‘A witch chanted yesterday and a child dies today; who does not know that the witch that chanted was responsible for the death of the child’ is a rough translation of a Yoruba adage. In other words, there should be a connection between a chanting witch and a dead child. This popular adage came to mind as an example of people connecting dots to reach a logical or definitive conclusion. Almost all investigators whether in the intelligence world, the financial world or the media world, connect dots. They have to; if they want to make any appreciable progress. But the reality is that not every dead child is a consequence of a chanting witch and not every witch that flies over the roof in the night is looking to take a soul. In the same vein, certain dots are mere circumstantial evidences and cases that have been built on connecting such dots eventually collapse or end up in the wrong direction. It is pertinent to state that sometimes, tangential dots are brought together in order to build up a case against an individual or an institution. That is the stuff conspiracy theories are made of. But then, there cannot be any smoke without fire, and the adage would not have existed if the chanting of witches in the night has not sometimes resulted in the death of children in the morning.

I have issued this caveat in the light of what has recently come into the public domain about the emergence and the funding of Boko Haram in the country. I will try to play the sleuth as I try to connect seemingly random dots. Nigeria was full of hope at the beginning of the Third Republic and was looking forward to starting afresh. She was grateful that the events of June 12 (events that are now being deodorized) that led to massive loss of lives, including the mysterious deaths of a sitting Head of State and the main opposition within weeks of each other, did not lead to the break-up of the country. Then seemingly out of the blues, a leading voice from a certain leading country announced Nigeria as a failed country and prophesied that our country would disintegrate by a certain year. The fulfillment of that prophesy was to be around the end of the Jonathan Government. Is it possible that the voice was aware of what was going to be unleashed on the country and its likely outcome? After all, anybody who has devoured spy thrillers of the 60s and 70s, especially Robert Ludlum novels, would appreciate that chaos can sometimes be orchestrated and that there is usually a method to the madness of terror.

Before then, the government preceding the Jonathan government had refused the request for the location of a military base in Nigeria by the government of this prophet of doom. Before then, Boko Haram was a ragtag army of religious extremists whose leader was killed around the beginning of the same Yar’Adua government. Suddenly after the refusal, this Boko Haram developed ferocious teeth and attacked both Christians and Muslims. We saw bombs, we saw sophisticated weapons; we saw suicide bombers; we saw the Boko Haram foot soldiers coming to the nation’s capital to destroy a UN building. They became ubiquitous, going wherever they wanted to wreak havoc seemingly without any rhyme or reason. They became boastful probably because of their assumed invisibility. They had more intelligence on the Nigerian Army than the Nigerian Army had on them and they quickly checkmated whatever half-hearted attack the Army made. Where did they get their teeth from? What seemed strange then but which now has some clarity, was the support given Boko Haram by some prominent Northerners, some of whom went as far as to state that Boko Haram was defending the interests of the Muslim north and to attack its army was to attack Muslims. A prominent leader who later lived in Aso Rock, was even nominated to lead a phantom negotiation. By the time Jonathan cried out that his government had been infiltrated and the enemies within were as powerful as the enemies without, it had become clear to him that what the northern Boko Haram sympathizers wanted was power and what their foreign sponsors wanted was a regime change. It is to his eternal credit that he determined that he would not be used to disintegrate the country. ‘My ambition is not worth the death of Nigerians.’ He famously said. This probably annulled the prediction of our prophet of doom.

Connecting the dots again, the abduction of the Chibok girls and the ensuing international outcry was probably meant to embarrass and discredit him further. We can now guess where the funds to prosecute the ‘Bring back Our Girls’ campaign came from. Connecting dots further, we can also state that the death by air crash, of Jonathan’s Intelligence Chief might not be an accident. Or the detention of the plane in South Africa sent to procure arms after Nigeria had been denied weaponry on alleged violation of human rights of terrorists!! There are many more dots to connect but what would be the point? We simply do not have the power to sanction this country or any other Western country. Yoruba as usual, has an adage for it. ‘Until a man is in possession of a sword, he does not inquire about the death of his father’. And when our National Security Adviser said ‘to hell’ with a Western country because some top military officers were denied visas, I just smiled. It’s unfortunate, but Nigeria today, needs that country more than the country needs Nigeria. We have in any case, become subservient to the West over the years. It is possible even now, that either he, or some Army leaders are dusting their passports for a trip to another Western country.

I will end with a true but apposite story. A man refused the woman offered by his mother as bride. He was to pay for his defiance. The wife he chose instead and the one after her, either lost pregnancies or delivered stillbirths. Exasperated, he went to ‘consult the elders’. He was told his own mother was very powerful in the spiritual world and she was determined to teach him a lesson for his stubbornness (talk about witches chanting in the night). In anger, he rushed to his mother who neither denied nor admitted the accusation. She simply smiled as she asked ‘What do you want to do now? The being who revealed this to you should have also told you there are ways to accost someone more powerful than you. Otherwise, there will be consequences.’ End of story.

Until Nigeria looked inwards and stopped relying on handout, she would continue to receive different humiliating slaps in the face. Worse, powerful countries, to whom Nigeria looks up to for support might be the ones trying to stymie the progress and stature of Nigeria because of their own geo/political interests. Nigeria needs to put her hand on the self-reliant sword if she wants to defend herself in a world ruled by bullies.

•Muyiwa Adetiba is a veteran journalist and publisher. He can be reached via titbits2012@yahoo.com