Governor Nyako’s Illogic of Boko Haram

Nigerians are wondering why the administration has not yet declared a State of Emergency on FCT Abuja, in view of the numerous explosions attributed to phantom Boko Haram…” (My emphasis)

 “Fellow Governors and Citizens of the North … should we not … consider a declaration of Northern Nigerian Amnesty to the culprits and consequently, squarely address all other matters connected with the Amnesty and Boko-Haram syndrome?”

 – Governor Murtala Nyako                

 Though I had encountered the fascinating word “phantom” in a poem by one of the English Romantics – I think it was William Wordsworth – it did not make an inerasable impression on my mind, as a description (or an “identification”) of something non-existent, until its general use to qualify one of the coups allegedly plotted against the former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, for which the accused suffered serious consequences under the Abacha regime.

So when again I encountered the word in the phrase “phantom Boko Haram”, as contained in one of the above excerpts from the letter recently written by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State to the Governors of the nineteen states in northern Nigeria, I wondered if the meaning I had known of the word had changed. I consulted my dictionary to confirm.

The dictionary – specifically the Wordweb dictionary – defined “phantom” as “something existing in perception only”, indicating that the meaning remains as I used to know it, and that to use the word “phantom” to qualify anything – including Boko Haram – is still to say that that thing is either non-existent or does not have real existence or is an unsubstantial creation of the imagination.

Now the second quote above is also excerpted from the same letter by Governor Nyako. And it urges the addresses – through a rhetorical question – to consider declaring a “Northern Nigerian Amnesty” to “the culprits” and addressing squarely “all other matters connected with the … Boko-Haram syndrome.”

I wonder if Governor Nyako saw the contradiction in describing Boko Haram as “phantom” and also calling for a “Northern Nigeria Amnesty” for “the culprits”…, and that it is illogical. Logically, it should either be that Boko Haram exists, and so ought not to be described as “phantom”; or it does not exist, and so no one deserves to be granted amnesty for what should therefore amount to its non-existent activities.

By calling for an amnesty for “the culprits” (associated with Boko Haram activities), Governor Nyako implicitly acknowledges the existence of Boko Haram and some wrongdoing for which leniency would make them beneficiaries of an amnesty. Or would he rather say the beneficiaries of the amnesty, were it to be granted, are “phantom” and so non-existent? Whoever heard of an amnesty being canvassed for non-existent entities? The contradiction is like a bangle on the wrist, to adopt an Igbo saying, with no need for a mirror to see it.

The other way of throwing light on Governor Nyako’s illogic of Boko Haram is by juxtaposing his description of the phenomenon as “phantom” with the recent declaration by Governor Kassim Shettima of Borno State, incidentally the home base of the Boko Haram sect, that the Boko Haram fighters are better armed and better motivated than our armed forces. So, in the light of Governor Nyako’s description of Boko Haram as “phantom”, Governor Shettima’s declaration evokes the impossibility of arms supposedly better than those of our forces being carried and motivations received by non-existent entities.

So we are faced with the internal contradiction in Governor Nyako’s letter and the cross-contradiction, as it were, between his description of Boko Haram as “phantom” and by implication non-existent and Governor Shettima’s declaration that members of the sect are better armed and better motivated than our forces; for they must exist in order to be carrying such superior arms and enjoying such higher motivation.    

I hesitate to think that Governor Nyako invited the nineteen northern-states Governors – about 52 percent of those saddled with the responsibility of running our 36 states – to pursue issues related to a group he invariably called a shadow (for “phantom” and “shadow” are synonymous”), which would amount to luring them into an adventure in shadow-chasing despite their huge responsibilities.

Also, I would rather not think that the contradictions I have drawn attention to in this piece may be signs that some of those who expect us to look up to them to end the Boko Haram insurgency, and who suggest that they know ways of doing so superior to the measures already being taken by the Federal Government, deserve more of our scepticism that trust. For if someone, or a group of individuals, suggests by their utterances that they are not sure if the cause of a problem is real or imaginary (for “phantom” and “imaginary” are also synonymous), should their claim to know a solution to the problem be trusted?  

Incidentally, such contradictions and their negative implication were not the only things I found disturbing about the letter by Governor Nyako. Even more disturbing was its signification that some of our compatriots are saddled with a Goliath complex, a psychological disposition that makes them look down on the little Davids they seem to consider the rest of us, including the David from where the Nigerian poet Chiedu Ezeannah fondly called “tiny Otuoke” in one of his unpublished poems. 

Yet the rest of us must continue to urge such compatriots to join us in building a sane nation where the small find accommodation beside the great, the poor beside the rich, the weak beside the strong, the powerless beside the powerful, where everyone partakes equally in its boundless opportunities, including opportunities for peaceful leadership at the very top, a nation where each is equal before all and the law.

Only then can we say that we have a nation truly worthy of the name and of being passed on to our children born and unborn. What we have now falls far below expectation, thanks to such “leaders” who can summon the insensitivity to write and publicise Governor Nyako’s type of divisive and incendiary letter, even as our country seems poised on a precipice.

Yet I must add that Governor Nyako’s letter does not lack lofty and patriotic sentiments. For instance: “It is overdue for us to commence the very serious business of purging all Northerners and fellow Nigerians of mutual hatred and suspicion against fellow countrymen and to inculcate true love and patriotism in the minds of all of us.” But one wonders if he truly believes such views of his, considering that those at whom the letter spews so much hate, apparently due to conflicts between its author’s interests and theirs, are “fellow countrymen”.

Ikeogu Oke