With the
bombing of the Emab shopping plaza in wuse Abuja, on Wednesday 25th
June, which claimed about a dozen lives, one is left to wonder where the Boko
Haram insurgence would attack next, better still, if a fortress such as the
Federal Capital of Nigeria, optimally protected by the military who are visible
in strategic locations around the City, where cant they attack in Nigeria? The
most worrisome is that these ugly incidences are happening under the nose of
the presidency “Aso Rock Villa”. Questions begging for answers by the citizen
of Nigeria are left to be answered. The effrontery displayed by the insurgence
questions the faith we have in our government in their ability and capability
to guarantee the safety and security of lives and properties of Nigerians who
cannot afford the engagement of heavily armed security forces for their
personal protection. 
It is most
devastating that barely a week goes by in Nigeria without attacks on innocent
lives being the major headlines of our daily newspapers, perhaps we were even
wrong in our postulations that the rate of attacks by the insurgency would
reduce during the period where the FIFA 2014 world cup is ongoing. To our
dismay, on the day of the first match of the Brazil 2014 world cup, the
insurgency attacked a viewing centre in Damaturu, Yobe State, leaving innocent
football fanatics dead and many suffered various degrees of injuries.
We have in
recent times witnessed an unusual hobnobbing between the government and the
Military, where they are deployed “unnecessary” even to serve in stop and
search operations allegedly engineered against perceived political enemies of
the administrations. Instead of this, the Military Might should be harnessed to
fighting insurgency in all fronts; it would be only right if harmless
institutions and individuals are less harassed by the military, undemocratic
acts such as the clamping down of newspaper and distributors in parts of the
country despite the Special Adviser to Mr. President on media and publicity,
Dr. Reuben Abati categorically stated that they were not against the content
published by media organizations.
The scenario
which played out with the deployment of security personnels to man the nooks
and craning of Ekiti State, during the June 2, 2014 gubernatorial elections,
led most Nigerian to ask the Government to deploy the same number of security
men to Borno State, the presumed “headquarters of the insurgency” in order to
ensure that their ungodly activities are reduced drastically.
Another
question asked is that how true is the government’s support of the Nigerian
Military, when retired military officers are protesting for unpaid allowances
owed them by the FG. This action cannot be a motivation for serving military
men on the battle front needing the full assurance for their future welfare and
that of their families after retirement.
It is
gradually becoming a norm that after any attack, Government officials have an
already prepared press statement(s) where the date(s) and location(s) of the
attack(s) are only edited and presented to Nigerians through the media. The
vehement verbal condemnation of the attack is not enough to pacify Nigerians,
we understand that the President is doing his best, but in desperate times such
as this, desperate actions must be taking as human lives are been terminated
indiscriminately on a daily bases as a result of attacked by insurgencies, war
between farmers and Fulani herdsmen and politically motivated community clashes
predominantly in the northern part of Nigeria. It is more saddening when
political gladiators use the media to accuse one another for being responsible
for supporting the insurgency. A recent statement by Wale Oladipupo, National
Secretary of the PDP, stating the obvious that anti-government forces who are
against the PDP led government are behind the attacks, he went on further to state that the attacks are
meted on Nigerians mostly when PDP government records a milestones. One is left
to wonder if the milestone achievements of this present administration are
commensurate to the number of attacks or lives lost to insurgency in Nigeria.
If the claim
by the PDP led government are true that the oppositions are behind the myriads
of attacks that is becoming cancerous in our system, is it not therefore the
responsibility of this Administration to checkmate their activities and ensure
the arrest of these individuals funding terrorism? This administration is not
doing us justice by simply condemning the insurgency and their supporters especially
those in President Jonathan led government without taking the bold step of
arresting and prosecuting any found guilty for this treasonable offences and
crime against humanity. Mr. Presidents
aides and advisers should realize that majority of Nigerians are behind the
President, this was demonstrated during the 2011 presidential elections where
he was voted for en masse. If these trends of bombings are not curtailed by our
security forces and foreign counterparts soonest, people will loose faith in this
administrations as some are already
as we have seen the call for the disintegration of Nigeria from some quarters,
It will be only a matter of time when people will realize that they are not
safe and will be forced to take up arms to protect themselves, these will only
leave the country in a state of anarchy as the political tension in the country
is high and leavened with corruption, poverty, strikes, oil theft, xenophobia, Islamophobia, communal clashes
and much more as we approach the 2015 general elections.
As we await
for the results of the actions of the Federal Government towards the fight
against the endemic of the Boko Haram insurgence, we can only be more security
conscious and pray for the release of the over 200 Chibok girls kidnapped who
are now living in the camp of the insurgent for over two months waiting to be
rescued as the world watches us. 
No comments:
Post a Comment