THE BORNO REVOLT AS METAPHOR FOR QUID PRO QUO
As a feeling of annoyance, displeasure or irritation, anger can easily turn into a rage or violent hostility. Where there is a plan, intended to achieve something illicit or harmful, an angry man is all that is needed to obtain a good consideration. PMB’s adversaries, who have been plotting for long, found it convenient to exploit the mood of the people of Borno today, and they utilized them to the comfort and consolation of their dispositions. The first phase of the conspiracy was executed without difficulty, by way of the underhand.
On his return from Ethiopia, where he went for the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, AU, PMB proceeded straight to Maiduguri in Borno state, on a sympathy visit. But instead of the usual friendly reception of Sai Baba!, he was booed with hostile shouts of, We don’t want you, we don’t want you, the video of which is now viral.
The surface reason for the anger was because of the upsurge of the insurgency in the North East, particularly the killings on Sunday, of stranded travelers in the town of Auno. I said surface reason because there is more to it than meets the eye. It’s a long planed conspiracy, intended to turn public opinion against the government, and the president is partly responsible for it.
His failure to act appropriately, may cause more harm in the long run. The Borno attack is nothing but a tester. If the president fails to do the needful, similar or even more embarrassing situations await him in places like Kano and his hometown of Daura.
One needs not be a soothsayer to know that the whole thing was long planned, because in the first place, the president’s visit was in pronto. It wasn’t announced in advance, so there is no way people would have the time to prepare banners and mobilize in such quantum, unless of course everything was in stock. The way and manner of the execution of the hostility itself, says something about the motive behind the mischief. Again, the insurgents gave the president a farewell, by way of a renewed attack, shortly after his departure from the city.
What they couldn’t achieve at the polls, they made attempt to achieve in court. When that also failed, they moved to public opinion. Evil machinations can be designed in phases, with observable targets, that may require carrying out some overt or covert acts at certain times, with the intent of rubbishing the image of the target. And the social media makes the propaganda easy.
With good intelligence network in place, and reliable, tested and trusted hands at hand, such complots can be foreseen and forestalled without a fuss. But for some reasons, the president is refusing to see the writing on the wall, by not doing something fast, to regain control of his security network.
The adversaries are happy today, because as naysayers, things are beginning to go according to their plans, of getting the people of Borno to pay the president, in the currency of their choice. Quid pro quo they would say, to an unrewarding man with a hardline stance.
They would continue to massage the ego of the vulnerable, by way of hiding their personal or selfish reasons for despising the president, and promoting his short comings, to coincide with a pre-arranged tragedy.
Sometimes conspiracies are conceived to cause crisis or cataclysm, and the outcome would be used as subterfuge, to convince or confuse the vulnerable.
PMB needs to be proactively taking control of situations, through adequate and reliable intelligence, rather than just wait to be responding to embarrassing encounters, like the Maiduguri misdemeanor.
Although the time to rejig the security is long overdue, doing it now would still help, and the first port of call, should be the engine of the security, which is intelligence.
Those familiar with procrastination always say, it’s better to spend a little time and effort to deal with a problem right now, than to wait until later, when it may get worse and take longer to deal with. A stitch in time they say, saves nine.
