NIGERIAN STUDENTS AS ENDANGERED SPECIES

As Nigerians and the rest of the world continue to mourn the pre dawn
massacre of 29 students and a teacher at Government Secondary School,
Mamudo, Potiskum, Yobe State, by suspected members of outlawed Islamic
group, Boko Haram, the question nobody in government is willing to...



answer is when the senseless killings will stop.
Sadly and painfully, it is only in Nigeria that 29 innocent and
defenseless students will be slaughtered like Sallah rams, in a
supposed time of peace, and the government will pretentiously carry on
as if nothing sinister has happened. God save us!
Meanwhile, in sane and civilized climes, responsible leaders will not
only go after the perpetrators of the heinous crime, but also ensure
they are apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law in
order to serve as a deterrent to others still lurking around.
Shockingly, in Nigeria where we do not have competent leaders, but
inept rulers, reverse is always the case.
For our rulers at the top, the liquidation of 29 promising lives in
one fell swoop was nothing unusual, especially when it does not affect
them directly or indirectly.
What they usually owe us in painful moments like these are terse
official press statements from above, reeking with empty promises of
them flushing out the perpetrators of violence out of the country. Na
today!
 Nigerians are also tired of the very annoying and irritating phrase:
"The killing is barbaric and wicked…"
We want an end to the senseless killings and extermination of precious
lives on a daily basis.
Initially, we thought it was churches, offices and event centres that
were not safe in Nigeria, but with recent developments, we now know
better.
Sincerely, if nothing is urgently done with the rate at which Boko
Haram is targeting and killing school children, they and their schools
would soon become endangered species.
My pain is that each time they strike and slaughter innocent students,
our government will pretend as if nothing disastrous has happened.
They now see national tragedies, especially those caused by Boko Haram
as part of our daily lives.
Prior to the Mamudo maiming on Saturday, July 6, seven students, two
teachers and two soldiers were killed during an attack on a school in
Damaturu, in the same Yobe State on June 16.
The following day, July 17, the relaxed, unperturbed and unchecked
extremists stormed another school in Maiduguri, Borno State and
wickedly killed nine students in an examination hall. Not done with
their evil act, they stormed another school that same day in the town
of Jajeri, Maiduguri, Borno State and shot dead another five students
writing exams in a hall.
Are those in authority waiting for the nation's future leaders to be
completely wiped out before they come to our aid?
Globally, the main duty of every responsible and responsive government
is to protect lives and property, but in Nigeria, our leaders only
protect themselves, families and cronies, while leaving the hapless
masses to carry their cross alone.
They no longer care or feel concerned if Nigerians are dying in
thousands on a daily basis. What matters to them are how best to share
and loot our patrimony with reckless abandon.
But for how long will this madness continue in a land richly blessed
by God but constantly being pillaged and plundered by heartless
rulers?
Despite being under a state of emergency, Yobe is still boiling,
meaning something is seriously wrong ab-initio.
The day our leaders stop playing politics with our lives and start
tackling issues seriously, then our country will progress and move
forward.
I was perplexed reading in the papers that Governor Ibrahim Geidam of
Yobe State's only solution and response to the tragedy that hit his
people was the order to shut down all secondary schools in the
perennially troubled state till the beginning of next academic session
in September.
Your Excellency, will closing down the schools in your state stop the
killings? So, what happens when the schools re open in September? Half
measures and political statements will not bring an end to these
incessant killings. The earlier you join the federal government in the
manhunt for the daring and rampaging murderers, the better for you and
your state. What measures did you put in place immediately after the
extremists struck the first time in your state and snuffed life out of
seven students and two teachers? Because nothing was done to checkmate
them, they decided to regroup and come again, this time causing more
harm and havoc.
Geidam also blamed the non availability of GSM as one of the reasons
the extremists struck without being challenged. Even when there was
GSM in the state, what did he do to stop the carnage caused by the
extremists in the past? He should stop the blame game and ensure that
this type of evil does not visit his state again. Geidam and others in
government should constantly digest the eternal words of Henry Ford,
the great American, who said; "Don't find fault. Find a remedy."
I've always said it and will continue to re-echo it that any leader
who cannot protect the lives and property of its citizens is not fit
to lead and should immediately pack his belongings and quit public
office.
Again, our rulers should know that no amount of money or
immortalization can assuage the pains of the parents of those precious
souls that were wasted by extremists. It hurts, even to the point of
death knowing that a child you happily sent to a boarding school, will
never return home again to a warm embrace from mum, dad and siblings.
Our rulers should always learn from the immortal words of Aldous
Huxley, who stated that: "Experience is not what happens to you, it is
what you do with what happens to you."
Adieu Yobe 29.