One cannot
but commend the Government and peoples of the United States for the timely and
effective response with which the cowardly, senseless and heinous attack on the
Boston Marathon was handled.
The speed and
dispatch with which virtually the entirety of the American system was deployed
to confront terror will obviously send a clear message to budding punks who may
be thinking similar vile thoughts. The message was trite and unmistakable –
there is no hiding place for terror.
Contrast
that with how Nigerian governments respond to the various terror
strikes that has rendered the core northern region of Nigeria uninhabitable and
unsafe to all:
a. A few
minutes after the terror attack, the Media Assistant to the Nigerian ruler will
release a poorly worded often recycled message assuring all that the government
is on top of the situation and that all should go about their activities
(perhaps pretending also that over a dozen of our fellow men did not just have
their limbs blown across streets and life snuffed out of them by our local
terrorists.
b. The
President, by now scared of his own shadows, will cancel all official
engagements for the remainder of the week and recline to the comfort of his
fortress from where he will receive all guests and perform all State functions.
c. The hapless
Media Assistant or spokespersons of our (in)security agencies will, a few days
later, release yet another senseless statement, denying the involvement of the terror
groups which have already claimed responsibility for the attacks – pray if these
guys are so smart as to know who did not do it, does that not presume that they
have a clue as to who did it?
d. Sensing yet another
opportunity to fleece the national treasury, smart alecs masquerading as kingpins
of ethno-religious subsets of our contraption, begin to campaign for an amnesty
for terrorists – to these characters, it is immaterial that the terrorists for
whom they advocate amnesty have repeatedly stated that it is the entire people
of Nigeria who need and ought to be ‘praying’ for amnesty.
e. Pronto, an ‘Amnesty
Committee’ is put together, comprised of persons with known history of fleecing
the country, of. Millions of
dollars gets released to the ‘amnesty committee’ – money which disappears
before it even leaves the federal vaults.
g. If adequate
tracing mechanisms had been placed on the funds released to the ‘amnesty
committee’, it would really not be a surprise if it turned out that such ‘amnesty
funds’ become monies used to fund arms purchase and training costs of the
terror groups.
In the
interim, many more of our nationals get killed by bombs placed by the same terror
groups which had all along stated an express desire to destroy the federation
as it is presently known!
What will it
take to get it through the thick skulls of those in rulership in Nigeria that you simply do not
negotiate with terror?
The weak,
ineffective and myopic response to terror in Nigeria is most unfortunately fueling
the emergence of militancy across much of West Africa. If adequate measures are
not taken to nip this cancer in its bud, one shudders to conceive the
implications in the very near future.
I extend my
heartfelt condolences to the victims of the unfortunate episode at the Boston Marathon
and once more doff my hat for the heroic and exemplary response of all who
contributed towards putting an end to the unfortunate situation.
Once more the United States and its peoples have shown exemplary leadership
7.
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