First of all, are “Northern
Muslim Youths” all “Boko Haram”
members?
Enraged by last Sunday’s threat by the Movement for the
Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, to commence bombing of mosques and killing
of Muslim clerics as from May 31 over the terror campaign and killing of
Christians by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, northern youths yesterday, promised
to deal a deadly blow on the militants should they carry out its devilish plan
even as former agitators and clerics in the Niger-Delta differed on planned
attack.
Although the Arewa youths did not specify their mode of
retaliation, they warned MEND not to arrogate to itself the monopoly of
violence.
The northern youths’ warning was handed down by the
National President of the Arewa Youths Forum, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambo Gujungu in
Abuja.
Gujungu made it clear that the threat by MEND would not
in any way deter northerners and other Nigerians from fighting back should they
attempt to make real their threat.
The AYF leader said,”the most recent threat by MEND is
indeed, unfortunate, callous and counter-productive, especially coming at a
time when patriotic Nigerians are making strident effort and sacrifices to
resolve the current security challenge.
“MEND, as usual, is putting spanners in the works for
unpatriotic selfish economic benefits. It is painful that these elements are threatening
more violence despite the colossal amount being paid their leadership and the
training of Niger Delta youths abroad by the Federal Government to the obvious
disadvantage of other Nigerian youths outside the region.
“MEND and its members are hereby warned that they do not
have monopoly of ideas, strength or ability. The youths of the north and other
Nigerians are united and shall face them to truncate any of their threats which
are aimed at separating Nigerians along religious or ethnic divides for their
selfish economic goals.
“It is very sad and mind boggling to note that instead of
supporting and ensuring that President Jonathan succeeds in finding a lasting
solution to the present security challenge in the north, MEND has re-opened
another insecurity theatre in the Niger Delta to cause distraction and make him
fail.
“The obvious disrespect, which MEND shows to President
Jonathan as not being among those they respect enough to intervene in the
ongoing debacle, is food for thought, to say the least,” Gujungu noted.
Some ex-leaders of the militant group contacted by
Vanguard, yesterday, opted to keep sealed lips with one of them, saying, “You know our position on this
matter. As far as we concerned, MEND is dead, those threatening anything in the
name of MEND are paper tigers.”
However, the spokesperson of the defunct Niger-Delta
Liberation Force, NDLF, “Captain” Mark Anthony, threw his weight behind the
planned action by MEND, while a prominent activist, Mr. Augustine Ogedengbe,
cautioned against retaliatory attacks by any group from the region.
In the words of “Captain” Anthony, “If MEND can carry out
their threat, it will be a welcome development, the Christians Boko Haram
roasted with bombs in hundreds are human beings. While we were in the creek, we
made preparations to pay Boko Haram in their own coin, but Niger-Delta
politicians pleaded with us never to carry out operations in the land.
“Now, my hands are tied as Federal Government has granted
me amnesty and my group, NDLF, and I have sworn to an oath never to engage in
violence. I am now a toothless bulldog and cannot bite,” he said.
Rev Usifo, who opposed the plan by MEND to take up the
gauntlet for Christians said, “They should not burn mosques and kill Muslim
clerics, I am not in support of that. But I want to say that Christians should
arm themselves and also seek the services of security agencies to guard their
churches. In a situation where people come to attack them and burn their
churches, they should defend themselves”.
Activist, Mr. Ogedengbe, said he would want MEND and any
other group claiming to represent Niger-Delta to be mindful of the fact that
Boko Haram was fashioned to frustrate the Federal Government, headed by a
Niger-Deltan and carrying out reprisal action could precipitate more
bloodbaths.
Nigeria is heading for disintegration unless ——Southern
Mandate
Meanwhile, the Southern Mandate has warned that sponsors
of the sect must halt their activities forthwith, or else the insurgency will
plunge Nigeria into disintegration.
The group said in a statement issued in Abuja, yesterday,
that the sustained explosions were targeted at discrediting the administration
of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We foresee that there are no two ways about it –the
consequence of Boko Haram’s present activities is the disintegration of our
dear country in the near future”.
“In the circumstances, we wonder why some Nigerians could
still regard Boko Haram as an enemy only to President Jonathan and his
government. However, it is time to tell ourselves the bitter truth: the earlier
all Nigerians from the North and South realize and confront Boko Haram as a
common enemy, the better for the unity of Nigeria”, the group said in the
statement signed by the group’s President-General and South/South
Coordinator, Tito Zuokumor and Dr.
Wilson Omene, respectively.
The group condemned those who blame President Jonathan
for the prevailing insecurity without considering the attendant result of
sitting on the fence and allowing sectional violence as a tool to score
political goals, with which some political figures have been identified.
“Let the truth be told that there is no region or ethnic
nationality in Nigeria that is weak. The West, East and South-south all have
the capacity to create a similar scenario of deliberate insecurity in their
zones to make any administration ungovernable just to score political points.
“And if such acts of artificial insecurity are
perpetrated by a group or groups of persons from a part of the country without
resolvable aims and objectives other than to waste innocent lives just to deny
a particular region the right to attain the presidency or complete the
constitutionally stipulated tenure of office, then we have got to check
ourselves, apply restraint in whatever we do, and not acting with impunity as
is presently the case with some self-seeking politicians fuelling the Boko
Haram activities. Otherwise, we are all heading for the doomsday.
“We are all not unaware of the political aim of Boko
Haram, but we fail to see beyond the kite which the group and their sponsors
are flying in the air and progressively piloting us to disintegration”,
Southern Mandate insisted.
It added that “the serial bomb explosions and death of
innocent Nigerians are receiving applause from certain quarters today because
those behind the barbaric acts believe they are winning the battle against Dr.
Jonathan’s presidency, unmindful of the fact that they are laying landmines for
the nation’s disintegration.
“The determination of a few selfish individuals seeking
the highest political office to “do everything possible, whether good, bad or
terrible to unseat President Jonathan” for fear of becoming too old to occupy
the presidency if Dr. Jonathan is allowed to remain in office for two terms,
must be stopped”.
The group urged all good-spirited Nigerians to support
the federal government in tackling the present menace in order to avoid similar
bombs exploding from other parts of the country tomorrow.
It claimed that Nigeria’s unity was being preserved by
the petro-dollars from crude oil in the Niger Delta region and that the people
of that region had borne the brunt of oil production for several decades in the
interest of the entire nation.
Destination of all suicide bombers is hell——Sheik Gumi
In a related development, renowned Islamic cleric, Sheik
Ahmad Mahmud Gumi has said hell is the destination of all suicide bombers. The
cleric, in a sermon monitored yesterday pointed out that while young men commit
suicide, they ought to reflect that those leaders who send them to their deaths
do not commit suicide or send their children to die in the same way.
Gumi who has been critical of the Boko Haram sect, said
in the sermon: “The prophet said the way to Paradise is easy for those that
follow his path. Despite this ease of entering Paradise, those that commit
suicide for whatever reason have guaranteed for themselves the Hell Fire
forever”.
According to him, “People are forbidden to wish for death
talks less of committing suicide. Islam is a practicable religion. Whoever
therefore will be taken by fanaticism or sickness or depression to kill
himself, he has condemned himself to eternity in the hell fire”.
He stressed that whoever will explode himself with
explosives for whatever reason or disguise will also continue to be in his
explosion in hellfire forever, stressing that this is what the hadith
teaches. Suicides, he warned, are
tormented by the same means they employ to kill themselves.
“Today we see young men killing themselves with
explosives in the name of Jihad yet they never reflect that those ‘leaders’
that send them to such adventure never commit suicide nor send their children
to commit it.”
