This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/nigerias-opposition-seizing-on-uproar-over-kidnaped-schoolgirls/2014/05/24/c3fb89d0-e37c-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html?wprss=rss_world

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Nigeria’s opposition seizing on uproar over kidnaped schoolgirls Nigeria’s opposition seizing on uproar over kidnaped schoolgirls
(about 11 hours later)
ABUJA, Nigeria — With his lopsided grin and penchant for political gaffes, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has provided ample fodder for critics who question whether he has the mettle to lead a government at war with a terrorist sect.ABUJA, Nigeria — With his lopsided grin and penchant for political gaffes, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has provided ample fodder for critics who question whether he has the mettle to lead a government at war with a terrorist sect.
But the adversary that Jonathan and his government fear even more than the Islamist militant group Boko Haram is a political opposition that has seized on the international uproar over nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls. While Jonathan and his government are confronting the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, their more worrisome adversary may be a political opposition that has seized on the international uproar over nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls.
In an effort to sabotage his reelection prospects next year, opponents are painting him as indifferent to the terrorist threat and ill-prepared to lead this fractured democracy of 175 million. In an effort to sabotage his reelection prospects next year, opponents are painting Jonathan as indifferent to the terrorist threat and ill-prepared to lead this fractured democracy of 175 million.
In turn, Jonathan and his supporters have smeared some opposition leaders as secretly sponsoring Boko Haram and denounced others as capitalizing on the emotional pull of the missing-girls’ saga for partisan gain.In turn, Jonathan and his supporters have smeared some opposition leaders as secretly sponsoring Boko Haram and denounced others as capitalizing on the emotional pull of the missing-girls’ saga for partisan gain.
The clock that both sides are really watching is not the 39-days-and-counting since the abductions, but the 11-month countdown to the polls. The clock that both sides are really watching is not the five-weeks-and-counting since the abductions, but the 11 months until voters go to the polls.
“Ever since this Boko Haram crisis started, the government and the political class have tried to play politics with it. Everyone is looking for scapegoats instead of solutions,” said Mohammed Ali Ndume, a senator from the opposition All progressives Congress who represents terror-plagued Borno state in the north. “What we really need to be focusing on is the root causes of the problem — poverty, illiteracy and lack of employment.” “Ever since this Boko Haram crisis started, the government and the political class have tried to play politics with it. Everyone is looking for scapegoats instead of solutions,” said Mohammed Ali Ndume, a senator from the opposition All Progressives Congress who represents the terror-plagued Borno state in the north. “What we really need to be focusing on is the root causes of the problem — poverty, illiteracy and lack of employment.”
What is at stake in the mutual blame game is control of Africa’s most populous country, its largest economy and one of its most promising if fragile democracies. The country’s vast oil reserves have created a culture of official corruption while leaving millions in poverty, but the resources also have financed a gradually modernizing state. What is at stake in the mutual blame game is control of Africa’s most populous country, its largest economy and one of its most promising if fragile democracies. The country’s vast oil reserves have allowed the creation of a culture of official corruption while leaving millions in poverty. But the resources also have financed a gradually modernizing state.
Until the girls’ abduction thrust a festering Islamist insurgency into the international spotlight, Jonathan’s prospects for reelection next spring seemed relatively assured. Although originally elevated to the post by chance in 2010, while he was serving as vice president when the sitting president died, Jonathan easily won election in 2011, a contest widely described as the first truly fair national election since 33 years of military rule ended in 1999. Until the girls’ abduction thrust an Islamist insurgency into the international spotlight, Jonathan’s prospects for reelection next spring seemed relatively good. Although originally elevated to the post by chance in 2010, while he was serving as vice president and the sitting president died, Jonathan easily won election in 2011, a contest widely described as the first truly fair national balloting since 33 years of military rule ended in 1999.
During his first two years in office, he championed a variety of reforms and development projects, from anti-corruption laws to rural electrification. Neither charismatic nor forceful, the former zoologist, 57, styled himself as a sympathetic “brother” to all Nigerians. His affable smile dominated roadside billboards, TV ads identified him and his People’s Democratic Party with national unity and progress, and his popularity ratings remained high.During his first two years in office, he championed a variety of reforms and development projects, from anti-corruption laws to rural electrification. Neither charismatic nor forceful, the former zoologist, 57, styled himself as a sympathetic “brother” to all Nigerians. His affable smile dominated roadside billboards, TV ads identified him and his People’s Democratic Party with national unity and progress, and his popularity ratings remained high.
But as a Christian from the south, he was accused of neglecting the mainly Muslim north and its growing terrorist toll. Since April, his hapless response to the kidnappings and the government’s failure to articulate a coherent strategy against Boko Haram have turned the incident into a referendum on Jonathan’s political future and set off a feeding frenzy among his opponents. But as a Christian from the south, he was accused of neglecting the mainly Muslim north and its growing terrorist toll. Since April, his hapless response to the kidnappings and the government’s failure to articulate a coherent strategy against Boko Haram have given the opposition All Progressives Congress — a year-old coalition of fractious political and interest groups — a unifying electoral target.
At first, the president attempted to ignore the abductions, saying nothing for several weeks as international condemnation spread. Then, he canceled a trip to the village from which the girls were abducted and compounded the faux pas by remarking that a presidential visit could not bring the girls back. A drumbeat of domestic criticism intensified, with daily protests in the capital by women’s groups demanding more assertive state action to rescue the missing girls. Domestic criticism intensifies
On Thursday, Alhaji Lai Mohamed, a spokesman for the All Progressives Congress, excoriated the PDP as a party “without soul or conscience, on whose watch 12,000 Nigerians have been bombed to smithereens by Boko Haram.” He accused the government of running “shameless” TV campaign ads that compare Jonathan to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr., “even as Nigerians continue to die daily due to the President’s . . . ineptitude and cluelessness.” At first, the president attempted to ignore the abductions. Then, he canceled a trip to the village from which the girls were taken — and remarked that a presidential visit could not bring the girls back. A drumbeat of domestic criticism intensified, with daily protests in the capital by women’s groups demanding more state action to rescue the missing girls.
Government spokesmen insist that the president, who rarely makes domestic public appearances, is fully engaged and in command. They accuse opponents of blackmailing him into canceling campaign rallies while pressing ahead with their own, funding a biased media campaign against him and using the terrorism threat as a partisan wedge at a time of desperately needed national unity. On Thursday, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, a spokesman for the All Progressives Congress, excoriated the president’s party as being “without soul or conscience” and said that on its watch, “12,000 Nigerians have been bombed to smithereens by Boko Haram.” He accused the government of running “shameless” TV campaign ads that compare Jonathan to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr., “even as Nigerians continue to die daily due to the president’s . . . ineptitude and cluelessness.”
Government spokesmen insist that the president, who rarely makes domestic public appearances, is fully engaged and in command. They accuse opponents of forcing him to cancel campaign rallies while pressing ahead with their own, funding a biased media campaign against him and using the terrorism threat as a partisan wedge at a time of desperately needed national unity.
In a his May 17 speech at a conference on terrorism in Paris, Jonathan laid out an articulate case for taking on Boko Haram, calling it “a new frontier in the global war of terrorism against our civilization” and the kidnappings a “watershed” moment in this struggle that “should not go unanswered.” He also suggested that his administration’s progress in promoting economic growth and opportunity had goaded the terrorists to action. “Our success is their failure,” he declared.In a his May 17 speech at a conference on terrorism in Paris, Jonathan laid out an articulate case for taking on Boko Haram, calling it “a new frontier in the global war of terrorism against our civilization” and the kidnappings a “watershed” moment in this struggle that “should not go unanswered.” He also suggested that his administration’s progress in promoting economic growth and opportunity had goaded the terrorists to action. “Our success is their failure,” he declared.
But Jonathan’s administration continues to be its own worst enemy. There is little suggestion that Nigeria’s nascent democratic system is in danger. But the government appears to be internally conflicted over how to handle the terrorism threat amid signs of discontent in the army over lack of funding and equipment to fight the insurgents, and insistence by northern Muslim leaders that negotiation, not force, is the only way to end the violence. But Jonathan’s administration continues to be its own worst enemy. There is little suggestion that Nigeria’s nascent democratic system is in danger. But the government appears to be conflicted over how to handle the terrorism threat amid signs of discontent in the army over a lack of funding and equipment, and insistence by northern Muslim leaders that negotiation, not force, is the only way to end the violence.
“The simple fact of the matter is that government has conceded the initiative to the Islamist extremist group. It seems completely bereft of ideas on what to do,” Kolawole Olaniyan, a legal advisor to Amnesty International and an expert on human rights in Africa, wrote in the national Nigerian newspaper Punch in the past week. The group estimates that in the past five months alone, some 2,000 Nigerians have died in political and sectarian violence. “The simple fact of the matter is that government has conceded the initiative to the Islamist extremist group. It seems completely bereft of ideas on what to do,” Kolawole Olaniyan, a legal adviser to Amnesty International and an expert on human rights in Africa, wrote in the national Nigerian newspaper Punch. The group estimates that in the past five months alone, some 2,000 Nigerians have died in political and sectarian violence.
The crisis also seems to have thrown the president’s party into turmoil. Party officials were to announce Jonathan’s formal reelection bid this month but have repeatedly postponed the announcement. Nigerian media outlets reported this week that former president Olusegun Obasanjo, an influential and shrewd leader who ruled Nigeria first as a military dictator and then as an elected civilian, has advised Jonathan not to run. The crisis also seems to have thrown the president’s party into turmoil. Party officials were to announce Jonathan’s formal reelection bid this month but have repeatedly postponed the announcement. Nigerian media outlets reported this week that former president Olusegun Obasanjo, an influential leader who ruled Nigeria first as a military dictator and then as an elected civilian, has advised Jonathan not to run.
But far more important than one man’s faltering electoral prospects, political observers said, is the old regional divide that has been wrenched wide open by the Boko Haram crisis and the partisan finger-pointing that followed. A political modus vivendi between the poorer, Muslim-dominated north and the wealthier, Christian-majority south has now broken down, exposing severe regional inequities and playing into the hands of the Islamist militants.But far more important than one man’s faltering electoral prospects, political observers said, is the old regional divide that has been wrenched wide open by the Boko Haram crisis and the partisan finger-pointing that followed. A political modus vivendi between the poorer, Muslim-dominated north and the wealthier, Christian-majority south has now broken down, exposing severe regional inequities and playing into the hands of the Islamist militants.
“By playing politics with a national security crisis, the government has galvanized all its opponents and risked turning Boko Haram into a religious issue,” said Mohammed Kaita, an opposition delegate in the national assembly. “The real problem is the failure of our leaders to address poverty and jobs and corruption. Boko Haram is not a religious or political issue,” he said. “It is madness and it is harming all of us.”“By playing politics with a national security crisis, the government has galvanized all its opponents and risked turning Boko Haram into a religious issue,” said Mohammed Kaita, an opposition delegate in the national assembly. “The real problem is the failure of our leaders to address poverty and jobs and corruption. Boko Haram is not a religious or political issue,” he said. “It is madness and it is harming all of us.”