Boko Haram is a clear and present danger to Nigeria's sovereignty. Not only can it do as it says, it can say as it wants. Like a tsunami, it takes on just any target and wins. An American group, Stratfor, which provides strategic intelligence on global business, economic, security and geopolitical affairs, had since 2009 predicted that Boko Haram could take Nigeria down the path of disintegration because of the forces behind it. In spite of what public officials would have us believe, Boko Haram is actively supported, financed and directed by powerful politicians in the north. This fact is now buttressed by the recent exposure of the Nigerian senator, Mr. Ali Ndume, as one of its backers.Senator Ndume is a member of a presidential taskforce on security, which explored the possibility of opening talks with Boko Haram. If we imagine the quality and quantity of intelligence that someone like Ndume could have passed to the group, it would not be too difficult to imagine why it has been one of the most successful terrorist groups in the world. Who knows how many Ndumes are working with the Islamist militants as we speak. The prospect of Boko Haram running Nigeria down the path of civil war is real. No sooner had it warned southerners to pack and leave the north than it carried out a series of successful attacks on some other churches. This time, it carefully and symbolically chose a southern church, the Deeper Life, as its victim.Without denying the fact, Boko Haram has the power, the ability, the intent, the means and the resources to bring Nigeria to its knees. Not only do Nigerians now accept this fact, foreigners are beginning to realize that Nigeria is in a deep political hole from which it will be difficult to dig out. I was in Nigeria on Christmas day. Even before I heard about the bombings of various churches in the north, my American boss had read the news in an international medium and sent me an email asking if I was safe. What worried me the most was not the fact that I was safe, because I kind of assume like most Nigerians that I was safe. What I was bothered by was that my foreigner friends, colleagues and acquaintances were more worried than I was about my own safety.There was a heavy sigh of relief among my co-workers when I announced I was back in the States the day after Christmas. However, when I told them I had to return to Nigeria in a couple of months for a family function, they asked, 'Why would you want to do that'' The import of that question is that Nigeria has now been classified alongside nations such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and every other place where Islamic terrorism is a threat. On top of security concerns, Nigerians have cause to worry about the secondary effects of a nation under terrorism. There will be capital flight, reduction in tourism income (if there ever was any) and winding down of business activities as a whole.It is time for Nigerians to begin asking themselves how they got to this bad spot. It was exactly two years ago when the underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was caught in an attempt to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam toDetroit, Michigan. In the aftermath of that event, the United States government placed Nigeria on the list of nations with terrorism problems. The classification generated much angst and controversy. At that time, the Nigerian government insisted that Abdulmutallab's case was an isolated one, which did not reflect the truth about Nigeria's situation. It said Nigeria was a secular society that had no problems at all with Islamic terrorism.At the risk of being labeled unpatriotic, some of us wrote in national newspapers how the Underwear Bomber was a narration of a growing problem with religious intolerance in northern Nigeria. Particularly, I wrote in an article published by The Guardianthat while Abdulmutallab may not have been home-grown, he came from a section of the country where he could not have been shielded from dangerous indoctrination by Islamists. Except we have volatile memory, we could not have easily forgotten terrorist activities such as the Maitatsne attacks, the Kano beheading and so many other killings performed in the name of religion all over the north, for which northern political leaders have remained largely silent.The silence among leaders in the north over religious intolerance gives the impression that the Boko harassments are endorsed, encouraged, embraced and endeared. Regardless, I know that there are ordinary folks all over northern Nigeria, as much as in the south, who are tired of jihadist tendencies of a few ' the 1% who are so loud, so explosive and so powerful.There is always a time in the life of a nation, a people, an organization or a group when people have to decide that enough is enough. We have reached that moment in time in Nigeria. When a minority segment of the population, backed by money bags, begins to tell us where we can live, work or worship, it is time to stand up. When a tiny section of the nation can begin to cause people to panic and migrate like Canadian geese, it is time to dare. When those with a narrow set of religious beliefs can decide what others should eat, drink or wear, it is time to install a large stop sign.Nigeria has reached that point where Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans and Occupy Wall Street movement activists decided the wishes of the minority cannot be imposed on the majority. We should like to depend on the government to lift the stop sign, but the sufferers cannot depend on a government of commerce, represented by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, any longer for protection.This government is more interested in making money from its citizens than in granting them protection. It has chosen oil pricing over the threat of Boko Haram as its New Year resolution.It is time for Boko Haram to be met with stiff resistance by all Nigerians. This will not be effectively provided by the force of arms that the Nigerian security agencies are stupidly arraying without intelligence. The effective solution to Boko Haram is a confrontation of the menace by Nigerians of all religious, political and ideological persuasions head-on. With one voice, the 99% people of goodwill have to speak against the 1 per cent represented by Boko Haram. Boko Haram must be occupied. We, the 99%, have to defeat the 1 per cent.Odediran, former journalist in Nigeria and the founder of againstbabangida.com,wrote in from New Jersey.
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