Each
generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it. Interestingly, a
useless group of individuals, cloaked in an ugly attire of religion mixed with politics,
have discovered their mission, and with impressive bravado, is fulfilling it.
The task of this bloody group is simple: get politically powerful or kill, to
get politically powerful.
Some weeks
ago, over two hundred girls mysteriously disappeared from their school’s
dormitory in Chibok, Borno state. The notorious Islamic sect, Boko Haram, claimed
responsibility for the abduction. In a video released by their leader, Abubakar Shekau,
he stated, “I abducted your girls. I will sell
them in the market, by Allah. I will marry off a woman at the age of 12. I will
marry off a girl at the age of nine."
With pride, he spoke about how this was part of Boko Haram’s war against Western-style secular education in
Nigeria. "I said Western education should end," he added.
"Girls, you should go and get married." How the hell did we get to this point? How did
Nigeria fall seventh in the global terrorism ranking?
Simply put,
Nigeria went to sleep. In 2003, when the group reared its ugly head, and was led
by one Mohammed Ali, the government did nothing to end the group from
developing power. Ali was later killed in a shoot out with the police. His
death should have sparked constructive research and actions to permanently
eradicate such extremism but they were left alone. The group spread their
tentacles to other part of the country from Maiduguri to Yobe state, recruiting
new members and training their recruits in other countries. They targeted idle
youths in various part of northern Nigeria, brainwashed them and introduced
them to terrorism. And now, the rest, as they say, is history. Boko Haram has
caused over two thousand deaths in Nigeria and the number will continue to grow,
if appropriate measures are not employed to stop them.
The
president of Nigeria, Dr. Ebele Jonathan stated unabashedly, that the
whereabouts of the girls are unknown. Hear the president: “All the information that have been volunteered to us (about their
location, we’ve used) and we have searched the places. We are using aircraft –
helicopters and planes – that have the ability to scan and see what is on the
surface. And we have scanned, but we have nothing.” Some days
later, a search committee named Chibok Girls’ Committee was set up to search
for the missing girls. The team has failed to get any type of information that
would lead to the girls’ rescue.
Nigerians, parents of the abducted
girls and individuals worldwide have taken to the streets and onto social media
requesting that their girls be brought back. But, seriously speaking, who would
bring these girls back? Displaying banners, posting pictures, would do nothing!
The girls need more than that.
How
can we speed up the “bring back our girls” mission? Just before we bring back our
girls why have we not seen pictures of these girls? Before we bring our girls,
are there structures created to help these girls, psychologically and
emotionally, when they are eventually found?
The death toll keeps increasing. And it won’t stop now. The
cancer has eaten deep and an international chemotherapy cannot help. The root
of this sect must be traced, uprooted and destroyed if any positive result is
to be achieved. A clear eye is needed as well; any eye blinded by politics
would do nothing.
Noam Chomsky posits that any structure that cannot handle
the burden of maintaining order in a given society is illegitimate and should
be dismantled. The question therefore is: should Jonathan Ebele’s government be
dismantled? As 2015 draws near, what should Nigerians expect? If the president’s
wife can claim that "Even my husband
can be defeated by terrorists", it is safe to conclude thus: “Chai! Chai!
Chai! When would this “bloods sharing” by vampires stop? Indeed, there is God!
