President Jonathan was widely reported in the newspapers on December 26 as having said that terrorist attacksthe latest of which claimed the lives of many Christian worshippers at Madalla and Joswere a burden that Nigerians would have to bear until such outrages fizzle out. The question is: Did the President actually utter those words or was he quoted out of context' Or, was the statement put out by the presidents spin doctors'If the President has been correctly quoted, then Nigerian citizens are in a serious predicament. This is because their leader, the Commander-in-Chief of the nations armed forces and the person in whose hands they have entrusted their collective security, would then be understood to be telling us to learn to live with our vulnerability. We should accept as part of the reality of our lives that we and our children may decide to take a stroll in the neighbourhood or go to worship in a church and never return home alive or end up, shattered and battered, in hospital beds. Needless to say that this is not the kind of statement that people want to hear from their President when they are broken, racked with pain and are in the throes of emotional turmoil. The statement was certainly not intended to be consolatory or commiserative: rather, it has all the hallmarks of a rehearsed bland expression of his official position. And theres the rub!If indeed the statement represents the Presidents official stance, then the citizens would have to wait for quite sometime before evidence of decisive action against Boko Haram emerges. Despite the enormous budgetary allocation to security in 2012 fiscal proposals, we may have to wait indefinitely since Jonathan says our perseverance should hold until terrorism fizzles out.The pity of all this is that the governments languid approach may provoke a backlash from disillusioned citizens who would have been led to seen their expectations of official security support evaporate. They may then feel constrained to resort to self-help in the form of devising protective measures either as individuals or as groups. It is arguable that the interpretation given to Jonathans latest comment on the terrorist activities is correct and fair. It was in fact an echo of a similar statement he had made after visiting the scene of an earlier blast in the year. On that occasion, he allowed himself to say that Nigerians should bear with terrorism because the perpetrators were no respecters of persons or places and that, given the chance, they would hurl a bomb at him also. What all this points to is that the Nigerias position on terrorism is faint-hearted, dithering, and rapidly veering towards capitulation to these blood-thirsty agents of disorder.A dispassionate prognosis of the present security situation in the country follows an unsettling trajectory ordained by history. Right now, we are at a confused stage. This may easily metamorphose into a crisis of confidence (some would argue that we have reached this level already). Then it may develop into chaos and finally into some form of cataclysm. Let me emphasise that I am neither an alarmist nor a pessimist. I despise cynicism. Rather, I live by a philosophy of buoyant optimism anchored in the power of prayer. But then, I, like most of my fellow citizens, am not presumptuous enough to assume that I can influence directly government policies, much less the mindset or verbalisation of the national leader. The Scripture tells me that only the Holy Spirit can accomplish this. The least we can do is to continue to support the President with our prayers in the fervent hope that all those involved in shaping the nations security policies at this crucial time will allow themselves to be guided by a sense of realism and earnestness.- Joseph O. Abolade,4, Idowu Akindele Crescent, Magodo GRA, Lagos. 0803-304-5882 joeabolade@yahoo.com.
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