Shekau: Time Magazine Missed It This Time

For the first time in history, four Nigerians made it onto the presti­gious Time Magazine 100 Personality of the Year Award.

Nigeria’s President-elect, Muhammadu Bu­hari; the arrow head of the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, Dr Oby Ezeikwezili , award-winning Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie and curiously, Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram.

To be on this list is no mean feat. In the past, top achievers like the late President Nelson Man­dela, The Dalai Lama and other important contribu­tors to positive life on Earth have been so recog­nised. As a Nigerian, it is indeed pleasing to see the President-elect, Adichie and Ezeikwezili recog­nised this way.

Though I did not sup­port his campaign for Presidency, there is no denying that General Bu­hari is a huge inspiration to many Nigerians. Hav­ing run for office in all the last four presidential elections since 2003, the fact that he was success­ful at the last attempt is of huge significance to many Nigerians who are wont to ascribe “spiritual” mean­ings to the most mundane of occurrences.

Again the doggedness of Dr Ezeikwezili and the leadership role she has played in highlighting the issue of the missing Chibok Girls is also wor­thy of commendation.

On her own part, Chi­mamanda has been a great export of Nigeria on the international scene. A prolific writer, she com­mands respect across the globe for the brilliance and versatility of her work.

I believe these three recognitions are well de­served and should be cel­ebrated. They are the sort of positive icons we need across Nigeria, Africa and the black race to moti­vate and inspire our chil­dren and young people to achieve and develop.

What is confusing though is to see these no­ble names on the same list as that of Shekau Abuba­kar, the leader of the ter­rorist group, Boko Haram.

It is baffling to see the name of the one person responsible for total car­nage, death and destruc­tion across the landscape of Nigeria over the past six years equally on the Time magazine list. That Shekau – blood-thirsty terrorist and butcher of children and women — is named as an “Influential Personality” of the year by Time Magazine is an insult to the about 15,000 men, women and children killed by this man and his gang of terrorists across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

We of course must not forget the over 2 million people who have been dis­placed across Nigeria and in neighbouring countries by Shekau’s nefarious activities and all those maimed and orphaned by him and his group.

How influential can Abubakar Shekau be re­garded by the multitudes of children and students killed by Boko Haram? Ranging from the July 6, 2013 attack at Mamudo Government Secondary School in Yobe where at least 41 children and one teacher were killed to the 29 September 2013 Gujiba College massacre where suspected gunmen en­tered the male dormitory in the College of Agricul­ture in Gujiba, Yobe State, killing at least 44 students and teachers, the Baga massacre of April 19 to 20, 2013 in Borno State where over 228 people were mur­dered as well as the first major onslaught on March 8, 2010 in the Dogo Naha­wa in Plateau State where over 500 villagers, includ­ing several children, were killed in cold blood.

There were also other attacks carried out in churches, markets with high children casualty. Which of these victims, dead or alive, would re­gard Abubakar Shekau as “influential”? Whether negative or positive, the word “influential” cannot and should not be used to describe a terrorist and a mass murderer.

The irony of this rec­ognition is sickening. Shekau, responsible for the abduction of over 200 girls from their school on the night of 14 April listed together with Ezeikwezili, the key person who has been highlighting the case of the Chibok girls.

The key question is: “Why couldn’t Time Magazine recognise the Chibok girls themselves on its influential list? Their plight is well known and recognised all over the world. Thousands of people have called for their release, girls across the world expressed con­cern for their suffering, including Malala who was also recognised on the list. Having a major terrorist recognised as an “Influen­tial Person of the year” is a way to encourage young people into terrorism. What the Time magazine has unwittingly done is to turn Shekau into a hero. If he wasn’t so recognised before, he is now a hero to other terrorists and poten­tial terrorists around the world.

This Time magazine recognition, in my view, is a major disservice to the entire universe. I do not know what inspired the Magazine to so award and recognise the one per­son who has done so much damage. He is not the sort of influential person we want in Nigeria. This man should be found, ar­rested and indicted for crimes against humanity. He should be prosecuted and jailed for the rest of his life for the evil he has perpetrated on Nigeria and Nigerians. In Nigeria, we do not and can never recognise or accept him as our “Influential Person of the Year”.

…Ariyo OBE is Chief Executive of AFRUCA UK (www.afruca.org) and a postgraduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science.