Sinister terror and hatred have again
reached from the shadows to steal the lives of innocent
Nigerians. In Nyanya, seventy-two people were killed by a car bomb.
Hundreds more were injured in the devastation. Their killings served
no purpose except for those who exalt in evil. The bomb blast quickly came and
went like the deadly thief it was; but we shall be left to endure the pain and
loss from this terrible act for a long time to come.
What the nation lost is
irreplaceable. The number 72 seems like just another grim tally
among the death statistics that have become all too common. But what
occurred is much more than that. We must really stop and take notice of where
evil is attempting to drive us to. The abduction of over one hundred
school girls is unacceptable, condemnable and saddens me greatly.
We cannot allow these merchants of
death to make us numb to the tragedy they manufacture. Those who
were killed were not merely numbers on a page. They were human beings, made of
flesh and blood body and soul like all the rest of us. They were someone’s
father or mother, brother or sister. They had parents; they were someone’s
child. They were husbands or wives, neighboring friends and colleague. They had
dreams and hopes. They were loved and loved others in return. Now, life has
been taken away and those who cared from them must bear a grief no person
should be asked to carry.
These people committed no wrong.
Their only crime was to be ordinary working class people seeking to eke out a
livelihood and tend for themselves and their families. For this, they were
killed.
They represent the backbone of the
working people. Not many of them lived an easy life. Most worked hard and long
for modest wages. They lifted themselves up every morning to earn their daily
bread. They faced the many social and economic challenges and obstacles our
society poses, yet they worked not to destroy but to make this a better place
by bettering the lives of their family and loved ones.
These people lived anonymously and
died the same way. We do not yet know their names. But, in a fundamental sense,
we know who they were. They were part of us. They shared the same aspirations
we all do. We seek an improved fate for our children and hope to leave them a
better life. We want to work and live in dignity and respect. We
want a life of peace and harmony with our neighbors regardless of religion,
ethnicity or background. We seek prosperity not poverty. We seek brotherly
understanding not strife. We seek peace, not bombs.
It was not just 72 people who were
taken in this depraved assault. Each of us lost something that day.
Yet, despite the loss and suffering, we must not cower in fear, and let the
purveyors of death believe they have scored a victory over us.
Those who committed this act have
declared war on all that is decent and good. They have declared war not against
the state or even the government. They have declared war on Nigeria and all
Nigerians because this murder took men and women, old and young, Christian and
Muslim alike. In trying to scare, frighten and divide us, the evildoers
committed injury to their own cause. For they have shown us that we all suffer
inhumanity in the same way.
No matter our religion or place of
birth, we all bleed and are wounded the same way by injustice. Decency runs
through the teachings of each religion and ethnic group that comprise the
people of Nigeria.
We may have our differences, but the
vast majority of Nigerians stand united against the appalling violence
committed in Nyanya and other places.
These acts have no place in Nigeria.
Those who commit them have no place in our country. The perpetrators
may look like human beings. They may have limbs and faces like the rest of us
but they are not like us. In killing innocent people, they have become inhuman.
They live outside the scope of humanity. Their mother is carnage and their
father is cruelty. They have declared war against the people of Nigeria. They
have shown that they do not want to liberate the people. They want to kill
them. Yet, with all the energy of their evil and ignorant hatred, they shall
fail. The good people of Nigeria shall triumph.
Such a wicked mission shall not
succeed. We have gone too far in our journey to nationhood and endured too much
to allow these terrible acts to divert us.
Not only have these agents of death
killed innocent people, they also abducted over 100 young women from their
school. Why abduct school girls? Whatever they plan, they should be ready to face
the wrath of Nigerian people. They should release these young girls
unharmed. Anything else would be an abominable crime.
We all must take close heed at this
moment and recognize the severity of what is upon us. A small minority seeks to
bring the nation to its knees through terror. Thus, we must stand tall and
united. We can ill afford to allow their crimes to go unpublished united.
I call on the government to improve
and redefine its strategy in the light of this expanding
menace. Clearly, its intelligence gathering needs to be improved so
that it can break terrorist plots before they hatch. Moreover, it
needs to enact greater social and economic reform in the blighted areas of the
nation to win the hearts and minds of the people. Give the youth a viable
alternative and they will not be duped by the lure of extremist dogma. A major
initiative with immediate and long-term
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