Nigeria’s continuous existence as a corporate entity will largely depend on President Goodluck Jonathan’s mature involvement of diplomacy and simplicity in managing the administrative affairs of the country, as the rampaging religious militant sect, Boko Haram last week has vehemently rejected his appeal for dialogue, saying they will not dialogue with the president, rather they issued another threat of bombing Sokoto and other parts of Nigeria.
This development has compelled residents of Port Harcourt who our news desk spoke to, to pour out their hearts on the devastating action of the religious militant sect.
Please sit back and enjoy reading their reactions.
At education bus stop, where various newspaper stands are, we caught the attention of Ndubuisi, Bala, and Micah. Bala and Micah are two secondary school principals while Ndubuisi Okoroafor is a businessman. They angrily bared their minds to this weekly.
First it was Micah who said “Jonathan should involve the chief of the areas these Boko Haram come from.” Micah said Jonathan could curb the excesses of the religious militant sect called Boko Haram by involving the country’s military intelligent agencies and to be complemented by other security agencies of the country.
In his reaction to the issue, Bala opined that President Jonathan should seek for foreign superior assistance to nail the sect, secondly Bala advised that President Jonathan should without wasting time call for national conference to deliberate on the issues.
Bala concluded by saying, President Jonathan should ask the Boko Haram operators to tell him what really their problem is. He added that if they want him to resign for a northern to be in the helm of affairs too, they should tell him. Bala moved a step further by adding that when northerners were presidents of Nigeria, where was the so called religious militant sect? Why didn’t they come out to terrorize the country as they are doing now. He maintained that the Boko Haram sect should come out in plain rather than acting on false excuses. If they want President Jonathan to resign and hand over power to another, they should say so in clear terms.
For Ndubuisi Okoroafor, went down memory lane, the operators of the so called religious militant sect are all from foreign countries like Chad, Niger and Benin Republic, not the Hausas, he revealed. He further said, the normal Hausa man is the man found in the streets of Port Harcourt and other parts of Nigeria moving freely without fear of anybody molesting or embarrassing him, while he does his normal day to day business among the people he lives with.
At Rumuokoro, we caught the attention of a nurse and a student, Philip (student), Amara (nurse).
Hear them. First it was Amara that spoke. In her opinion, “president Jonathan should declare a state of emergency in the states where the Boko Haram emerged from. If they claim they are religious sect, what is President Jonathan waiting for? He should arrest all the religious leaders, including the traditional rulers of the area they emerged from. In that way, results will be achieved.”
Philip in his opinion stated that whatever it is, President Jonathan should involve the religious leaders and traditional rulers of the area the Boko Haram come from, to handle them. In his opinion, this will yield a positive result and curb the excesses of the activities of the rampaging Boko Haram, without involving the might of federal government power. This will minimize the killings in the country, he stated.
Our news desk went to garrison and came back with the following reactions: Mama Sandra is a business woman dealing on fairly used wears. This is what she said. “President Jonathan knows what to do. I wonder if president Jonathan is joking with them.”
She too urged President Jonathan to declare state of emergency in the areas where the Boko Haram emerged from.
At garrison, Sunny Okere, a commercial driver has this to advise President Goodluck Jonathan. “My brother, really Jonathan is a gentle man. If not how will a particular group in the country try the might of a whole country?
“President Jonathan should without wasting time apply the constitution of the country, which gives him the authority to deal with any soul or group of persons ready to cause trouble. If I am the president, I will not waste even a minute, I will apply the constitution to the barest level against the notorious Boko Haram. They are lucky that I am not the president of Nigeria; I could have showed them what they want.”
Still in Garrison, a company executive, Precious, bared his mind on the issue. Hear what he said. “Well, it is a pity, that Jonathan has to experience this ugly situation from Boko Haram.”
In his opinion, the perpetrators of this killing activities in parts of Nigeria are not true Nigerians. According to Precious, if they are Nigerians they will not have the guts to kill people who have shared things with them for a long time.
He urged the federal government intelligent unit to sincerely focus on this issue and dramatically follow it up. He said he is convinced that if they do, there will be another side of the story to the whole issue of Boko Haram.
Precious also pointed out that president Jonathan should not only use the country’s intelligent unit, he should also employ foreign intelligent experts to address the issue of Boko Haram.
Reverend Daniel Levi, at Abonnema Wharf, in his reaction has this to say, President Jonathan should ask IBB how he handled Miatasiene riot.
It is no longer news that Boko Haram has sent lots of innocent souls to their untimely grave. The federal government seemed not to have a clear idea of what to do about the Boko Haram issue.
The fear of Boko Haram in Nigeria has become the order of Nigeria society as the sect cared nothing about life; public places too now are in deep danger courtesy of what the sect did at Christmas killing number of souls with no concrete reason.
As it is, the religious militant sect has declined President Jonathan’s appeal for dialogue, instead the sect has further threatened parts of Nigeria. Nigeria as it is, is heading for anarchy if something serious is not done and urgently too. ###
Allanso Jonathan Allanso
