Actually the first part of this went public on the 4th of January, 2014 in the social media. And a certain entity, I do suspect, after reading it, ‘fell in hatred’ for the promises it holds for Borno; and thus swore to upturn the course of things—albeit, unfortunately for ‘him’, at a time it has become so solidified on its foundation as to be possible. He simply secured his mass-destruct explosive from unknown somewhere and headed to the most crowded and busiest part of the city, Post Office, of all places, and dropped it—and gbammm!, about 40 innocent souls were already “shuttled” to the life between here and the hereafter; while many others, who by and large, do not have even the honor to be properly counted, to the hospital beds. And that entity has a label: “devil”. The devil, it needs not be stated, is responsible for whatever evil upon the surface of this world; but since as an entity, he is [in terms of mischief] a higher “mortal” than us, and isn’t visible, these evils are executed for him through the agency of “us”, humans. And for this particular evil, we are left to discern who the devil employed to launch on innocent ‘us’ its evils.
For fact, we must first recognize that, no matter how caustically garrulous our tongues are and no matter how anybody poses himself to have mastered the way of “truth” [and that whatever he says is just it], on this matter, we do not—and add: cannot—know in actuality. We may say anything and win unofficial awards for ourselves for perfecting on the art of noise making, but it is not IT; fortunately, there is a name for it in English: speculation—and speculation is not synonymous to truth anyway. Therefore the knowledge as to who was the agent of that evil is exclusive to the Superior of whoever, or even whatever superior on the surface of this earth—the God Almighty. And whenever He wills for us to know, incontrovertible evidences are sent down, or confessions are made to be done by perpetuators or voice is given to long time silence. Although we know that quite too well, as common with human arrogance, we have never surrendered speculating on matters and struggling to unearth the truth of them. It is on this basis that one confesses right here that what is said in here cannot be more than just adding perspectives to our speculations on the matter, at least to help us avoid recurrence, since the truth is so far what nobody actually knows.
To start with, it is to be noted also that nobody on the surface of this earth has the ultimate mandate to decide what other people think as right or appropriate. When anyone, overtaken by sentiments, comes forward to object our decisions to talk or write about happenings that have everything to do with our immediate environment, and moreso ones that go to the levels of life and death, it is to be clear that they are assuming the Powers of God. For no reason, on such instances shall those of us who think of ourselves as the mouthpieces of our communities, however wrong I may be, be indifferent or silent because of some silly affiliations or fear of provocations. It is on this premise that the resolve to pen this piece is arrived at.
Now, on what unfolded on the 14th of January, certain common facts could be discerned: first, there hadn’t been any bomb blast in the city of Maiduguri for a long time, pundits say about 11months. Second, the bomb has exploded in the Post Office area, killing and injuring many people. Third, it occurred during Ali Sheriff’s “political visit” to the state; on the occasion of which two unusual and unhealthy disturbances have also been noted. One, the state governor, HE Kashim Shettima was jeered at and hauled with stones by some youths and two, same was done to Ali Sheriff—as the ‘dividends’ of bad leadership. Fourth, there is an impending face off between the governors, former and sitting. Fifth, Ali Sheriff has been alleged of complicity in the Boko Haram crisis, by many and for a long time. Sixth, bombs, until this, were believed only to have been detonated by the Boko Haram forces. Seventh, angry youths burnt and sacked down all billboards carrying Ali Sheriff’s picture; the reason for which, cannot be far-fetched. And this is where the problem lies.
The truth is, when anger becomes the motive for our actions, we are relegating reason to the parenthesis—and when reason is not the rationale, whatever action will be accompanied with serious repercussions. In all honesty, on this particular incident, anger has trapped us in its cage; thus preventing us from seeing things from broader perspectives—which indeed seems to have the potentials for causing more problems than just this for us.
First, the fact that this incident occurred during Ali Sheriff’s visit is not and cannot be enough reason to conclude that he was the mastermind, much as it could be him. It may have been of course perpetuated by opposition politicians hell-bent on justifying the allegations leveled against him as the sponsor of the BH crisis. And if we say opposition politicians in this parlance, perhaps we are referring to the Kashim Shettima’s camp and the remnants of the PDP. It is our knowledge that for a long time, PDPians in this state who he has thrown out of political relevance and value, have time and again, insisted that he be arrested if at all we want BH over—but that, they want to be done [yet] without providing enough proofs—or if there are, out of the court; and if in, by someone. But this is entirely not untrue, because even if he is not, being a sitting governor when the crisis started has made him responsible.
Second, it may have been masterminded by the camp of the governor, not necessarily with his knowledge, to of course, cut him [Ali Sheriff] as a trouble-seeking piece of humanity whose mere presence or name provokes disharmony in the state—and unfortunately this is not one bit less true. Records have it that most politicians from that camp have on many occasions declared that he is so far the problem of Borno—as if being in power, the responsibility has not shifted to them. This is a more likely reason, if we consider the ongoing feud between the two camps, where both parties seem ready to wash their dirty linens in the public space. Anyone who has been in position of power in this country knows very well that an individual’s personal attitude is always not the same attitude in the political realm; and the one in public is always different from the one in private. Fannami Gubio, for instance, was assassinated when he emerged as the flag bearer of the defunct ANPP; and I don’t know if it is not just ridiculous that then, we were made to believe that it was the handiwork of ANPP politics, which Kashim Shettima is a product of—but the same camp blamed the Boko Haram. And if today anyone garbs himself in loyalty toga for Governor Kashim Shettima, and opens his mouth wide in desperation, to say Ali Sheriff is the brain behind the Boko Haram crisis we have so far seen, in a way, that is an act on its own—and that act is called: self-indictment—and logically, not only self, but the entire Kashim’s camp. And the camp went to sleep and woke up to forget that the same Boko Haram Sheriff is said to have been sponsoring now was the one that it alleged to have assassinated Fannami Gubio. It is clear that in the material world that we find ourselves, for those aspiring for power, doing anything to facilitate their access to it is not impossible.
Third, equally, it may have been the commission of the disgruntled Ali Sheriff’s camp to sabotage the efforts of Governor Kashim [perhaps ordinarily, Civilian Volunteer Forces] in restoring peace in the state—and if it is to be agreed, putting the state on the path of economic ‘revival’. But if indeed it was his handiwork, it was one of the worst political suicides this bald-headed man has committe d. Its timing was the wildest ‘fuck up’, just as its reasons, whatever they were.
And now, what is the fourth? Unfortunately, we don’t know—everybody does not know; what seems to be a likely answer is: both the two parties are as guilty as innocent. This however is a contradiction—but if this is not the correct answer; the more correct one lies at the centre of this contradiction—and that is politics. It is Mr. Politics that dropped that bomb, killed forty, and made me write this piece–and you, to read. But it has to be stated that when a sitting government prioritizes politics over ‘leading’, bombs are the least of things to ‘explode’!
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