A youth group known as
StandupforNigeria Youth Initiative recently
sent letters to President Vladimir Putin of
Russia and the British Prime Minister
David Cameron over the pretence and the
blind eyes of the ‘superpowers’ to the
sufferings of Nigerians in the hands of
the Boko Haram. AGBO-PAUL AUGUSTINE
examines the grievances expressed and
reports.
Threatened by the growing wave of Boko
Haram attacks in northern Nigeria and the
refusal of super power, United States of
America, to sell lethal weapons to the
Nigerian military in recent times, members
of StandupforNigeria Youth Initiative, a
youth movement based in Abuja, recently
appealed to Russia’s Vladimir Putin,
Britain’s David Cameron, as well as
members of the British Parliament, in a
letter, over the escalating attacks by
insurgents and the need for the key
members of the United Nations Security
Council to help Nigeria defeat terrorism.
Moved by the recent suicide bomb blast
that killed scores of teenage students of
the Government Technical Science School,
Potiskum, Yobe State, the group pointed
out the need to draw the attention of
Russian and British leaders to the
sufferings in Nigeria, as a result of the
incessant attacks of the Boko Haram
group.
According to the letters submitted at the
Embassy of the Russian Federation and
the British High Commission in Abuja, the
two permanent members of the UNSC
must act in support of the Nigerian
government to curtail the menace of
terrorism before it blows out of
proportion.
While speaking to journalists in Abuja on
the group’s reasons for writing to the
world leaders, Executive Secretary,
StandupforNigeria, Adeyemi Moyegun,
said the group cannot bear to see people
cynically bashing Nigeria at the time of
its greatest need.
“We affirm our pride in our glorious and
beautiful country and resolve to do all we
can to save it from the peril it faces and
[help it] realise its true potential”.
In the letter to President Putin, the group
said since Nigeria and the Russian
Federation have enjoyed a strategic
relationship for several years, it was only
natural that the nation turned to it friends
to join in standing up for Nigeria.
The letter read in part: “As you know, our
country is the largest democracy in Africa
and is developing fast, with the potential
to be the economic powerhouse of our
continent. Nigeria’s bright future is
currently threatened by a terrorist
insurgency in the North East of our
country. It is being waged by Jamā’a Ahl
al-sunnah li-da’wa wa al-jihād, popularly
known as Boko Haram, which is linked to
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS).
“We are grateful that your government
agreed last month to assist our country’s
security forces in terms of logistics and
equipment to win the war against Boko
Haram and we know that our government
is now looking to Russia for the arms we
need to defeat the insurgency,” the letter
said.
Drawing from recent comments of the
Russian envoy to Nigeria, Nikolay
Udovichenko, who continually emphasised
Russia’s readiness to expand bilateral
relations with Nigeria in different fields,
including security, trade, scientific, cultural
and education spheres, the youths
reminded Putin that bilateral relations
cannot work for both nations if the
youths of Nigeria are constantly under
siege.
“We are concerned that the international
community more generally appears to be
neglecting our plight. Seventy per cent of
the entire population of Nigeria is below
the age of thirty five; that is over one
hundred and twenty million (120,000,000)
young Nigerians facing the immediate,
medium and long-term consequences of
the insurgency. If urgent action is not
taken, the fall-out could be a security
threat to the whole world for generations
to come.
It also reminded Putin that, just as the
Islamic State (IS) has declared a caliphate
in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram has
declared a caliphate in Gwoza, Nigeria. It
said that the objectives and modus
operandi of waging war by both groups
were identical.
“The gruesome beheading of Westerners
and others in Iraq and Syria has been a
fate shared by many in the North East of
Nigeria and, seemingly, unnoticed by the
world.” The letter also reiterated that
kidnappings are endemic in Nigeria as
well as in the Middle East. “The template
is the same; the threat is the same,”it
said.
It stated further that young Nigerians
have become particular targets of the
Boko Haram’s jihad. “Those of us writing
to you are the lucky ones! Several of our
brothers and sisters were slaughtered
while asleep in their dormitories at the
College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe
State. More than 20,000 other Nigerians
have lost their lives, many of them also
members of our generation. But while the
world’s attention has moved on, more
than 200 girls are still missing and there
have been further kidnappings since.
We
still need your help,” the group appealed.
In the letter to the British Prime Minister
and Members of Parliament (MPs),
StandupforNigeria Youth Initiative
passionately appealed to the British
leaders to see the reality of the great
sufferings and death in Nigeria as a result
of the actions of the Boko Haram.
It reminded the British parliament that the
crisis had created a spectrum of
humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, with more
than 700,000 internally displaced persons
(IDPS).
“We are deeply troubled by the risks to
their security and economic livelihoods, as
well as the implications of food security.
The concerns shown by the powerful
nations have not led to assistance for
those displaced persons,” it pointed out.
The youths further appealed to the British
politicians to stand up for Nigeria,
because “we share a common humanity
that transcends national boundaries”.
According to them, Nigeria had committed
more troops to international peace-
keeping missions across the world than
any other nation.
“Shall we remind the world of our role in
Liberia, our gallant army in Sierra Leone,
Bosnia Herzegovina and Lebanon?
We
were there. Never shall we forget our
singular effort and commitment to the
African National Congress (ANC) while it
was tagged a “terrorist organisation” by
the international community. We provided
all the necessary support, financial,
military, moral and economic. Now, we
ask; doesn’t one good turn deserve
another?”
The appeals to the two powerful leaders
was a follow-up to an earlier letter written
to the United States president, Barrack
Obama recently on the need for his
country to support the efforts of the
Nigerian government in winning the war
against terrorism in Nigeria.
Whether President Putin and the British
Prime Minister will response to the appeal
of the youths remains to be seen in the
future, as the war against Boko Haram
rages on while the dead continue to pile
up and the victims continue to languish in
pain.
Leadership.
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