BOKO HARAM, NYSC: WHAT READERS SAY
More Stories on This Section
Since I wrote on the Boko Haram riddle two weeks ago, and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) which flagged off its Batch B orientation programme on Tuesday last week, there have been so many reactions to the two articles. Today, we open a window into the thinking of readers on these two issues.
You have spoken my mind on the Boko Haram riddle. To hit the nail on the head again, the engagement of the teeming jobless youths will solve much of the problems, if not all.
Sheriff, Taraba State, 08130648626
No holds barred national conference is the answer. Nigeria as presently constituted is a lie.
08057981360
Thank you for the write up. We need a sovereign national conference. Let Nigeria be balkanized so that those who want can go ahead with Sharia. Federal Government seems afraid of confronting militants.
08037406471
I tell you, there is no riddle about Boko Haram. Just for rioting, OPC members are hounded and thrown into detention for years. For daring to mention Biafra, MASSOB members are killed or locked up for years. But even if Boko Haram bombs Aso Rock, a few minors will be arrested and released few days later. You and I know the reason. We are afraid to offend the North because contrary to what we say, we know that the North owns today's Nigeria. Things will only change when the South vehemently refuses this selective treatment or we insist on restructuring Nigeria.
Engr. Dada, Festac, Lagos.
Your Boko Haram riddle article spoke my thoughts. It only takes God-given wisdom to understand the Boko Haram problem. May God continue to give you wisdom to bare your mind on sensitive issues that concern Nigeria. I am a fellow woman.
08097723195.
Thanks so much for the powerful write up. We are really sitting on a keg of revolutionary explosion. How can a senator in Nigeria be collecting N45 million quarterly and House of Representatives members N42 million quarterly?
RMAFC is planning to review their salaries again upon the public outcry on their jumbo pay. Nigerians should not expect any real and meaningful transformation from this government, both executive and legislative. They are just there to steal our money. Nigerians must be ready to stand up against this stealing.
Tayo Tola Agbaye, Garki, Abuja. , 08056373583
The U.S CIA is right. Who is afraid of Nigeria splitting? One section cannot force another to live in their shadow. We need to revisit Major Orkah's (of blessed memory) map of Nigeria. He foresaw Nigeria's problem long before now. I believe the States Boko Haram want Shariah implemented are the states that Orkah exercised. This is second Biafran war.
Moses Yusuf , Gombe, 07062158195
The solution as being canvassed by some people is not to engage them in dialogue; otherwise government will be according them undeserved status. The claim that if the US can dialogue with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Nigerian government can do so with Boko Haram does not hold water. The Talibans are not Americans. Dialogue may in some cases amount to foreign policy blunder. To dialogue with them is to tacitly recognise them and their rebellion against constituted authority. Members of the sect have rebelled against the Constitution and can only be treated as such.
As reported by one Abu Dardam who spoke on behalf of the sect in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Hausa service interview, 'the amnesty being extended to the sect and its members will have no relevance and meaning as long as the state (Borno) government still uses the present constitution and democratic system.' The sect, he said, 'believes in adoption of the sharia as the only system for running the affairs of the people, adding that Islamic law would guarantee justice, equity, and fairness to the people. He also was quoted as saying, 'such equity and justice could only be achieved through holy war (Jihad) against 'the enemies of Islam either as a group or people.' ' (See page 14 of Daily Sun of Tuesday, May 11 10, 2011.)
Amnesty in all cases is a palliative measure, which is aimed at scoring some political points; it never goes to the root of the problems. History does not know of any place in which insurrections died down once and for all. Instead, history is replete with all the instances of recrudescence of hostilities. For the above reasons, there should be a sovereign national conference to decide the fate of the union.
Finally, let us examine the demands of the Boko Haran sect from a much broader perspective. The country is a member of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference, now changed to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation); we have Islamic education; Islamic religious knowledge; Islamic banking; Islamic law; Islamic police, the Sharia police, Islamic police, the Sharia police; Islamic court of Appeal, etc.
The message is quite clear that they should be left on their own to practise their faith to the fullest possible extent. It only means that in Nigeria, they face an uncertain fate: that we should all be concerned with our fate and not an entity that is part of the system that is passing away. If they visit their grievances on their top people, it can only be for the reasons that they delay the process of being liberated to practise their fate. (My views may not be the best, but they could provide insight into the intractable nature of the problem.
Kalah Moshood.
080599957125 (SMS) only)
NYSC
You deserve a big tap on the back for your profound analysis on NYSC. Bravo.
Mike, University of Calabar 07035491670
It breaks my hearts that after all said, little or nothing will still be done.
Nnamdi, 08063769713
I was bleeding inside when I read your piece on NYSC. God bless you
Diamond, Abakaliki, 08039483980
Thank you so much for aptly expressing our feelings in your July 6 write up. Please, more emphasis in needed on our security before NYSC becomes a compulsory suicide mission.
08073555365
I commend your piece on NYSC. May your pen never run dry.
Nduchebe M.I, Abuja, 08089495801
You really spoke the mind of corps members on N9,500 allowance they are paid. As a Batch C corps member, I say more power to your elbow. We do hope that the government and the appropriate authorities give affirmative response and result to our plight
08030716305