‘Jonathan should find Chibok girls before contesting 2015 elections’

‘Jonathan should find Chibok girls before contesting 2015 elections’

Source: Nigeria Tribune

International journalist and Executive Director of the United States-based Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANA), Pastor Laolu Akande, speaks with KATE ANI on sundry national and security issues. Excerpts:

Can we have an idea of the synergy between CANA and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)?

Since CAN is the association in Nigeria that governs all Christians and Christian issues, CANA is the one that covers for Nigerians in America. CANA was formed when Boko Haram crisis was becoming very high. 

The United States Congress decided to hold a public hearing at the House of Representatives and they invited Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who is the president of CAN, to tell them what the whole brouhaha was with Boko Haram. After the meeting, some of them pondered that Nigerians in the United States might not have a voice in this matter. We formed the association so that we could start the advocacy and bring awareness that the United States should label these people as a terrorist group. At that time, the US government had not branded them as a terrorist organisation. So, we took over that responsibility and said, ‘look, these are terrorists. You should treat them the way you treat al-Qaida, Taliban and the ISIS.’ It was a tough struggle.

During that time, Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State. She was opposed to it. The State Department was also opposed to it. I think about 12 American professors and intellectuals wrote an open letter to the Secretary of State and said no, that the problem of Boko Haram was more or less as a result of poverty. We had a very serious contention with the US government and insisted that they (Boko Haram) were terrorists. We said, ‘yes, you can talk of poverty, but it is not the most significant reason some people should be slaughtering fellow human beings.’ We said that it had to do with ideological reasons. So, we were engaging back and forth and with time, the Republicans in the Congress who had been with us said that this sect was a terrorist organisation. They did a report and placed the issue on the table; that the US government should explain to them, why they had not designated the group as a terrorist organisation. This is because if the US designates a group as terrorist, that means they have now considered them to be against United States’ national interest which was our own goal; that the US can actually go after Boko Haram. Eventually, in November last year, they were designated as a terrorist organisation. That was how we formed CANA.

Our main vision is to project the image of Nigerians in the US accurately, to give a voice not just to Nigerian Christians over there, but the Nigerian immigrant community. Even though we are Christians, the platform is not only for Christians, it is for all Nigerians. We want to be their voice in the United States. Not only is the image of Nigeria maligned, but the image of Nigerians in the US has also been maligned. The only time we hear about Nigerians abroad is when they are caught in fraudulent acts. These are not the people that are supposed to define the image of Nigeria and we are great people as well. So, we started what we called CANA Top Awards wherein we try to celebrate highflying Nigerians. We had the maiden edition last year, where we honoured10 Nigerian-Americans, including the only black guy who served in NASA. We also honoured the first black female judge in California, a Nigerian, and a Nigerian medical doctor who is the leader of cardiologists in the US.

That was last year. What has CANA done this year?

What we are doing this year is to create what we call global platform for the victims of terrorism in Nigeria. What that platform is all about is that, you see, everybody is talking about Taliban, Al- Shabbab, Boko Haram and ISIS, which are taking over territories and it is good we talk about that, but the issue nobody seems to be talking about is the condition of the victims, what is happening to them, their relatives, widows and the displaced? I am sure you are aware that the United States said Nigerians were the highest number of refugees in the world - over three million - and the bulk of the refugees are accounted for by what is happening in the northern part of Nigeria now.

We decided to create a platform that would not be divided by religion or ethnicity or race. We wanted to say ‘look, let the world pay attention to the victims.’ So, we launched a $100-million fund last month. Last year, we gave the victims $50, 000, but this year, we decided to make it global. We got the support of the United Nations Population Fund for Activities (UNFPA). Recently, we got the support of the UNDP. The Nigerian Ambassador in the US also agreed to be on that platform. The process is ongoing. That is our major activity for this year. We wanted to honour some people this year but because of the issue of the Chibok girls, we had to halt it. We felt that it would be quite insensitive of us to be honouring people while those girls are still being held captive. But we honoured the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ movement.

How do you share ideas with CAN? Do you carry them along in your activities?

Immediately after we were formed as a group in September 2012, the president of the association, Dr James Fadele, came up with the idea of what is called Boko Haram Relief Fund, because nobody had an organised fund to cater for the welfare of the displaced and other victims. That was when we gave them $50, 000 and that was how we started working with CAN, because we identified CAN as the best agent in Nigeria to help us disburse the funds.

Are you satisfied with CAN’s performance in that regard?

Yes, we are. They update us with reports. They upload videos online and we get to see the beneficiaries of the funds. That has been our main relationship with CAN. But now, we have developed new ideas that we are discussing with CAN on how to make it better and they will be given the details soon. Essentially, what we are trying to do is to work with CAN to develop a humanitarian camp, but I don’t want to go into the details on that.

Nigerians may wonder why the choice of CAN because not all the victims are Christians. Besides, there is also the issue of mistrust...

When we came up with the idea of giving $50, 000 to the victims, we held a conference in Abuja and an AFP reporter asked what if the victim was a Muslim. We said ‘look, this is not about religion...’

But how do you ensure that CAN also takes care of victims that are not Christians?

The question boils down to if a Muslim has shown up or not. Boko Haram is actually targeting more Christians than Muslims...

That was at the beginning. Today, they kill even more Muslims than Christians...

I don’t know of the statistics, but I know that till tomorrow, they kill more Christians. I am not denying that Muslims are being killed, but honestly, for us, that argument is not necessary. I know they also kill Muslim leaders who don’t identify with their belief. But mostly, we have not had a situation whereby a Muslim victim came forward. We need to understand that this is a humanity problem.

President Goodluck Jonathan has formally declared his intention to contest in 2015. If you are in Nigeria during the election, will you vote for him?

It depends on who will be contesting against him.

What if it is Muhammadu Buhari?

That is a very tough question. Am I satisfied with Jonathan’s work? No. There are major problems in his government. The way he is handling the matter of the Chibok girls is not satisfactory. What happened in the issue of the ceasefire thing is very embarrassing. Imagine a situation whereby you have the Chief of Defence Staff come out to say ‘oh, we have arranged a ceasefire deal with the sect.’ For God’s sake! This is the Chief of Defence Staff. If the Chief of Defence Staff is coming to say that the matter has been resolved, it better be. You don’t send out the Chief of Defence Staff to make that kind of statement when you are not sure of your facts. It is not done. That gives an impression of shoddiness, an avoidable shoddiness. You heard everybody all over the world, including the President of France, State Department in the US saying that this is what the Chief of Defence Staff has said and that if a Chief of Defence Staff should say that, that it is as high as it gets from the military authorities. Two weeks after that, we now had a government saying ‘oh, there is no agreement yet.’ My problem is not Boko Haram saying that they were not aware of the ceasefire. Nobody has ever come out to say ‘look, come and ask us anything about this sect, nobody. Even after the fallout, after they found out that the ceasefire was not for real,  you shouldn’t wait; you should actually come out and say ‘look, this is the situation of things,’ stand there and let journalists ask you questions. My worry is the way they are managing this affair, especially the public relations of the military; it is very shoddy, especially given all the exposure in the world at this information age. It is very disappointing.

So, because of that, you won’t vote for Jonathan?

I will vote for Jonathan if these girls are found. He should not be talking about election until those girls are found. If it were his daughter, would he even be able to sleep at night or move past the fact that you don’t know where she is? The Yoruba normally say that your child is better dead than missing. The government and the president have to show that he is willing to stake his presidency on the fact that this matter must be resolved. After he has done that, then he can talk about second term.