By now, its no longer an indictment that some Nigerians are terrorists. You dont need a candle to see the sun. Definitely, not after one year of putting out the fumes of the US Christmas-day suicide bomb of Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab that another was finally detonated at St. Theresas Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, killing many worshippers and injurying others on Christmas day by faceless hands. We smelt a rat when the Bauchi prison break freed over 700 immates three months before Abdulmuallabs fume, yet we let the prison sneeze to breeze into the full blown nose blocking catarrh of the 50th independence day two months to the fumes. And by the time the shipped cache of artillery rockets at Lagos seaport was a month before the fume, we seemed to have lost our sense of smell of terror! Little wonder we took the ghastly Jos bomb blast a day before Abdulmutallabs fume like common cold and went on to thumb our noses on our terrorist status at the fumes. Abdumutallab wasnt the spark of fumes; he was only a rekindle of many blasts we were getting deadened to.Im sure, between that fume and this years flames, we couldnt have blocked our noses from perceiving the still smelling stench of the romp of bomb explosions; from serial bank robberies to the blasts of civilians in the INEC office, drinking bars, churches alike; from the contentious ramming suicide car bomb rehearsal of the Abuja National Police Headquarters to the reality showdown bombing of the UN building and from the bombings of civilians in Damaturu to the recent Kaduna jolt. How we wished not a single Nigerian is instrumental to these acts of terrorism.For the first time, Nigerians have not been more confused by the sound made by Christmas fireworks and terrorist bomb blasts. In no other year than this has the pens of Nigerian writers been so much held with tremors especially when they remember where Dele Giwa dropped his last bold pen. Not at any time than now are the voices of Nigerian musicians lost in the studios particularly when the recordings of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti echo through his legendary microphone. At what other period in Nigerias history are lawyers more bomb scared to prosecute the rising number of detained bomb-blast suspects' How unheard-of is it that some Nigerian universities were shut down sometime this year over issuance of threats of bomb strike aside from the regular non-explosive strikes we are all accustomed to' Not at any other time in Nigeria are graduates fighting tooth and nail not to be posted to the North for National Youth Service Corps programme. For once, the whole nation feels the shuddering and gets a twig of the terrorising cloud that has become a climate in Jos Plateau. The tension in the air has got so thick that you could cut it with a knife! Most Nigerians cant even talk publicly about bombings than welled up communal emotions because one isnt sure who the next person is. Yet you can see how much concerned we are in our whispers in the buses, in itching our ears to the breaking news, in our annoyance in the closets and our arguments in the bedrooms. It has brought the game of life between the fledging bombers at large and the scolded patriotic forces on parade to catch me if you can.Well, I also call the bombers terrorists not only because thats what they are generally referred to but in order to bring you from the popular to the unpopular. There is terrorism; the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims. But painfully on a steeper slope and going by the spate at which the graveyard peace is raging in this worlds most populous black nation, a sort of terrorism of this suicidal is only a means to an end. An end itself which if not known in fighting this terrorism reveals how much we have yet to begin at all.To know this end, its necessary we have an idea who in Nigeria these people really are. For all we care, the real enemies of the state are not known. No one knows if they also help in beefing up the security in different states, whether or not they also read newspapers to see how much truth has been economised and what the next strategic line against them is. So you dont know who the enemies are, there are no negotiation tables, the mastermind and recruits are ready to die and you still dont know what the suicide bombers want which makes it altogether look like fighting a lost battle!Its true that the bombers like to gain public attention, paint the front pages of the newspapers red, alter the pace at which people migrate in and out of a state and skyrocket the budgetary allocations for security votes without meeting with the legislators or Presidency. But beyond sitting down before their televisions like masochists cheering, Yes, we did that!, laughing off their heads to governments next strategy and issuing another threat from behind the masks , does it also cross your mind that the perpetrators also mourn their suicidal agents, either before or after the missions'Oh, did I hear you say they are heartless, so they wouldnt mourn! But would you also consider that for the fact that these perpetrators hide their faces behind the mask and send their threatening voices in the sound and resound of the bomb blasts with rumours of another threat presuppose they are timid and possibly do have conscience' If they are therefore timid, why then would they be ready to die with the victims' If an agent who dies in an incident couldnt have been same to issue the next threat but the one who takes the order, why would such be ready to die in a clime where most are struggling to survive' Why would a master or masters recruit some people for suicide bombing without gains to the victims and if there are gains at all how do the late agents reclaim such' If the gains were financial to excuse poverty, why would the wealthy Abdulmuttallab attempt it' These are relevant questions to be answered to know who they are and possibly what the attackers really want which would eventually help in combing the right quarters.- Dr. Olusola is Medical House Officer, LUTH, Lagos. bohbup@yahoo.co.uk, 08033963286.
Click here to read full news..
