“800 Boko Haram Terrorists Surrender in Nigeria” – tell that to the marines

 by Eze Eluchie,

The announcement by Nigeria’s Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, that over 800 Boko Haram terrorists have ‘voluntarily surrendered’ to government forces serve to  crystallizes the reality (even to the most optimistic) that the entire Boko Haram facade was a political charade.

800 Boko Haram terrorists voluntarily surrender to Nigeria Government forces? I guess the Muhammadu Buhari-led junta and our Defence authorities should share this unique experience with Western powers who are forever trying to contain ISIL, Al Qeida, Al Nusra, Hamas and other extremist Islamist terror organizations – one does not need to be a soothsayer to predict that both Barack Obama and his French counterpart and virtually all the leaders in the European Union states would give an arm and a leg for the trailblazing strategy which these characters ruling over the Nigerian contraption adopted to get their erstwhile extremist Islamist jihadist to ‘voluntarily surrender’.

Really? Is the world to applaud this remarkable feat and just wish away the fact that these terrorists were the same bunch who massacred so many, beheaded hundreds, bombed Christian places of worship killing and maiming several thousands in the process; bombed and destroyed the United Nations main office building in Abuja killing several UN personnel and guests in that dastardly attack; and committed other acts of mass attrocities including the Chibok ‘abductions’?

To sweeten the announcement, General Rabe Abubakar further pronounced that the ‘repentant terrorists’ were in a camp in Gombe waiting to be ‘deradicalized’! De-radicalization in Nigeria? Wow! Presumably, the ‘experts’ who were undertaking this ‘deradicalization’ process may have an inkling to what radicalized the repentant terrorists in the first instance.

Following from past treatment meted out to these ‘voluntarily surrendering terrorists’, it would be expected that these ‘ex-terrorists’ will be absorbed either into the Nigerian Military or relevant Government agencies where their terror experience will be adequately put to use – the ‘ex-terrorists’ will be absorbed into these government institutions at an appropriate rank befitting their experiences.

As beneficiaries of terror entrench themselves into governance in Nigeria, and coming soon after the charade of the Chibok ‘abductions’ gets further exposed, the world should ready itself for more absurdities. It is however pertinent that justice, at the international level, be ultimately served to avoid a repeat of this loathsome conduct elsewhere in the world. 

Clearly on the issue of justice for the victims, Nigerian authorities have by their pronouncements and actions shown a clear unwillingness and or inability to prosecute widespread systemic harms occasioned identifiable segments of its population– a veritable criteria for the immediate intervention of international adjudication mechanisms over the harms caused by the politicization of terrorism under the guises of 'Boko Haram'.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/8000-boko-haram-members-voluntarily-surrender-military/

Picture: Some BH operatives probably moving to ‘voluntarily surrender'

Chibok ‘Abductions’: A Crime Against Humanity Crying For International Investigation, Prosecution and Punishments.

by Eze Eluchie,

In a most vile political plot to discredit and vilify the then sitting government, some politicians in Nigeria orchestrated the ‘abduction’ of several hundred secondary school girls in Chibok, Bornu State (North-eastern Nigeria) using the subterfuge of the extremist Islamist terror outfit, Boko Haram.

The world was ensnared into action via the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag which has since turned out to be a most profitable venture for the originators of the hashtag as they have been rewarded with quite juicy political appointments under the current Nigerian government, a major beneficiary of the Chibok ‘abduction’ fiasco.

 

Several months down the line, video pictures of some of the girls continue to be surreptitiously released in a manner which mocks the world, particularly the parents and relatives, and the complicit Nigerian government chides itself that it does not want to use force to rescue the girls for reasons of their safety. Safety indeed!

The Chibok ‘abduction’ fiasco was and remains a heinous act of the politicization of terror or better still infusion of terrorism as a political tool, which has led to the loss of several lives. Under the Rome Statute, this crime can be validly investigated, prosecuted and punished as a crime against humanity. To ensure such crimes are not replicated elsewhere, the world must act.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37076644

Picture: Nigeria’s President, Buhari and another person of immense interests in the Chibok ‘abductions’, Governor Shettima of Bornu State, seemingly celebrating one of the outcomes of the Chibok ‘abduction’, a baby born to one of the 'abducted' teenagers (whilst the teenager-mum who was raped by her captors was being held captive by the terrorists). 

Nigerian Banks: Banking or Brigandage?

by Eze Eluchie,

Across the globe, in climes which have evolved sustainable financial practices which serve to stimulate domestic economies, production and growth, Banks serve a most useful purpose as they are institutions where funds can be warehoused and advanced and deployed to entrepreneurs on conditions which reward innovation and ultimately profit society generally.

In our traditional societies, native cooperative associations served the role of modern Banks, congregating resources and lending to their members as needed under conditions which ensured that capital base of the Cooperative remained secured and the constituent members and society generally profited therefrom.

Fast-forward to the present and what do we have in lieu of hitherto traditional structures for wealth regeneration, provision of ad-hoc, mid- and long-term financial needs? A consortium of opportunistic shylocks with keys to vaults rich in deposits of the collective trod our environment, clothed in suave suits parading a deceptive demeanor of integrity and benevolence whilst on the lookout for entrepreneurs to suck-in and devour. Many a budding idea have been ruined by resort to the extortionist Trojan-horse deals inflicted on creditors by these characters leading to a situation where steering clear from entanglement with this bunch has become a fundamental to success for any genuine business interest.

How did we arrive at the dire situation described in the preceding paragraph in an era where Banks in sane climes are becoming desperate to better serve their populations with sensible fiscal policies? With the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve bank and others of their ilk go to great lengths to stress and enforce lending rates (presently at below 1%) that encourage investments, with some experimentation with negative interest rates, all in a bid to boost borrowing and enliven their national business climate, their contemporaries in Nigeria shamelessly announce lending rates of upwards of 25%, rates that can only make sense to a borrower who is in the business of producing or trafficking on illicit substances. After ensnaring undiscerning investors to take loans at the scandalous interest rates they offer, our fancy-dressed shylocks (who in every sense of their words and their operational mechanisms are no different from the notorious Italian Mafia), simply go and relax and like the hangman, wait for when their victims default and move in with repossession orders to liquidate.

The practices that go on in the name of banking in Nigeria are only possible in lawless entities. Queries to these characters manning the banking industry in Nigeria will elicit such responses as: ‘Our lending and interest rates are governed by market forces’, ‘We need to pay our Directors well in compliance with prevailing global trends’ and other distasteful responses. ‘Market forces’? What happens to these so-called ‘market forces’ when the US Federal Reserve, the ECB and their counterparts in Japan and other such climes announce, influence or set lending and borrowing rates? ‘Prevailing global trends’ indeed! The prevailing global trends to fix lending rates below 1% no longer prevail when it comes to the Banking industry in Nigeria?

Those who allow the Banking industry to get away with the brigandage it adopts as business practices in Nigeria can only be persons who hate Nigeria and its people with a peculiar passion. Having destroyed virtually all budding entrepreneurs that have had the misfortune of sourcing facilities from them, and with a view to further perpetuate the poverty that have foisted on Nigerians, our Bankers have resorted to granting the kleptocrats manning the various Governments in Nigeria loans that simply disappear between the Banks vaults and the Government Houses where their accomplices sign away future generations of their respective populations. Some States in Nigeria (and the Federal Government itself) are indebted to banks to sums way above total projected incomes of over a century, without any tangible infrastructural projects to show for the scams – debts that ensure the impoverishment of generations unborn.

A critical part of the restructuring of the Nigerian contraption must involve fiscal restructuring and sanitation of the Banking industry with a view to apportioning appropriate punishment to transgressors and identifying which financial facilities to which the future has been mortgaged are genuine and which are scams.

Picture: ‘Arrest the Bankers’ poster at a rally against bank frauds.