My heart goes out to the families of those
who were senselessly slaughtered by the representatives of Lucifer in our
midst. One cannot fail to empathise with
the bereaved who moments earlier had waved goodbyes to their loved ones –
children off to schools, parents going to search for the elusive bread, hawkers
targeting early morning travellers and the ubiquitous Okada riders ferrying these people to the motor park. The scores that died that early Monday
morning were full of life and plans for the week and were cut in mid stride by
madmen without the fear of God in their ice-cold hearts. It was a wicked act that should be condemned
by all. The outpourings of grieve by
Nigerians for those who lost their lives in the blast have no precedence. Even
the normally ambivalent Jonathan visited the scene of the bomb blast with herd
of clowns. The presidential visit itself
is unprecedented in the history of his blood soaked administration. My heart equally bleeds for the parents of
those students abducted in Chibok, Borno State, in the evening of the same day
the bomb blast took place in Nyanya. School children who were abandoned by an
uncaring government and its security agents.
The parents’ grief is doubled by the fact of not knowing whether their
wards are dead or alive.
After the initial anger and sadness one
feels for these senseless acts, one is forced to make comparisons with previous
loss of lives and the consequent federal government reactions. The spate of bombings that began in Abuja on
October 1st, 2010 may appear to have gone full circle with the
Nyanya bomb blasts. According to some
estimates, over 40,000 people have been killed in the various ‘theatres’ of war
in the north, yet Goodluck Jonathan never deemed it fit to visit and
commiserate with the families of the victims.
The only exception to the president’s apathy of visiting these troubled
spots was his visit to Kano in January 2012 when the city came under siege for
more than three hours. In February this
year about fifty-nine school children were massacred, some were even burnt, yet
the president was at that time enjoying a glass of wine or two in Abuja at the
so-called Centenary Dinner. Also this
year while the president and Shema of Katsina were dancing away in Katsina,
over one hundred and three people were killed in Faskari. Yet the president jetted away to Abuja
without even a cursory glance towards the hapless villagers.
In the north east we have seen how whole
villages were razed to ground and completely erased from the face of the earth and
the only reaction from Abuja is to blame the victims for their misfortune. The people of the northeast have been under
siege for the past two years and the government’s response is the increased
militarisation of the zone by imposing an unnecessary state of emergency on
three of the states. Ironically, more
people are killed under the state emergency than before it was declared.
Goodluck’s only visit to Borno and Yobe States, the epicentre of the insurgency
in the north, came after governors of the All Peoples Congress (APC) visited
Maiduguri and wandered around the city thereby stealing the thunder form right
under his clayish feet. Residents of
both Maiduguri and Damaturu regretted the President’s decision to visit their
states. The visit turned out to be bad
luck for the residents of the capital cities because they were locked in for
the duration of the visit.
My grouse this morning with Jonathan and the
northern Quislings in his entourage stems from the insensitivity and
heartlessness displayed by organising a rally in Kano to “receive” Shekarau in
to the PDP. While the relations of those
who lost their lives in the Nyanya blast are mourning the loss of near and dear
ones; while parents are gnashing teeth and wailing over the abduction of their
wards and daughters by hooligans and killers, Jonathan, Shekarau, Aminu Wali
and Mohammed Abacha were dancing with blood soaked feet to a funeral dirge rendered
by Sani Danja. The irony of Shekarau and
Sani Danja sharing the same podium is lost on Shekarau, who in the past
banished the artist from Kano. Much as I
try to grasp the message Jonathan was sending to the world and the grieving
parents, I couldn’t come up with an acceptable explanation for myself. My conclusion therefore, is that Jonathan
doesn’t give a hoot about the lives of Nigerians and may even not be averse to
dancing on their graves if that may advance his political cause in his
perverted logic.
How can any sensible leader lead a carnival
of merriment in celebration of “capturing” a spent politician, barely 24 hours
after the horrendous act in Nyanya? What
will it cost the PDP to delay the carnival to a more auspicious time when the
mood of the nation is more on the up?
How can a caring parent be singing and dancing less than 12 hours after people
who the government claimed to have defeated in the past abduct about 200 female
students? Labaran Aku’s explanation on
why they refused to shift the rally flies in the face of reason. How can paying respect to the souls of the
departed be construed as giving-in to terrorist? My only consolation is in knowing that
Jonathan and his wife are both adopted by foster parents and they in turn
adopted a daughter. The compassion
between parent and children may, to all intents and purposes alien to them.
The president’s prompt visit to Nyanya also
brought to fore another aspect of his administration. No matter the number of people killed in the
northeast, no matter the level of destruction wrought on the region, Jonathan
will never consider it necessary to glorify the hapless people with his
‘august’ presence. That the lives of the
people living in Abuja are different from those living in other parts of the
north. I believe northerners
irrespective of ethnic stock, creed or ideology will realise how their
president perceives them. It isn’t about
creed or tribal marks – it is about the geography of where you come from.
As for the Shekaraus, Walis, Abachas and the
Sani Danjas, let Labaran Aku write a film for them to act and to be directed by
either Bafarawa or Reuben Abati.
May God safe us from these modern day
Draculas.
