When Boko Haram crisis began about five years ago in Maiduguri, Borno state, no ever thought the menace will spread like wild fire the way it is today.
Sadly, many youths, who are not meaningfully engaged, have allowed themselves to be turned into terrorists and stone cold killers. How did we get to this level?
When the menace of Boko Haram insurgents started from some Northern parts of the country, little did Nigerians imagined that it will gradually spread across the country. Nigerians, with their nonchalant attitude were always thinking it is a northern problem but now, all of us have been proved wrong with the havoc the terrorists have wrecked.
As it is today, the situation seems to have assumed a different dimension that, even; the security agencies seem to have lost control.
Latest attack in Abuja:
April 14, 2014 was indeed a black Monday for the residents of Nyanya, a satellite town in the Capital City as bomb attack by suspected Boko Haram members on a crowded motor park in Nyanya threw the Federal Capital Territory into confusion. Although, security agencies put the number of the dead and the injured at 71 and 124 respectively, independent findings revealed that at least 89 people, including three bombers died while 257 others sustained various degrees of injuries. Anytime this type of tragedy occurs, the sonlg in the mouth of our president has always been that of condemnation and after that we go to sleep until another attack is unleashed on helpless citizens.
President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack adding that his administration would continue to work hard to get over it.
The senate president, Senator David Mark condemned, Speaker House of Representatives, Honorable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal condemned, we condemned and condemned but the question on the lips of many Nigerians is, for how long shall we continue like this? After condemning what next? Is the government really on top of the situation as it claimed? Is the insurgent’s always one step ahead of our security agents? Why do Nigerian leaders react to security issues only when it is too late? Why will innocent Nigerians, who are struggling for survival, die like animals in their own father land? What wrong have we committed? These are the questions begging for answers!
So many things have been written and suggestions made concerning our porous borders, yet, nothing has been done to control the influx of foreigners who comes in and blend with the citizens.
Playing politics with the lives of Nigerians:
I read with utmost surprise the press statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh that the All Progressives Congress was responsible for the bomb blast that killed over 71 people in Nyanya, Abuja, on Monday. Why will a political party be playing politics over such a very sensitive issue? Why will a ruling party blame an opposition party for the lives of its innocent citizens that have been dying on a daily basis? Will this trading of words give us the assurance that we are safe? What compensation will this trading of words give to the families of the bereaved? What is our business on who is responsible? What we should be talking about now is how to find a lasting solution to this problem once and for all.
Nigeria is gradually going back to the state of nature according to Thomas Hobbes theory where he said that “in a state of nature, human life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’’.
In the absence of political order and law, everyone will have unlimited natural freedoms, including the ‘’rights to all things” and thus the freedom to plunder, rape, and murder; there would be an endless “war of all against all”. to avoid this, free men contract with each other to establish political community i.e. civil society through a social contract in which they all gain security in return for subjecting themselves to an absolute sovereign, one man or an assembly of men.
Nigerians and their nonchalant attitude to security:
It is no longer a hidden fact that Nigerians are nonchalant when it comes to security issues. We have failed to realise that security is a collective responsibility of everyone and must not be left in the hands of the security agents alone because they cannot be everywhere at the same time. We hardly ask questions, even, when we notice suspicious movement. We are not ignorant of our rights but we are too docile about it. It is high time we put this carefree attitude aside and cooperate with security agents by reporting suspicious movement to the relevant authorities and ask useful question within our environment.
Killing of innocent citizens is a violation of human right
Section 33-34 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended specify the fundamental rights of Nigerians to include the following: 1. Right to life (S.33): Everyone has an inviolable right to life.
No one may be deprived of life except for the defense of any person or property, or in order to effect a lawful arrest or in the course of suppression of riot, mutiny or insurrection. Where any person’s life is unlawfully taken, it is extra judicial killing. The culprit must be prosecuted while the surviving victims are entitled to apology and compensation. Permit me to say on conclusion that Nigerians have suffered enough; lives are cut short on a daily basis and yet, no one have been prosecuted neither an apology nor compensation made to the affected victims. It is high time our leaders pushed their selfish political ambitions aside and lead in the interest and common good of poor Nigerians.
