Yobe Massacre: From Denial To Lamentations And Then To Empty Vituperations, By Bamidele Aturu

Posted by African Examiner Articles/Opinion, Latest Headlines Thursday, February 27th, 2014

The horrendous massacre of little children by Boko Haram insurgents and the cluelessness of the security agencies are scary. Since Boko Haram began its frenzied, indiscriminate and callous murder of innocent citizens, our government at the centre has always been caught flatfooted. Initially, the nauseating refrain from its officials was that they were on top of the security challenge. That has now given way to pouring invectives on the insurgents each time they kill and maim our people in hundreds. It is clear to everyone now that the government has no response to Boko Haram. The security agencies also do not seem to understand that they cannot effectively put an end to these senseless killings with conventional weapons. The simple truth is that we cannot fight a frontier-less war without adequate intelligence and when the citizens are demoralized by comprehensive poverty and social injustice.

As we made clear at the commencement of the insurgency, Boko Haram emerged as a result of social injustice and inequity of the Nigerian State. We therefore wallow in self-delusion to think that it will simply disappear without addressing and redressing that root cause. For as long as politics serves parochial and selfish interests for so long shall we face this sort of needless security trouble.

We have changed service and security chiefs in the recent past, but obviously that is not working. In the interim, I will suggest that we transfer all the students of Federal Government Colleges to other Unity Schools in other safer parts of the country so we are not treated to the gory spectacle of our future leaders being slashed in the throats. All the other secondary schools in the North East should have contingents of Police Mobile Squad stationed in them. We can operationally deploy mobile police officers from all the other zones of the country to those schools where they are most needed. Finally all politicians not holding executive positions should be forced to surrender their illegal police escorts for drafting to the North East. If we do this we would not need to be pouring abuses on Boko Haram. We did not elect the President and others to lament and curse. We ‘elect’ them to provide security in accordance with law.

Bamidele Aturu