THE cold blooded massacre ofinnocent students of theFederal Polytechnic, Mubi, in Adamawa State recently, has created another horrendous link in the macabre chain of murders in the country.AS if bent on rubbishing the modest success of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), the merchants of death struck in the unholy hours of Independence Day to perpetrate their satanic deeds. About a week to the hellish attack on the students, the JTF arrested 156 suspected Boko Haram militants and uncovered a local bomb manufacturing factory belonging to the sect and also impounded a large cache of arms from the sect.ACCORDING to media reports, the killers came with a hit list from which they called out names and subsequently shot or slaughtered the respondents. In fact, an unfortunate father was said to have been killed as a replacement for his 'absentee' son. At the end of this orgy of horror and anguish, no fewer than 46 students were reported to have been sent to the great beyond while official report put the number at 26.THE tragedy, unfortunately, has been tainted with avoidable contradictions as to who actually caused the mayhem. This may be a dangerous distraction that could cloud the trail of investigation and justice. While a school of thought claims that the killings were not unconnected with the rivalry among the various groups in the polytechnic, others say that the dispute among the students was only exploited as a decoy by some extraneous and powerful individuals to achieve their selfish motives through the spill of blood and horror.THE Mubi massacre should be a source of intense sorrow and sobriety to all Nigerians. It has further exposed the burgeoning state of insecurity in the country. It is to the immense shame of the nation that a band of felons could criminally straddle around a students' hostel with titanic bravado, guns and other lethal weapons, displaying 'execution' roster, successfully shooting and slaughtering dozens of innocent students without attracting the intervention of security agents. This, in our view, depicts a classical case of anarchy.WHILE some partisan apologists may be quick to point to similar cases in other climes, we need to remind them that the difference lies in the reaction velocity. For instance, in advanced countries, crime suspects are arrested, tried and sanctioned with dispatch. However, the response to security challenges and emergencies in Nigeria is traditionally passive, so much so that crimes and criminal manifestations have become part of the national life.WHAT is most pathetic in the current scenario is that Nigerians have become psychologically prostrate to the tormenting gnawing of these sadists who revel in spilling human blood.Of course, this could be viewed from the national outrage that witnessed the invasion sometime ago of the Bayero University by the barons of death and destruction leading to the slaughter of many students and an aged professor. Sadly enough, no one has been arraigned for trial for the gruesome crime, except the usual police refrain of 'investigation continues.' Until the authorities act decisively to wage an unabated war against terrorism and gangsterism, the lamentations of Nigerians may continue to reverberate.WE passionately call on security agencies to be more proactive through strategic surveillance. This will diminish the tormenting trepidation already foisted on the general public. It is also important to advise them to put their acts together in a bid to unravel those involved in this dastardly act in Mubi. These outlaws are no celestial beings, and are therefore, defeatable adversaries.
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