Boko Haram: Nigeria is on fire - Gen T. Y. Danjuma •Cautions against ‘Somalialisation’ of Nigeria •As Boko Haram threatens to bomb more media houses
Written by Okey Muogbo, Dare Adekanmbi and Kola Oyelere,kamoru sakiru
FORMER Minister of Defence, General Theophilus Danjuma on Tuesday in Abuja, warned that Nigeria was on fire over the activities of the Boko Haram sect.
The sect, also on Tuesday, in a YouTube video, threatened to bomb several media houses in the country.
General Danjuma spoke at an event tagged ‘A morning of reflections’ to mark the 50th birthday of the publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, which was attended by key northern leaders.
At that gathering were former head of state and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari; the guest speaker, Professor Ango Abdullahi; Alhaji Shehu Malami; former chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Ahmed Joda; former Minister of Finance, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma; elder statesman, Alhaji Maitama Sule; former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lieutenant-General Jeremiah Useni (retd); the Etsu of Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar and Alhaji Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, among others.
Danjuma, who chaired the event, said his alert was to draw attention of Nigerian leaders to a number of socio-economic problems facing the North, which if unattended to, could lead to turning Nigeria into another Somalia in which the country would be in a near state of anarchy.
He said: “As far as Nigeria is concerned, I am an optimist. I tell myself each time we seem to stumble as a nation, I tell myself, we shall muddle through. But, in the last few months, I begin to wonder — our house is on fire.
“The Somalialisation of Nigeria is taking place right now. We need to sit down and get to the root of the problem and find a solution to it. Let us not deceive ourselves, the chief security officer of a state is the governor. Where are our northern governors? Borno is a failed state. Jigawa is almost a failed state. Kano is threatening to be a failed state. Where on earth are we going? You hear talks about multimillion naira fences around government houses, what about the people?”
Other speakers after him also expressed concern over what is happening in the country. Former Senate president, Senator Ken Nnamani, in his contribution said Nigeria suffered from two maladies — a total lack of shame and the seeming inability to rein in those bleeding the country dry through corrosive corruption.
In another development, Islamist terror organisation, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihadl, also known as Boko Haram, on Tuesday, threatened to launch a fresh wave of bomb attacks on media houses.
Listed as targets for the impending attacks are the Tribune newspaper; The Punch, The Nation, The Guardian, Daily Trust, Daily Sun, Vanguard, Leadership, Peoples Daily, National Accord and other print media organisations.
For the electronic media, the terror group said it had on its list news organisations such as an online newspaper, Saharareporters, Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service and Radio France International.
The dreaded group had threatened to hit media houses before it eventually carried out the threat on ThisDay, Moment and Sun newspaper offices in Abuja and Kaduna last Thursday.
Lives and substantial parts of the buildings of the organisations were destroyed in the onslaught that was widely condemned within and outside the country.
Boko Haram, in an 18-minute video posted on YouTube, an online video-sharing medium, added that staff of the mentioned news organisations would not be spared in the next round of bombing.
The ‘sins’ of the targeted media houses, according to the group, is the unfavourable manner they have been reporting its activities.
The member, who voiced the video, said the threat came from the public awareness department of the group.
“These media houses have committed a lot of offences that is (sic) detrimental to Islam, and we don’t have the power to forgive them. We will take revenge on them by God’s grace. Some of these media houses have been categorised into three groups.
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