The price and psychology of terrorism and survival

The  man on record as saying –  give me a place to stand and  I will shake the world – is probably making a plea which may be mistaken  for a bit of hysteria, but  is still  at best , a mere request. However the  man interested in overturning the status quo  by all means in other to press home his point is a different kettle  of fish. This  is the  insurgent    or  terrorist  who is a man of violence and force,  who  regards death and mayhem as the hall mark of his world view and is not making a plea  by any stretch of the imagination to anybody,  except  to force his view point  down the throat  of all stakeholders  in his environment.  In   sharp contrast    however, the  man fighting for survival  values life  and prays or dialogues  with a view of a better tomorrow. Such a man is different  again from the suicide bomber who is ready to die now for what he  believes he or she has been denied prior to his killing himself,  and taking  all in the vicinity to his perceived world beyond, or  his mortal destination. Indeed,    the man fighting for survival  and even  the rabidly violent insurgent   must keep  away  and keep doing so from the vicinity of the suicide bomber who does not believe in any tomorrow,   finally   and  anymore.

Such is the scenario I am creating today in view of the latest news  this week in Nigeria on which I admit to a touch of ambivalence, and  on the  global  scene at large this week. The first is the Boko Haram video on global news showing that the terrorist organization has kidnapped children and women and is ready to  get ransom on them   or use them as bargaining chips for the release of  its members in government custody. The  second is the presidential declaration of state of emergency  in three states namely Borno, Adamawa  and Yobe  which have been scenes  and states in which the Boko  Haram   have had a field day in laying siege most violently and with impunity, on the territorial integrity of the Nigerian state in recent times.

In  the world at large, from Liberia where the head of the presidential body guard threatened to come with guns after journalists critical of government, to Turkey’s Prime Minister’s   frantic  visit to the  US on the Syrian crisis, to  the election of Nawaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister in a volatile Islamic   democracy    like Pakistan;  the issues involved revolve around survival, insurgency, terrorism and   the grim but dangerous battle to keep the ship of state on course  by all means, as is now the main preoccupation of the embattled Nigerian government and president.

Let  me go back to the earlier categorizations I   made  and stress that the ‘man’  inherent in my assertions  and definitions of the characters so identified namely terrorist, insurgent, survivalists and suicide bombers can refer to  the opposite sex, institutions , states  and governments.  Starting with Liberia therefore it would appear that the presidential body guard boss spoke the mind of his boss, the president of Liberia because for days there was no recant or repudiation of his assertion from the presidency. He was reported to have told journalists that they are terrorists and that   though   they have their pens the security people have their  guns and that they would come after journalists if they write anything that threatens the territorial integrity of Liberia. In protest, the Liberian media published blank front pages and sought audience with the Liberian president to no avail. Eventually the security boss issued a recant and said the media and security forces are indeed partners in progress in protecting the territorial integrity of Liberia but the damage had been done   and this is clear to deduce. This is because in keeping silent, the Liberian president unwittingly endorsed his aide’s undisguised and hostile warning to the press. That studied silence in a reverse situation between the state or presidency and the press can be sufficient for a security coup on which there could be a black out from the press. In tacitly approving an undemocratic gesture  by the security chief President Sirleaf  exposed herself to a   future  or imminent security risk on which she may cry wolf later  to survive,   without  being taken seriously  by the press  she has treated  with contempt and disdain through her trigger happy,  gun totting security chief this last week. In threatening the press to survive albeit through her security chief, therefore, the Liberian president has unwittingly shot herself in the leg in terms of her future security and survival in the performance  of her duty as president of Liberia.

The Turkish  PM Erdogan’s visit to President Barak Obama in the US   was indeed a journey  for help to survive in dangerous waters  that relations between Turkey  and Syria, Turkey’s  northern neighbor have become in recent times. On a personal level, the relations between the two leaders can be likened to that between a suicide bomber and a survivalist. Really, Syria’s leader, Bashar  Assad knows he is sinking in terms of rejection by his people  and he is ready to bring down the house , this time the  entire region in which Turkey is the real leader,  down with him. Latest reports indicate that Assad’s forces are using chemical weapons and are bombing targets inside Turkey thus drawing Turkey into a war with Syria. But the Turkish  PM has done so well for his nation  economically  and has won back to back three terms in elections and knows that war with Syria is unpopular with his countrymen. Also, in getting popular and getting more powerful Erdogan has been able to cage the army in Turkey and historically the army is the guardian of Turkey’s secular democracy which  has taken a hiding   from Erdogan’s electoral successes .  Erdogan’s problem is that his party is Islamist  and Turks are wary that he is violating the nation’s founder’s laid down principle that the army , which Erdogan has boxed into a corner by trying its  leaders  for previous military coups, is the official  guardian of Turkey’s  secular  democracy. That  was what Kemal Ataturk the founder  of modern Turkey handed down as the governing principle in Turkey.  In  effect  then,  the army is watching Erdogan in his cat and mouse survival game with the suicidal Assad of Syria and waiting to cash in, once there is any insurgency against the Turkish PM for his foray into Syria to support the Syrian  rebels and for which he  has gone to Washington to  seek protection as a dutiful  and committed democratic  and still  secular leader of Turkey.

The story of the re-election of former Pakistani  PM  Nawaz  Sharif  is a story of political survival in a difficult environment where religion and politics are the key catalysts for political power, control  and   participation. Pakistan must be the only nation in the world where religious insurgents threaten democracy but are still not able to succeed in deterring Pakistanis from performing their civic duties of voting for their leaders of choice. Nawaz Sharif had alternated power as it were,  as PM with the late Benazir Bhutto, in between coups that had sent either packing one time or the other.   The present scenario was even more interesting and symbolic in that former military ruler Parvez Musharaff who sent Sharif packing in a coup before, was around to contest the election but was denied participation in the electoral process  by the judiciary . Interestingly during Musharaff’s military rule he invited the late Benazir Bhutto from exile to contest elections but did not invite Sharif who nevertheless came in a much publicized flight   from Britain, only for his flight to be diverted to Medina in Saudi Arabia after     Sharif had risked his life for the journey.   Ironically,   Nawaz has survived the exile to be PM of   Pakistan today, while the man who denied him entry into Pakistan then,   former General Parvez Musharaff is facing charges for not providing sufficient security for Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated while campaigning in the election for which Nawaz was then denied entry into Pakistan. Also, most intriguing in Pakistan is that the present president, the late Benazir Bhutto’s husband knows that under Nawaz Sharif, whose party has sufficient majority to rule alone, his time in office is up or at best in great jeopardy,  as  president of Pakistan. This  is because  it was under the  previous premier ship of the new PM that the  president  was jailed for money laundering;  a charge that the highest   court  in Pakistan has ordered should be executed by successive PMs  of Pakistan who  were members of his party, which has now lost power to Nawaz Sharif’s party,  which is a very volatile development indeed.

On  Nigeria, let me round up  by commending the Nigerian president and government on the state  of emergency  declared  in three states in the North East namely  Adamawa , Borno  and Yobe . For three reasons I say the commendation is well deserved. The first is that the president no matter how belated has shown that he is  now  in charge,  as nature abhors a vacuum in fighting anything,  including insurgency  and terrorism. The second is that that the wolves in sheep clothing, which he admitted are around him, now know that the battle line is drawn and that they either play ball and support him or leave office before it is too late. The third is that by involving the army the president has given the institution a great   opportunity to prove its mettle as well as assert and display its loyalty and commitment to the Nigerian state and its fledgling democracy. Given  the dire circumstances we have found ourselves through earlier vacillations and dithering in dealing with terrorists, insurgents  and  now  police- killing  cultists,  the state of emergency is like a breath of fresh air and  vibrant  leadership,  unlike the earlier putrid verbiage and vocabulary  of negotiations   with,  and  amnesty  for  merciless insurgents and unrepentant terrorists. Taking the bull by the horn  always seemed a strange strategy for this presidency in confronting those who threaten our nation’s territorial integrity and security with impunity till now One  therefore   hopes and prays that now that the cat is at home mice and terrorists  would flee in whatever direction they  wished, and allow  peace to reign in our fatherland henceforth –   with our president fully  and firmly  in  the saddle in  pursuing  their imminent rout and defeat. Amen