NIGERIA’S WAR ON TERROR

                                                          
Since Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states some Nigerians, especially politicians and simpletons have continued to kick against it. But are these not the same people who cried blue murder when terrorists struck at the United Nations building in Abuja, who were united in grief when people were killed in a Catholic Church on a Christmas day, who think that the president has been too soft on the perpetrators and who expect that their president should do his constitutional duty of protecting them?

Nigerians can’t have their cake and eat it. Even now the terrorists are unrelenting and unrepentant for according to AFP the leader of the insurgents in a recent video claimed that they are dealing blows on the Nigerian soldiers and that they the insurgents had sustained little damage. He even called on foreign Islamists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to join the fight. Just on Friday in Maiduguri in Borno it was reported that the insurgents hid their Kalashnikov guns inside a coffin while driving through military checkpoints to avoid being searched and launched an attack with them against a group of vigilantes, killing 13 of the youths. All efforts must be made to stop this madness. And while this is so, it is imperative too that neighbouring countries cooperate with the Nigerian government and help apprehend, and hand over their nationals who are terrorists operating on Nigerian soil as a token on the war on terror. The US and the UN’s support have been encouraging.

Nigerians must now help themselves. They must shut up and take the good with the bad. The president is doing the right thing. The terrorists have been given a long rope, enough to hang themselves. Some people make us sick to the stomach when they use every opportunity to politicize everything, even something as serious as national security. Even June 12 has not been spared. There’s really no winning with them.

Dr Cosmas Odoemena

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