on national security. Perhaps if something had been done may be we may not have had the serious case of terrorism facing the world now. According to the information, extremist Palestinian Islamic group, Hamas, were to train some Islamic fundamentalists in Nigeria for an all-out Islamic Jihad against non-muslims, they had recruited Iraqi dissident military officers. The Islamic Jihadists, the report says had already established training camps in Northern Nigeria and were recruiting Sudanese Muslims and smuggling them through Niger Republic into Maiduguri, Kano, Katsina and Kaduna in readiness for the planned bloody campaign. The report named a certain Sheikh Omar Baleri, head of Hez Bothriah, an Islamic group with a bridgehead in Northern Nigeria as the brain behind the set up in Nigeria. Another Omar Bakri Mohammed was mentioned with email address: obm@mail.com, checks on this email in 2002 show that it has been deactivated.
Syrian born radical Islamist Sheikh Omar bin Bakri Muhammad is the founder of the London branch of Hizb Al-Tahrir (the Islamic Liberation Party ), and of the organization “Jama’at Al-Muhajirun” (”The Emigrants,” in reference to those who accompanied the Prophet Muhammad on his Hijra from Mecca to Medina).
Igboku-Otu-Out contacted the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS) Colonel Kayode Are (rtd) who did not see anything serious and alarming in the information. Are’s only response was to lodge the activist in a hotel in Abuja while he pussyfooted. His attempt to see President Obasanjo directly was rebuffed. According to Aso Rock sources, Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, the National Security Adviser, prevented Igboku from seeing Obasanjo. Sadly, a day after his aborted visit to the Villa, unknown men went to his house at Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, slaughtered him and that was all. Some days after, the men of the SSS were in his house looking for the document on the said terrorists. The News Magazine published the story in 2001. Nobody took it serious, same year they struck in the United States. The file has been thrown into the dustbin of the police just like the ones before him. The Police could not have done anything since the President himself told the press that Igboku was attacked by armed robbers, even before the Police launched its investigation. From 2000 to date Nigeria have had many religious-motivated demonstrations where many lives were lost. In February 2000, riots erupted in Kaduna, over 2000 people were killed and nobody was brought to book, in spite of the fact that someone was caught in the security report to have supplied machetes to Muslims to attack Christians. More than 3000 died in Kano in 2001 while 200 were killed in 2002. For all these deaths no one has been arrested or charged.
A serving Minister of his government was indicted by security report. The security report, indicted Sango Daura, who was then the Minister of Agriculture. What Obasanjo did was to remove Daura from his cabinet for some phony reasons without addressing the serious report that showed Daura in a video distributing machete to Islamic militants to fight and kill southern Christians. The report according to sources was doctored by Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, who was Obasanjo’s National Security Adviser.
To be continued…….
Your piece is detailed and shows your stuff as investigative Journalist. I hope to see your type among Journalists covering crime beat now but,alas! Envelope has taken over. Put more effort in your chosen job. God will be your guard.
It is a known fact that the issue of terrorism and religious violence in the world today demanding an immediate attention of all not some set of people in the world.Initially we all hope that terrorism is only the problem of the west but now is forming a universal threat! But if our government failed to provide adequate measure to subdue this threats, we should not stop our periodic conscentizationof the masses about meaningful information that can be of help. thanks for you hint!