A united Africa can do more to combat Boko Haram

A united Africa can do more to combat Boko Haram

The Arena Hildegarde
RENOWNED Nigerian cleric and founder of Winners Chapel Bishop David Oyedepo last week made startling revelations about Boko Haram’s insurgency in an exclusive interview with The Punch newspaper. He was asked, “The attention of the whole world has turned to Nigeria because of Boko Haram. What is your take on this?”

Bishop Oyedepo responded, “I hope that we are willing to find (a) solution to it. I would be the last person in this world to believe that (the) government has not discovered those who are behind Boko Haram. Otherwise, we don’t have any intelligence service in our country. Are they sacred cows that cannot be brought to book? Until we cut the source of their supplies and get those who are involved, we cannot stop them.”

Bishop Oyedepo added, “But the danger is this and I must say it here, we are at the verge of a break up. That is the truth. It’s unfortunate. The Nigerian nation is too intelligent to claim not to have discovered those who are behind this. So, I really believe it’s all in the hands of the authorities to decide whether they want to confront the issue headlong or to keep watching it until Nigeria breaks up.”

These remarks were made a few days after the United Nations Security Council had blacklisted and imposed sanctions on Boko Haram, labelling it an arm of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan had requested the UNSC to act against Boko Haram’s litany of atrocities, including the April 14 abduction of more than 270 school girls in Borno state.

According to Samantha Power, the United States’ permanent representative to the UN, the resolution by the Security Council would assist in closing off “important avenues of funding”.

The request to the Security Council came hard on the heels of a peace and security meeting convened by French leader François Hollande in Paris, which was attended by Jonathan and leaders from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin.

While the initiative by the UNSC should be applauded, the question is as Africa celebrated Africa Day, what message was the Nigerian leader sending and is this helping the situation on the ground considering that there is a marked increase of deadly attacks by Boko Haram and also considering that the rescue of the abducted girls hangs in the balance?

How practical also are the sanctions for a terrorist organisation, which does not have problems criss-crossing Africa’s borders, a view which was echoed by Omoyele Sowore of Sahara Reporters, “Boko Haram commanders and their leaders do not travel with passports, they travel on the ground with hijacked vehicles; they don’t have any formal assets that anyone can point to — it is not a formal organisation”.

And, how close to the truth are Bishop Oyedepo’s concerns on the likely break up of Nigeria: “But the danger is this and I must say it here, we are at the verge of a break up. That is the truth. It’s unfortunate?”

That notwithstanding, a close examination of the separate actions by the Nigerian leader and partners shows that they were no-confidence gestures on the African Union, which seems to be failing to live up to the letter and spirit of the Organisation of African Unity (African Union) Charter, which outlines in Article II that the organisation shall “promote the unity and solidarity of the African States; co-ordinate and intensify their co-operation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa; defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence; eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa.”

The AU’s slow reaction in dealing with Boko Haram and other conflicts on the continent were touched on by Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame when he remarked at a meeting attended by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and former South African president Thabo Mbeki: “I find that our leaders, who should have been working together all along to address these problems that only affect their countries, wait until they are invited to go to Europe. Why does anybody wait for that? What image does it even give about Africa?”

South African president Jacob Zuma on May 18 also bemoaned, “Part of the capacity needed by the AU (African Union) is the establishment of the African Standby Force agreed to previously for rapid deployment in crisis areas without delays”.

But, the fundamental questions asked as Africa commemorated Africa Day are the implications for the continent when security issues are taking centre stage.

Will Africa’s current leadership match what the founding fathers (Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Abdel Gamal Nasser, Ben Bella, Haile Sellassie, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, etc) did on May 25, 1963 when they committed themselves to uniting the continent and to fight for its total independence from colonialists?

Who is responsible for the continent’s peace and stability (in their widest form) if the African Union cannot take that leadership role?
How will Africa move forward if the continent’s peace and security cannot be tackled from a common and united front by Africans themselves?
If Africa cannot be the custodian of its own security, why surrender it to other nations who accept to assist not because they want to, but because they have ulterior motives, which are not different from those of the various insurgent groups that are popping up across the continent?

Why would Nigeria have confidence in Western partners in finding the abducted girls when the same people failed to locate the missing Malaysian airline despite their state-of-the-art technology?

As Boko Haram continues to act with impunity, it is clear that its actions have far-reaching consequences. A number of publications on Boko Haram and its affiliates detail chilling activities and they also given an awakening call that it is about time that Africa realised that Boko Haram is bigger than what they believe and that it has a deadly expansionist ideology which should be nipped in the bud.

An Africa that is not united in its vision and purpose will not be able to fight this kind of terrorism. It is also futile to use the Western template in the fight against this type of terrorism because it is a template that is full of loopholes. If it had the answers, terrorism would not have become one of the 21st century’s major threats to human security.

This is why unity as enshrined in the OAU/AU charter is of paramount importance in order to fight this evil, which is capable of slowing down Africa’s potential growth.

Africa’s leadership should also think outside the box and commit itself to the wishes and aspirations of the people in an ever-changing environment, with security being one such issue.

A working solution must also be found in order to safeguard Africa’s security so that Agenda 2063 becomes a reality for future generations.
Thus it is imperative for Africa to not only be security conscious, but to join hands regarding the continent’s common security needs.
It is irresponsible for the African leadership to abdicate this fundamental responsibility and in the process allow outsiders to have a free-for-all on the continent as was the case in Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic and now Nigeria.

This is not to say that there shouldn’t be any collaboration between Africa and the outside world because in today’s interconnected world, it is an unlikely possibility.

But in the process, Africa should not allow outside partners to have leading roles in areas that affect every facet of its people’s lives.
Africans are still capable of fulfilling their mission as a united front. Their shared boundaries and history, cultural, social and economic interests are a starting point in order to sustain the continent’s sovereignty.

As Kwame Nkrumah said, “The best way of learning to be an independent sovereign state is to be an independent sovereign state”.
It is a right for Africa’s one billion citizens to ask its leadership to convene an AU Peace and Security Council Meeting as soon as possible in order to address in a most practical manner how the volatile and complicated security situation on the continent should be tackled.

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