How can you talk about negotiating with murderer’s whose sole aim is to make your country ungovernable and to portray you as a weak man incapable of guaranteeing the security of lives and property of innocent Nigeria Citizens?

Why can’t this president look beyond his nose. It is obvious some disgruntled selfish but powerful Nigerians within and outside his government are behind these subversive activities under the name Boko Haram. The truth is, there are two Boko Harams, the real one; that group of Muslims extremist that want to be left alone to be governed only by the Koran and don’t want any interaction with or  polluting by western civilization. What we now have as Boko Haram is a group of people with their moles in our security agencies. They tried their best to stop then Vice President Jonathan from being sworn in as president, even when it became very clear that the president then was totally incapacitated by sickness and could not  perform his role as president. They are the same people that sponsored the post election violence that we all witnessed after Jonathan was declared winner with the attendant destruction of lives and properties.

These are people that had the opportunity to rule and ruin this country for 37 years, cornering all the Juicy Ministries and parastarals for themselves and family. Clearly they are still not satisfied. They have been out of power for a short while and are feeling like fish out of water thirsty for power again.

This feeling is evident in some statements coming out from some prominent Northerners justifying all the carnage we are witnessing daily in the North, like the one from the Governor of Niger State Mohamed Muazu saying “ it is because of cheating of the northerners in revenue allocation” or the recent one from the PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur that this murderers are fighting for justice. We will be right to conclude that this statement coming from this caliber of northerners shows that something is fishy somewhere. Jonathan needs to be careful and air on the side of the people and not Boko Haram. Nigerians need to ask the PDP Chairman what injustice he is really talking about, is it the one, privileged northerners like himself inflicted on their fellow northerners or what?

Let us for once tell each other the truth, the one group in Nigeria that have a genuine claim to having been treated unfairly in this country are the Ibos. Bad Federal Government policies since the end of the civil war was deliberately formulated and targeted at the Ibos. The sole aim of all the policies then was to insure that these defeated people as they are called are kept permanently down. Is it the policy of confiscating their funds in the Bank and giving them 20 pounds in return no matter how many millions they have in your account or the confiscation of their properties as abandoned property or the lack of federal presence like functional International Airport, Sea Port plus the total neglect of federal roads in the area since 1970.  The worst is the open conspiracy to deny them of the presidency which at present they are the only region that have not tested it. The igbos have been marginalized in spite of their enormous contribution to the national treasury as oil producers and generators of wealth all over the country.

Given this history, there is every need for Jonathan to be on his guards because this same elements that have secretly been sponsoring all these mayhem are the ones now forcing government to negotiate with these agents of darkness. Knowing that their activities are now getting out of hand and might lead to the disintegration of the country, leaving them at the losing end. One may begin to ask how come these terrible things are happening during the time a southern minority man is president. Why are the people pressurizing Jonathan to negotiate mostly northerners. Some acting as cheerleaders for negotiations with the terrorist.

The president cannot and must not allow himself to be stampeded into negotiation with murderers and terrorists. He will only be sending a terrible message that you will be rewarded if you bomb worship centers and kill innocent citizens. He must insist that the international community classifies and sees these evil elements for what they are “TERRORIST”, that must be hunted down together with their sponsors, plus their collaborators within our security agencies.

In my opinion the government must make concerted efforts to identify the individuals within and outside government that are behind these subversive activities, and bring them to justice. Also we must go ahead to identify the source of their finance and block it. State governors found to be encouraging this wickedness must be denied their own share of the monthly revenue even as the Federal government insist that any state where this killings, burning of churches plus destruction of public and private properties continues, will and shall be held responsible.  Revenues due to the states shall be used by the central government to settle the victims involved and rebuild the properties burnt. Federal government must stop pampering and appeasing these disgruntled northerners, like the ill advised building of Islamic schools with public money by the federal government. A special court akin to a military court be setup to summarily try these destructives elements.These are all tactical short term solutions.The permanent solution is the total restructuring of Nigeria to make the center less attractive avoiding all the attendants’ tension and fictions. Thereby eliminating the constant quarreling about which region will head the center.

The regions must be made viable, for them to be able to source their own revenue from resources within their region and pay tax to the central government.  We cannot continue this present system where we pull all revenue in one box, to be controlled by one man who dispenses as he deems fit. The problems will continue to degenerate more than it is now. We must act before we are consumed by our own selfishness and greed

Uzoma is a citizen who deeply cares for Nigeria.