That Nigeria is now a terrorist state is not news anymore. The news now is that since Nigeria has achieved that status, all Nigerians traveling to the US and some European countries will in deed be compelled to have another curse inflicted on them by one of heir own to regret the green-colored passport they carry.
When we recall the haste with which Nigeria was dragged into the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), in 1986 by Ibrahim Babangida’s dictatorship, it was predictable that the country was going to join the league of terrorist or rogue states anyway. The same is true about the zeal with which some Islamic countries fall over each other in competition to Islamize Nigeria at all cost.
A good look at Nigeria’s geographical landscape particularly up north, will show that every available space is being converted into a mosque. That is testimony that sects in Islam that exist within Nigeria and beyond have found a fertile ground in the country to propagate hatred and intolerance in the ranks of the faithful who then direct that hatred and intolerance at non-adherents of the faith particularly. If not how can one explain the upsurge in the emergence of messianic groups such as the Kala Katos, the Dar-Sulams, the Boko Harams and the other faceless but terror-inclined Islamist organizations that have shown time and again that they have the capacity to hold Nigeria and Nigerians hostage?
All of these constitute sufficient grounds for one to insist that individuals who get into any leadership position in Nigeria ought to consider the over all impact of whatever decisions they take prior to taking them. Some reckless policies and decisions that came into play during Ibrahim Babangida’s military despotism left the despair and anarchy that plagues Nigeria’s social fabric today. Their corollary whereby some groups sustain supremacist conviction that their destiny is to rule and control every other group in Nigeria can only ensure that genuine peace will continue to elude Nigeria.
As an individual I can go out of my way to extend some modicum of sympathy to Dora Akunyili in her capacity as the spokesperson of a dysfunctional government. But going by her mindless utterances ever since the incident, what does she expect the US to do in reaction to the attempt by a Nigerian to blow up a passenger jetliner over one of its cities? Maybe in her definite wisdom she wants the US to say thank you to Nigeria for breeding a “World Class Terrorist” who was deployed to kill the 289 innocent persons on board the aircraft in addition to wrecking incalculable havoc on the ground in Detroit. The plain fact is that nobody can estimate the number of persons that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab could have killed on that fateful day in Detroit if he had pulled his bomb plugs successfully.
Some have been inclined to commend Umar Farouk’s father for summoning the nerves to alert the security agencies to his son’s suspicious behavior. The flip side of that is to challenge the Northern elite class that he belongs to, whose members use religion as a wedge issue while their activities help to pauperize the commoners in their midst even as they use their ill-gotten wealth to pamper and spoil their own children, to pause and think twice.
The likes of Dora Akunyili and her colleagues in Yar' Adua’s circus show of a government who continue to show how much they have mastered the act of systematic deceit and lies in the name of public service can continue to have their field day in ways that portray them as conscienceless. Just like they successfully swept the Boko Haram saga after the fact, under the carpet by snuffing life out of its captured leader while he was in police custody, let them try their utmost to make the clamor by well-meaning people for them to acknowledge the security breaches that enabled Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to get on the plane, to die a natural death once the present heat is over.
On the other hand, it is the duty of the rest of us who are well meaning to rally together and come up with what it will take to save Nigeria from self-annihilation.
It is not lost on us that the path being towed by the Islamist fundamentalists amongst their foreign sponsors and us does not augur well for Nigeria. That those who brew the problems that condemn Nigeria to self-destruction are very much in charge of governance in the country is a truism.
The least that all people of goodwill in Nigeria must do at this time is to speak out in protest of those who are determined to misgovern Nigeria in perpetuity. People of goodwill must redouble their own determination to demand for a Sovereign National Conference, as an option that could pave the path to salvage what remains of Nigeria. Through our inaction, we have waited long enough for those amongst us who rule and plunder our commonwealth to put Nigeria in the league of terrorist nations. Additional time wasted waiting to do the right thing is bound to be more costly.
Ndiameeh Babrik.
[email protected]
articleadsbanner
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });