The North stops running

“Necessity unites hearts” German Proverb.

An extraordinary meeting was convened last week Monday at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Center, Abuja by the Northern Elders Forum, a group that appears to house the residue of political influence and credibility in northern leadership. The meeting was to give muscle and support for its inputs into proposals for an effective engagement between government and insurgencies of Jamaatu Ahlil Sunnah Lid Daawati Wal Jihad and Ansar which it planned to submit to President Jonathan. The Forum had met with the President a few days earlier, during which it made a strong case for dialogue which should be preceded by the grant of amnesty. In the days following that meeting, there were widespread and divergent reactions to the setting up of a committee under the National Security Adviser (NSA) to advise on a framework for amnesty and dialogue, if it was the way out. As expected, the overwhelming reaction from the North was in support of the intention to explore options to the militarization of substantial parts of the region and the traumatization of the lives of citizens by both the insurgency and the security agents of the state. A few voices were raised against pardon without restitution for christian churches and lives taken by the insurgency. On the other hand, there was a chorus of condemnation from traditional nay sayers in the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and a few political circles. Finally, although this would not have been reported, there must have been some resistance from security circles, since the military has become a major stakeholder in this conflict that shows no sign of yielding a victor.

Attention had become focused on the nature of the framework which the President may adopt in dealing with dialogue and peaceful resolution. It is safe to assume that many interests were at play to shape it; from those which would advise in favour of a controlled and limited framework designed to give government a firm grip on the process, to those who would suggest a comprehensive and largely autonomous framework that should target full acceptance, dialogue, restitution, rehabilitation and reconciliation as goals. Some other positions would have taken cognizance of the repudiation of the concept and offer of amnesty by leader of the JASLIWAJ, Abubakar Shekau as soon as it was even mentioned, and may have advised in favour of a strategy which seeks dialogue and reinforcement of existing strategies at the same time.

The Northern Elders had summoned retired Chief Justices and other senior judicial officers, senior technocrats, retired heads of military, police and intelligence services, politicians and an impressive array of other northerners who had served the nation with distinction and who may never have thought they would attend a meeting of that nature, to make further inputs into its own suggestions. The meeting turned out to be anything but a tame and measured gathering of elders who had been asked to make inputs into work in progress.

The first sign that it was to be anything but a routine meeting was the large attendance of very senior retired security officers. Generals, including a few who held top, command positions do not make a habit of attending meetings summoned by elderly citizens and politicians in large numbers. When they join former Chief Justices and heads of police and other security agencies and politicians and elder statesmen who have stepped forward into public limelight over the state of security in the North, it could only signify that something is seriously amiss.

Secondly, the mix in the attendance was evidence that the meeting was a response to some deep-seated sentiment which had been twicked. It had people who had never shown an overt interest in political or public matters since disengaging, either owing to character or demands of positions they held, or personal experiences. It had Christian and Muslim Northerners who lived lives only as Northerners in a nation which went where the North went. It had people who fought in the civil war, or were part of every major development in the history of the nation in the last 40-odd years. It had people who had crossed swords on many occasions, colleagues and comrades who had fallen out; victims and beneficiaries of intrigues and historians who chronicled how the North won and lost the power game, all seated in the same room. It had elderly people who labored to keep attention and energy focused on the future, rather than around elaborate lamentations of a glorious past of which they were architects and beneficiaries. It has a smattering of relatively younger elders who think they are by right entitled to call the shots, but cannot do so owing to the state of the North and the nation.

Then you had the intense anger and frustrations which poured out of elderly men and women who two decades ago were the reference points in Nigerian politics. How could the nation have been reduced to what it is today: insecure, unsure and so dangerously divided? How did the North lose so spectacularly in the delicate management of power, and who was responsible for dropping the ball? How could the awesome political arsenal of the North have been so whittled down that it is now virtually an instrument in the hands of other Nigerians to manipulate for their own political interests? How could this insurgency have been allowed to grow and develop into what it is today: a veritable war machine which is even more dangerous because it attracts the vengeful powers of the Nigerian state to destroy lives, communities, infrastructure, the economy and political fortunes of the North? How is it possible that the militarization of many parts of the North is the only strategy of the government, and why is the administration reluctant to examine other options? What does the law say about military mobilization and management of internal security, and what are governors doing about it?

Still more questions: why has it taken this long for anyone, anyone at all, to summon a meeting of this nature? Where are other northern elite groups or leaders? What is being done about northern elite disunity? Who will advise the President that the northern population sees the military as any army of occupation? How would the insurgents know that the people have had enough, and it is time stop killing them and ruining their lives? What needs to be done by the people at the meeting to help the peace process? Where are northern political leaders, governors and others with influence? What are they doing to influence the thinking and actions of the President and his key advisers on this insurgency? What next, after the meeting?

The import of the meeting which lasted three hours went far beyond its rather bland and restrained communiqué. There were many revelations which were, however limited to the meeting room. One was the significant response of highly-placed northerners to the need to discuss issues and proposals on how the insurgency and the response of government to it are destroying the north. It is not an exaggeration to say there has not been anything even remotely resembling this public display of commitment from people who were in large measure, responsible both for the rise and fall of the north. Two, the Christians at the meeting, by no means inconsequential in their communities, reinforced the sentiment that all Northerners are paying an unacceptable price for this conflict, and want to see an end to it. The mixed nature of those who attended, and the heart-rending lamentations of the good old days when the strength of the North laid in its ability to manage its cultural and religious pluralism as an asset, suggests that a campaign to continue to exploit ethno-religious fautlines in the North may meet with stiffer resistance.

Three, there was a very strong resolve to work both against the insurgency and a government which merely makes life more difficult for its victims. Four, the North is virtually on its knees but is going to fight back because this not a position it wants to be, or is accustomed to be in. Five, northern leaders are determined to work towards the fastest and most comprehensive resolution of this conflict, and a genuine re-invention of the northern economy and society. Six, the gulf which exists between critical elements of the northern elite, as well as that between the elites as a whole and the federal government is hurting the North, the federal government and the nation.

Seven, and finally, the meeting drew a line for the North. It said in clear terms that the region is done with running, and being run over. It will take back its destiny, and repair the severe damage being done to its future generations. Anyone who has an interest in managing the affairs of the nation now or in the future should note this.