Nigerian Mischief

 

" A top Nigerian military official believes he knows the whereabouts of girls kidnapped last month, but he says the nation's military will not use force to try to rescue them, a state news report said Monday.

"We want our girls back. I can tell you that our military can and will do it, but where they are held, can we go there with force?" asked Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh.

"Nobody should say Nigerian military does not know what it is doing; we can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back."

His comments were reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, a state-run news service.

Badeh continued: "The good news for the parents of the girls is that we know where they are, but we cannot tell you.

"We cannot come and tell you the military secret, just leave us alone, we are working to get the girls back," he reportedly said."  CNN

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Homage to Evelyn Waugh.

What a crock!  We are supposed to believe that the Nigerian government and armed forces have now miraculously "found" the girls, that the girls are all in one area, and that soon all will be well.

Well, I believe that last part.   As I speculated earlier the "fix" has been in all along and what is going on is the de facto partition of NE Nigeria from the rest of the country in return for a hudna that will give Goodluck Jonathan a temporary cease fire in which Boko Haram can construct an Islamic Emirate in the NE.  Some subvention from oil production for Boko Haram is to be expected.

Hey folks!  This isn't my first rodeo and I have known a lot of phony bastards like Goodluck Jonathan.  It is not surprising that Jonathan's wife became angry when social media crazed people like Michelle Obama rallied the world's media and frenzied emotionalists to the cause of immediate action.  That was not the way "the program" was supposed to work, not at all.  

And then Michelle's legions of talking heads took charge to continue the process of driving the US towards intervention in Nigeria.  This began to lose "steam" a few days ago.  US intelligence must have learned something that began to restore sanity to the story.

So, now we have the truth approaching.  Let's all calm down and let the Nigerians work this out for themselves.  pl  

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/world/africa/nigeria-kidnapped-girls/

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2014/05/httpthehillcompolicydefense206192-sen-coons-nigeria-took-too-long-to-begin-search-for-kidnapped-girls.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mischief

 

 

 

 

Comments

[dan bradburd]

Daniel Jordan Smith's "A Culture of Corruption" provides excellent, sympathetic insight into contemporary Nigeria. It is also an engaging read.

[Fred]

#Theregoesourprofiteering

[D]

All: The Nigerian Federal Government permitted shari'a to be the primary local law code - i.e. including criminal law - in a number of states in the northwest of the country beginning 14 years ago. Some states in the north center have instituted shari'a in parts of the state but not others. The northeast is partly under shari'a. I would look for Borno State - where Boko Haram mostly operates in Nigeria - and perhaps two other states of the northeast to go full shari'a including criminal law.

West African Islam had traditionally been a loose (e.g. alcohol consumption seldom denounced) variation on Maghribian Islam and has included a great deal of syncretism with earlier practices, (as has West African Christianity). When I lived in the region many years ago, some more militant practices were starting to creep in to local Islam - e.g. not being permitted to swallow ones own spittle during the day in Ramadan nor permitting sick people to take meds - prohibitions I never heard of from Saudis, and the latter of which is explicitly permitted by the Qur'an.

Nigeria has been at the frontier of Muslim and Christian expansion in West Africa for more than a century. This is one of many reasons federalism is an absolute necessity in a Nigerian union. Corruption in Nigeria is rampant and has been forever. The military has sometimes been a force for modernization, secularization and unification but has also been reluctant to try to carry the whole load. The US has had some involvement in Nigeria, but mostly has had sense enough to stay out. While Nigeria is big and brawling and full of potential, it is also a political and religious mess. The Colonel is right: let's let the Nigerians work this out for themselves.

[Omonaija]

A partition is out of the question. Unlikely to happen. Boko Haram might go the way of the "freedom fighters" in the oil producing region. A copious amount of money, paid to the right people will ease the problem, but not eliminate it.