Abdullahi M. Gulloma
We begin with a poser: can something be more terrible than the rampaging Boko Haram insurgency? The answer is yes, according to the National Security Council (NSC). An example of such inhuman indulgence is the curious attempt by some state governments in the southern part of the country to compel fellow country men and women from the northern part to submit to registration or face deportation.
Mind you, the National Security Council, chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan and which met at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday, does not in any way condone Boko Haram’s terrorism. On the contrary, it is on record that the president and members of the National Security Council have been unsparing in their condemnation of Boko Haram’s horrific exploits since 2009.
Nonetheless, the National Security Council is of the view that attempts to force Nigerians from one part of the nation to be registered or be deported is even more draconian than the insurgents’ inhuman exploits. Aside from that, the council also discussed other issues such as terrorism in Nigerian, especially the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, among other weighty security challenges.
Inspector General of Police, Mohammed D. Abubakar and the Director General of State Security Service, Ita Epkeyong, briefed us at the end of the council’s deliberations.
“Council discussed in detail the issue of registration of Nigerians in any part of the country, being subjected to registration, being subjected to deportation, being taken away from one part of the country to the other. Council discussed the reaction by some groups in Kano state and other parts of the country,” the SSS boss said, adding that the “council observed that this threat was more potent than Boko Haram and could disintegrate the country. And we take this very seriously, for people to deport people, for people to take people from one place to the other, for registration of indigenes no matter where they are. No matter where they are free to settle anywhere they like.”
Therefore, the National Security Council resolved that the issue of registration of Nigerians anywhere in the country and deportation should stop forthwith. And to re-emphasis the importance the president attaches to this matter, security operatives were also instructed not to be involved with anybody trying to register people or anybody trying to deport people, a clear warming that if security personnel are found to be involved they will be severely dealt with.
Youth groups trying to ferment trouble because of these issues were also warned to desist from it because government is taking serious exemption to this. And to underscore the importance and urgency of the recent developments, Council of State meeting, the highest decision-making body in the country, would be held anytime next week to discuss these issues.
Not a few analysts have applauded the government’s tough but fair and patriotic stance on this rather sensitive matter. Bearing in mind the security challenges facing the nation, notably terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, hired assassinations and what have you, the general consensus is that adding forced registration and deportation to the mix would worsen the messy situation.
This unsavory development had emerged recently with the arrest of hundreds of Northerners in Abia state travelling in a convoy of 34 buses on the grounds that they were suspected Boko Haram members. Although many of those arrested and detained have since been released, a couple of others remain behind bars. Even as the dust raised by this weird incident was still swirling, the registration and deportation angle was introduced.
Proponents of this odd initiative think that registering fellow Nigerians from other sections of Nigeria would help checkmate their alleged criminal productivity. But it is obvious that those targeted would unwittingly become victims of ethnic profiling.
This is more so as it is an open secret that all Nigerians are obliged to participate in the national registration exercise, following which a National Identity Card is issued accordingly. This sort of registration is neither discriminatory nor punitive or selective. It doesn’t target any particular group or tribe.
Against this backdrop, and given the bashings the Goodluck Jonathan administration has been subjected to in recent times for its perceived slowness in responding to some urgent national issues (notably the infamous abduction of over 200 Chibok students), it comes as a refreshingly different ball game that the government is being accorded favourable coverage for its relatively prompt and unequivocal handling of this potentially explosive matter.
This is more so as some northern groups have also started agitating for the registration of southerners based in the north. According to such groups, if their southern counterparts insist that northerners must be registered, it is only fair that southerners based in the north must also be registered.
No less noteworthy is the National Security Council’s declaration that another meeting would be held next week to deliberate on the issue and possibly take some actions once and for all. Did I hear you say this is how a responsible and proactive government should operate?
And just as the registration/deportation saga received government’s decisive intervention, the National Security Council’s focus on Boko Haram and the Chibok girls was forceful. As the SSS boss said, government is redoubling its efforts to tame the terrorists once and for all, even as it is trying to bring back the girls in captivity.
He said: “The fight against Boko Haram is ongoing. We kept saying that the fight against Boko Haranm is like the footballer. You know when the Germans played Argentina, it was only that one goal they scored that everyone is remembering, the other goals that were stopped nobody will remember. There are several things government is doing, there are several attacks government has stopped but nobody will remember those ones because we don’t tell you but several things are going on.”
In the same vein, he said regarding the issue of Chibok girls that government is making efforts. “We know where they are but we don’t want to endanger their lives, that is the truth; we want to take it gradually and release them at the appropriate time. We know where they are you can go to bed with that,” he said.
For a nation that has waited with bated breath for over 100 days now to see the Chibok girls safely reunited with their families, that is reassuring, even though we have heard that before. Well, let’s hope and pray that the girls would be brought back sooner than later.
