General Mohammadu Buhari has descended heavily on members of the Boko
Haram sect, calling them evil and inhuman over the last bomb blast carried
out by the extremist group that killed about 72 people in Nyanya, a suburb
in Abuja.
Buhari, in a knock on the group noted in an article sent to
Pointblanknews.com that regardless of party and religious affiliations,
Nigerians must stand together to fight terrorism in the 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.”
In the article titled: NYANYA BOMBLAST AND THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IN
NIGERIA, the former military dictator said the government should adopt a
wiser and practicable strategy in arresting the menace of the sect.
Below is the Article:
NYANYA BOMBLAST AND THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IN
NIGERIA
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
strategies for mass employment should be introduced right away.
Nigeria must and will overcome this scourge but it cannot do so merely by
wishful thinking. We need wise and decisive strategy.
As for me and my party, we deplore and condemn these and all such attacks.
Those who commit them must know that the nation stands four square against
them.
While we are engaged in tight political competition against the ruling
party, we shall not play politics on this issue so vital to our national
survival and wellbeing.
We pledge ourselves to the unity and safety of this nation and shall do
nothing to undermine national security. We seek no political advantage
from this calamity and wish the present administration success in fighting
it.
We stand ready to help in any meaningful and productive way to fight this
battle against evil. We extend our hand and earnest offer of cooperation
in this regard.
Nigeria and Nigerians have suffered enough. Those who now lead the nation
and those who would lead her must overlook political differences to find
whatever ways we can cooperate to make this a safer, more secure nation
for all.
Thank you and May God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Kaduna, April 20th, 2014