The Nation Newspaper

Tag: terror

  • Terror in Europe: Worries and fears

    SIR: For over five years I have been living in Europe, and I have never at any time been as worried as I am right now for humankind. I have never had any reason to be more apprehensive or more disturbed about the future than I am today, at this very moment. This is because the trend of events seems to be whittling away hope for a better and brighter future for humanity. The recent spate of attacks, killings and bloodshed in Zurich, Ankara and Berlin in recent days worries me immeasurably.

    These attacks disturb me because they portend a dismal future for humanity. These assaults play into the hands of right-wing politicians and other racist and xenophobic ideologues in Europe and the western world. The killings provide justifications for their anti-immigration stance.

    These attacks breed and legitimise fear, suspicion and mistrust between people who regard these cities and countries as their home and foreigners and immigrants who live and reside there. These killings make one fear for one’s safety since nobody knows where the next attack would take place. Will it happen on the plane or the train, in a bus or in a park, at the airport or at the train station, at the market or at the stadium, in a restaurant or in a nightclub, in a church or in a mosque?

    Nobody knows who the next attacker is – is it that driver or that pilot? Is it that police officer standing beside me or that passer-by? Is it the co-passenger or co-traveller in a bus? Is it the person sitting beside me in train or in an aeroplane? Nobody knows who the next victim would be. It could be me. It could be you. We all are potential victims. I am worried because there is so much fear and uncertainty in the land. Nobody is safe. Nowhere is safe.

    I am afraid the situation is likely to get worse especially for immigrants and foreigners because these countries and their citizens are going to take urgent measures to defend and protect themselves, and to forestall future attacks. I am worried that these measures would be used to justify racism and xenophobia because people will be made to go through some processes merely because of how they look or where they come from, and yes because of the religion they profess.

    Religion is especially a critical issue in this case. These attacks will lead to a profiling of Muslims and Arabs who are living in Europe. I am worried because many innocent people are going to suffer because of this. Each spate of attacks or killings affirms a strong link with jihadists, Islamists or aggrieved persons from Middle East and North Africa. Some of the militants did not disguise their intention to conquer Europe and impose sharia law.

    I worry; yes I worry for the future of humanity and the prospects of peace in the world.

     

    • Leo Igwe,

    Bayreuth Germany.

  • The seed of terror

    The seed of terror

    Preamble

    “Nights are pregnant. They give birth to wonders in the days. What we look is not what we see. Thus, our focus becomes dimmer and dimmer as the days and nights of life roll out spirally but gradually into permanent oblivion. And the living man is pronounced dead.”

    The results of America’s presidential election last Wednesday have confirmed the assertion in the above Arab poem. We live in a world that is both dynamic and ephemeral. Nothing is predictable with precision.

     Effect of language

    Yoruba language may have no plural or gender in its structural syntax. It may be poor in vocabulary and clumsy in grammar. But it is surely not lacking in proverbs and mythology. The speakers of that Kwa language can hardly express a sentence without enriching it with two or three proverbs. One of its famous proverbs has become an axiom in theory and practice. And many other languages have borrowed it for a token of experience. It goes thus: “A toddler who insists on preventing his mother from sleeping will surely not enjoy the serenity of the night rest”. This subtle axiom has its equivalence in English language. “A drastic problem requires a drastic solution”.

     Language and culture

    Language is the root of all human cultures. It is the means of communicating thoughts, ideas and experiences. A people without language can be said to be without culture. Take a man out of his culture and he will immediately become like a fish out of water. His next action will be to rebel against the new but strange environment. That is the kind of situation that is cloaking the world in form of terrorism today.

    From time immemorial, language has been like a double edged sword. At a time it is used to attack. At another, it becomes an instrument of defence. Concord and conflict as well as love and hatred emanate from the use of language. Without language, there can be no marriage or divorce. Neither can there be business or even government. As a matter of fact, no tribe or nation can lay claim to civilisation in the absence of language.

     Language in Islam

    In Islam, language is everything human, including life and death. That is why a stammering prophet like Musa (Moses) would need an interpreter like Harun (Aaron) in his mission. Buddhists, Hindus, Judaists, Christians and Muslims, all proclaim Holy Books in one form or another, through their endowed languages. Not only must a prophet possess the power of language, he must also be eloquent in it. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recognised the enormous power naturally embedded in language and warned the Muslims thus: ‘Tongue is like sword, if you fail to hold it, it may hold you down”.

    A person’s first language is called mother tongue while a standardised dialect within a tribal language is said to be ‘received’. If there is one aspect of culture that is not substitutable, it is language. The greatest havoc ever done to any group of people in history, especially through slave trade and colonialism, is language substitution. Nothing is more enslaving than substitution of language. Once language is renounced or substituted, nothing else is left of culture with another language. The black citizens of the world, outside Africa, otherwise classified as Diaspora, are victims of this indelible psychological trauma.

    English speaking countries

    There are only four countries in the world today with English language as their mother tongue. These are Britain, the United States, Australia and Ireland. What would have been the fifth country is only partially English speaking. And that is Canada where other languages such as French and Spanish are spoken. All other countries that speak English as lingua franca today only adopted it. Believing English to be the language of modern civilisation, the rest of the world have tacitly adopted it either as a lingua franca or as language of business. Yet the natural speakers of the language don’t seem to be satisfied with this development.

     Evil axis

    With the role which America played in bringing an end to slavery in the 19th century, the world had expected the self-styled ‘God’s own Country’ to be the messiah of the modern age. But that expectation has turned forlorn. Rather than championing the course of peace and tranquility, America has replaced Germany of the 1930s/40s as the greatest threat to humanity in the 21st century. And she has found an inseparable ally in Britain to form an ‘Evil Axis’ of untamable aggressors.

    Both English speaking countries had jointly piloted the modern world into a technological civilisation culminating in what is now known as global village. But they have used the same technology to turn themselves into ‘policemen of the world’.

    There is no part of the world today in which a suffocating effect of their presence is not felt. Like a pair of scissors, both countries have jointly subjected many nations and races to untold terror and humiliation thereby forcing countries to disintegrate and compelling friendly tribes to become foes all to further the course of their capitalist interest. Thus, they have planted the seed of terrorism in all corners of the world either in the name of capitalism or in the disguise of democracy.

    In the process of doing this, they have drawn the wrath of many nations, groups and individuals who now tend to react with venomous reprisal. If the militant liberators in Ireland or the patriotic defenders of motherland in Falkland are quiet today, it is not because they have been placated. The fact is that they have not got the power with which to demand for their rights. When they do, the situation may change.

    Propaganda

    Now, using their propaganda machinery to bully on the rest of the world, the US and Britain have almost succeeded in branding any revengeful reaction to their brigandage as religious terrorism. What was the religious connection in Britain’s claim of the Falkland Island far away in Argentina in the early 1980s? What is religious in America’s capturing of the ruling President Noriega of Panama in his country and taking him for trial in the US where he was jailed and had to languish in prison for years? What is religious in forcing monolingual countries like Korea and Cambodia to break into North and South? What is religious in invading Iraq even after it became evident that the poor country was not harbouring any deadly weapons as alleged? What actually qualifies the US, Britain and other Western countries to be nuclear powered and disqualify others?

    Even if a country chooses to use religion as her guide in governance as in the case of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran how does that affect Britain and the US thousands of miles away? Is Northern Ireland not a Christian country like Britain? Why the aggression against that country? And is Britain not using religion as an instrument of governance? Why does the Queen of England combine the two designations of Head of State and Head of the Church of England?

    If the truth must be told, the real problem of the world today is the greedy willingness of Britain and America to dominate the economy of other countries in a manner of brigandage. And that has led the duo to adopt military might as a means of cowing down some countries while subjecting others to imperial terror.

     Brunt bearers

    It is rather unfortunate that those who are bearing the brunt of these evil actions are innocent people who are going about their businesses legitimately. Otherwise, neither America nor Britain would have deserved any sympathy for the various terrorist attacks on certain targets in the two countries. Their plight would have been taken for merely reaping the fruits of their labour.

    Religion is being used as a scapegoat in the world today, not by Afghanistan or Ireland, but by Britain and the US because that is their most convenient alibi for unbridled aggression against weaker countries. No sooner had Donald Trump emerged as the new American President than Israel announced that with the new leadership in America the world should forget any thought of a Palestinian State. That statement was made subsequent to Trump’s disclosure that over 12 million people, especially Muslims might be expelled from the US.

     Who wants to die?

    No one loves to die deliberately in Palestine or in Iraq or in Afghanistan or in Ireland. But when you are forced to live without essence, the tendency is to ask yourself the need to live at all. And, to answer such a question some people might desperately conclude that if they must not live, those who are forcing them to die must also not live. “Man is not innately wicked, but when an attempt is made to consign him to the scrap-heap he shows resentment in no uncertain terms”. Terrorism begets terrorism. But what is one nation’s terrorism is another nation’s heroism.

    Allah warns against corruption and the acts of brigandage in chapter 8:25 of the Qur’an thus: “And guard against calamity that may afflict not only the wrong doers (but even the innocent ones among you). Know that Allah’s punishment can be very severe”.

    Solution

    How can we change this evil trend? This, perhaps, is the new reality which dawned on a former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, when he was about to exchange baton with his predecessor, Tony Blair, some years ago.

    In a chat with Labour Party members in Manchester shortly before he assumed office as Prime Minister, Brown said he recognised the fact that global extremism could never be defeated by military force alone. His words:

    “Our foreign policy in the years ahead will reflect the truth that to isolate and defeat terrorist extremism now involves more than military force….it (terrorism) is a struggle of ideas and ideals that in the coming years will be waged and won for the hearts and minds here at home and around the world”. Many well-meaning, foresighted Nigerians have drummed the same warning to the ears of Nigerian government. But a government that is wiser than its subjects will never heed such a warning.

    When he was making the above statement, Brown never thought that Britain would soon come under a new terrorist attack. But just a few days after that famous speech, Glasgow Airport became a target of terrorist attack. And that was on the very day he formally assumed office as Prime Minister. What became clearer especially with September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, was that no country is actually immune to terrorist attack. History has not cited a single example of terrorism which was conquered on the battle field. Thus, since no power on earth can claim to have monopoly of terror peace would better be achieved by sharing the wisdom of others through dialogue in ending terrorism.

    Reality

    That is the reality to which the West, especially Britain and the US, had deliberately been blind. If that reality had become the spectacle with which the West viewed the world before now peace would have returned to its rightful place as the reigning force of human universe and the idea of manufacturing and supplying weapons to some people against others would have stopped permanently. Now, with the emergence of a new ‘Fuhrer’ in the US, hat reality seems to have become daydream.

    The religious world was once peaceful until America renounced her policy of isolationism in 1945. It took that country to join Britain in using the Press to invent labelling names and acronyms to derogate certain religions (particularly Islam) and to demoralise their adherents. One major fact which the world is yet to realise is that every religion is built on the foundation of culture.

    No religion can be attacked to the exclusion of its culture. And nothing in the life of man is called civilisation outside culture. That is why some people are ready to die when their religion comes under a violent attack from those who are ignorant of it.

    The Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians and the Persians of the ancient world did not fight wars because of religion. Their motives were material but today they have all gone into irreversible oblivion. Today’s people who are bent on exhibition of power will eventually follow their way. Materialism is nothing but vanity which is invariably ephemeral. That is why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his disciples never crossed swords with Christians when they were alive.

    The very first international wars fought for religious reason which by necessity pitched Muslims against Christians were the Crusade Wars. And these were caused by sheer miscarriage of information. Yet, about one   thousand years after those unwarranted wars, their scar still remains indelible in the world today.

    Conclusion

    Violence on the basis of religion can terminate lives. It can destroy properties and ruin cities and towns as well as cause dislocations and relocations of people and settlements. But it can never win hearts nor change conviction. Truth is bitter and thus repugnant to people of falsehood.

    But despite all these, oppressed Muslims are ready to join other oppressed people of the world in welcoming a new initiative from the West with a view to forging peace for all and sundry. Donald Trump’s America must tread softly to ensure a peaceful continuity of the modern world.

  • Group complains about state-induced terror

    Worried by the rising incidents of abuse of rights of Nigerians by the state, a pro-democracy coalition has advised the Presidency to stop instilling fear into Nigerians.

    The Co-Convener, the Coalition in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC), Mr Ariyo-Dare Atoye, said in a statement that the people would not be cowed by “some misguided actions” of the state to “silence critics, infringe on people’s fundamental human rights and undermine the right to fair hearing as well as free speech”.

    Atoye condemned the “provocative arrest and illegal detention of Ms. Precious Chikwendu, the wife of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, former spokesman to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ado-Ekiti.”

    He said: “We are not unaware that this contrived and vicious anti-corruption crusade will hit an appalling level where the state, in an unbridled thirst to show off powers and cover up its failings, will be harassing, intimidating and victimising ordinary citizens.

    “We are miffed at the lack of discretion of the state to come down so low to the level of detaining an innocent lady with a toddler under the guise of fighting corruption, when she has not flouted any law or resisted the invitation of the EFCC.

    “We saw all this coming after this regime invaded the temple of justice in an odious coup that was plotted to subvert the independence of the judiciary and pull down the last gate shielding the common man from abuses. We know that the plan of the Presidency is for everyone to live in the fear of the state and kowtow to every of its decisions, both favourable and unfavourable, without resistance or criticisms.

    “We wish to assure this regime that Nigerians will never bow to terror; the citizens would rather resist oppression and get more emboldened by its action to countermine their constitutionally-guaranteed rights.”

    The coalition, however, advised the government to devote much of its attention and powers toward getting Nigeria out of economic recession, adding that “Nigerians are no longer thrilled by its fundamentally flawed anti-graft war which lacks sincerity of purpose.”

    It added: “The empowerment of Nigerians and eradication of poverty is very strategic to a successful anti-corruption campaign. Aside strengthening the anti-graft institutions to be independent and to operate in accordance with the rule of law, it will take the collective will of the citizens to bring sanity to the nation and defeat corruption.”

  • Curbing the terror of Fulani herdsmen

    For many years, Nigeria has contended with more than enough societal infractions, all of which relate with threats to peace, security and most unfortunately life of innocent citizens.

    Most notorious of these has been the Boko Haram insurgency which has become a part of a world-wide terrorism that confronts many nations today, not even sparing the hitherto “impregnable” nations like the United States, Britain, France et al! The others include militancy, local militias, armed robbery, communal land conflicts, clueless assassinations, kidnappings and lately, in a fast tempo but worsening dimensions, Fulani herdsmen hostilities.

    To the glory of God, and also thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari’s initiatives since the ruling All Progressives Congress federal government came to power mid-2015, the Boko Haram arrogance and embarrassment is fast becoming a thing of the past.

    On the other hand, the festering Fulani herdsmen hostility has assumed such an increasing dimension that kid-gloves would be unable to halt it.

    Historically, the Fulani race are predominantly nomadic, a culture that perfectly fits into their tradition of cattle rearing, which they know how to do better than other tribes.

    Since Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914, this culture had never brought them into conflict with their host communities in other parts of Nigeria, the way that we now experience it, which is very unfortunate.

    This writer recalls with nostalgia how in those days, he and other young school children would visit the Fulani abodes in their communities to view cows at close range, especially when they were being milked in gaas (Fulani settlements). Such young “tourist” visitors were usually entertained with fura (boiled coagulated cow milk). We were never attacked by the Fulani hosts in those days! Neither did our parents and our ancestors confront them in their trade, because there was mutual respect in the prevailing symbiotic hegemony. In those days, the herdsmen would herd their cattle around for daily grazing far away from the gaas, painstakingly avoiding the farms and farmsteads of their host communities!

    Today, this conviviality is no longer the case. Instead, it’s been gory tales galore from one community to another. Numerous reports now abound of Fulani herdsmen’s invasion of communities in the dead of the night, burning houses, and unleashing gunfire from sophisticated weapons to maim and kill defenseless Nigerians as a “reprisal” for the latter’s challenge of cattle eating crops that they had laboured to cultivate for a living!

    In the pre- and early post-independence times, the herdsman would go about with only anchored arrows, sheathed swords and double-faced knives as defensive arms against rustlers and attackers. Nowadays, these crude arms have been replaced with sophisticated weapons like AK-47 rifles and pump action guns, as well as petrol in jerry cans, not for defence but for assault and arson! Where herders whose cattle destroyed farms were arrested and made to pay compensation, the herders soon staged reprisals by kidnapping such victims to extort multiples of fines as compensation. We have even had a case of elite kidnapping where a former Finance Minister and Secretary to the Federal  Government was kidnapped on his farm in Ondo State but later released after a ransom was obtained by his Fulani captors!

    It is a well-known fact nationwide that numerous lives had been lost and countless houses touched on account of the escapades of Fulani herdsmen. The latest of these happened at Ukpabi – Nimbo, Enugu State when about 50 people were reportedly killed when their village was invaded in the night of Sunday April 24. In earlier multiple assaults on the Agatu community in Benue State, the number of lives lost reportedly ran into hundreds.

    Some common things in these attacks are the elements of reprisal, surprise and mostly nocturnal timing against unsuspecting citizens who in most cases were sleeping.

    This style obviously qualifies the attacks for classification as terrorism, which Nigeria cannot afford again. As current military efforts are taking Nigeria out of Boko Haram insurgency, we must do everything possible to ensure that terrorism by herdsmen (or any other group) is completely eliminated from our geographical space.

    The nation requires a double-prone attack to bring further attacks under speedy control (short-term solution), and ultimately eliminate them (long-term solution).

    The short-term solution is partly what the President has already directed, that both the military and the police establish presence in all the affected communities under attack. This is in addition to on-going pacification and reconciliation efforts by different arms and tiers of government.

    Good as these may look, they have an apparent inherent weakness, because only communities that had once been attacked would qualify for protection, and mediation.

    In a situation where the herdsmen act like terrorists, this approach could be both ineffective and inefficient, unless every Nigerian community would be simultaneously covered. Experiences of the inadequacy of this approach in Plateau State lend credence to this reservation, because this writer does not believe that we have the security manpower to cope with simultaneous protection of all the Nigerian communities. Moreover, if it is true that the attackers are herdsmen from outside Nigeria, efforts at mediation between presumed Nigerian Fulanis and the Nigerian victims would have been wrongly directed!

    The long-term, but obviously more effective and efficient approach is multi- pronged.

    First, which the federal government has announced, is to establish expansive cattle ranches, albeit compatmentalised in every state of the federation. Herdsmen settlements should be built within each ranch in the traditional patterns and styles of the Fulani. Nomadism should be allowed only within the confines of each ranch. Movement of cattle into and out of the ranches, and also to the markets across the nation shall be in trucks only. Physically driving cattle in the age-old nomadic way should be outlawed. Reason is that the practice is archaic and its continued practice would accentuate inter-ethnic disharmony over struggles for farming land and grazing territory.

    No state particularly in the south should losesleep over the establishment of cattle ranches because state ranches would principally complement each state government’s efforts in feeding its people. This would be in addition to being a veritable way to achieving self-sufficiency by the country. We must not perennially rely on trans-saharan supply of cattle to feed Nigeria.

    The additional benefits of this to the nation would be the possibility of introducing of research-based cattle feeds for faster cow growth, healthier beef and more nutritious and more abundant milk production. These would be complimented with the establishment of research centres and hospitals for the herdsmen and families as well as the herds’ in each ranch.

    In addition, modern city facilities like schools, recreation centres etc. could be provided to encourage the herdsmen and families to make a living there.

    Second, a programme should be established to encourage the Fulani herdsmen to ease out of nomadism, because that culture or tradition no longer has a place in modern times anywhere in the world. Nigeria currently imports a lot of our dairy requirements from other parts of the world where ranches are the centres of production. So, we also should change for this optimal approach.

    Third, it is important to mention that ranches developed as proposed here could, sooner than later, also become additional centres of development in Nigeria. The government through the research centres would be helped greatly in the development of improved varieties of cows to produce protein-rich beef and milk for the nation.

    Once established, and with an enabling law, trans-border herding of cattle by non-Nigerians could be eliminated for good. This would enable the country to keep away from our territory those non-Nigerian battle-armed Fulani herdsmen that herd their cattle along the West African belt under the ECOWAS trade protocol that is being currently abused and exploited.

    It is hoped that other West African, nay other African nations would take a cue from these innovations because of their potentials for economic growth and peaceful co-existence.

     

    • Chief Ologunde is chieftain of All Progressives Congress, (APC), Lagos State.

  • Taming the herdsmen terror

    Since it returned to democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria has been grappling with numerous challenges, which, no doubt, are tearing the country apart and making its future to look uncertain. It is no longer news that the reign of terror in the Northeast has waned drastically, with the successful military campaign to crush insurgent elements.

    While the nation is coming out of the ruinous battle with Boko Haram insurgency, the North-Central axis has been besieged by murderous herdsmen. Farmers in states, such as Nassarawa, Plateau, Kogi, Kwara and Benue have suffered great losses in resources and lives as herdsmen bearing lethal weapons invaded their communities.

    The story of herdsmen killing farmers and residents of far-flung villages is not a pleasant one to tell.

    It is a story that has left a trail of agony and pain in all the communities the killer herdsmen have stormed. Newspaper pages have been awash with stories of how communities were sacked and destroyed by gun-bearing nomads whose only job is to feed their cows in other people’s farmland. Dreams have been cut short. Happy mothers have turned widows, children became orphans and men lost their family members.

    With these gory tales, it is safe to say that gone are the days when herdsmen were seen as harmless rovers. It is now seemed the fear of herdsmen is the beginning of wisdom. We cannot afford to not see them as threat to national security. The truth is that, until we identify first that there is a problem, we cannot solve a problem.

    Unfortunately, in spite of the devastating destruction perpetrated by herdsmen, the government is still treating the issue with kid glove and telling Nigerians not to worry. But, this is the time to nip the threat in the bud.

    To know that the killer herdsmen, who massacred people in Agatu community of Benue State and other communities still roam about freely with their cattle, doesn’t speak well for the nation. Is there no justice for the innocent people whose throats were slit open by the criminals? Is there no comfort for their family members still living? Times are hard, yet farmlands are being destroyed by cattle. We must not these herdsmen destroy our country.

    Herdsmen now carry sophisticated weapons beyond their smooth sticks and appear to be more interested in killing people than looking for an open field for grazing. I look at the little children, who cannot go to school any longer and being rudely deprived of adolescent innocence. Their sins are that, they happen to be born on far-flung settlements where some people prefer to feed their cattle.

    I look at the women who have become widows and who now must bring up their children without paternal support. I look at families displaced, humiliated, defeated, hopeless and disorganised. I look at communities traumatised by the senseless herdsmen invasion. I look at images of human beings whose throats were slit open like ram. I look at human bodies lumped like sardine. These were people we may have met in the bus, in the market.

    They lived as we do, until the herdsmen mowed them down. People of the villages of Borno to the hinterland of Benue and Kogi have been victims. We seem to be cursed with an uncommon assemblage of blood-thirsty, conscienceless men and women, in and out of power.

    The international community must not wait for another Rwanda to happen in Africa. International Criminal Court should begin investigation of these crimes being committed in Nigeria. Let every voice of Jacob and hand of Esau involved in this crime be accorded its proper place, sooner than later, in the temple of justice.

     

    Emmanuel, 400-Level Zoology, UNILORINs

  • Terror in Brussels

    • The world must rise in concert to defeat this scourge

    What we feared has happened,” was the plaintive declaration of Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister as he emerged from a meeting of his country’s national security council hours after the blast.

    Indeed, the coordinated terror attacks on Brussels, the capital of Belgium Tuesday morning, seemed rather long in coming. The three bomb explosions – two at the departure lobby of the Zaventem Airport and one in the Maelbeek Metro station – killed 34 and injured 230.

    Since the terrorists who perpetrated the November 2015 Paris, France attack in which about 130 died were traced across the border to Belgium, the country’s security authorities have been on tenterhooks, so to speak, seeking to circumscribe the killers in their midst in order to preempt and neutralise attacks such as these.

    Indeed, Salah Abdeslam, reputed to be Europe’s most wanted terror suspect was captured a few days earlier in a Molenbeek tenement block in Brussels, an area known to hold the most terror cells in the country, including the group responsible for the November attack in Paris. Immigrant Islamic elements from Molenbeek have been fingered in previous terror attacks such as the 2004 Madrid train bombing that killed 192 and the Charlie Hebdo attack, to name a few.

    The three airport bombers have been identified as two brothers, Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who died in the explosions. The third suspect whose device did not detonate and who is now at large is identified as Najim Laachraoui, 24-year-old. He is touted to be an ISIS commander and is alleged to have made the bombs used in the Paris attacks.

    It is instructive that these suspects, including Abdeslam are Muslims of North African origin, especially Morocco. Apart from the fact that ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings, these men are known members of the rampaging Islamic State.

    An attack on Brussels is not only an assault against Europe but the West as a whole. A services driven economy, it is the home base of over 800 international institutions, including the headquarters of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO. Belgium is in the heart of Western Europe bordered by France, Luxemburg, Germany and The Netherlands. The sea separates it from Britain.

    Expectedly, Western leaders, united in outrage, have vowed to stop the menace. President Francois Hollande of France captured the mood of the moment noting that “the whole of Europe has been hit and the continent must take vital steps in the face of the seriousness of the threat.” President Barak Obama has pledged to do whatever is necessary to help track the terrorists. Prime Minister David Cameron has described the attack as “appalling and savage”, noting that it is a sign that UK faced real terror threat. While German’s Angela Merkel’s spokesman said “the disgusting attack in Brussels will leave us standing together: solidarity with the victims and determination against the terrorists.”

    The gruesome attack on Brussels is yet another of what has become a daily unleashing of evil on an innocent world by people who have been described as heathens masquerading as Muslims. Most of the victims of attacks at the airport and underground train station were soft targets – families going for the Easter vacation, people on their way to work and many connecting flights to other parts of the world. For many of them, their life’s journey ended abruptly and horrifically as Armageddon seemed to come suddenly upon them.

    The world must brace itself and act in concert to fight this rampaging evil. It must be in the subconscious of all peoples of goodwill to realise that no part of the world is safe any longer. There must be a universal consciousness against a burgeoning terror which threatens to overtake the world.

    In Africa, Nigeria which is probably the worst hit so far must lead the charge and relentlessly rally the rest of the continent until terror is not only subdued but totally defeated. We note that it is not only by force of arms but in fact, more by public enlightenment, addressing injustices and inequities wherever they may occur.

  • Nigeria joins Islamic coalition against terror

    Nigeria joins Islamic coalition against terror

    President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that Nigeria has joined the Islamic Coalition against terrorism being championed by Saudi Arabia.

    Buhari made the disclosure during an interview with Aljareeza, which was broadcast at the weekend.

    When asked whether Nigeria was part of the coalition, Buhari said: “We are part of it because we’ve got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claim that they are Islamic.

    “So, if there’s an Islamic coalition to fight terrorism, Nigeria will be part of it because we are casualties of Islamic terrorism,” he added.

    On whether Nigeria became a member of the coalition during his meeting with King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia recently, Buhari said “yes.”

    He said that he could not disclose the details of how such coalition would work for Nigeria when asked during the interview.

    But he said: “Well, that we mentioned under Lake Chad Basin Commission, our regional grouping compromising Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin and we dedicated a certain number of troops to be deployed in our own sub-region and I don’t think we have to tell the press the details of that.”

    On whether joining the Islamic coalition will serve Nigerian security interest, he said: “Certainly. I’ve just told you it is the Boko Haram itself that declared loyalty to ISIS.

    “ISIS is basically based in Islamic countries. Now, if there’s a coalition to fight Islamic terrorism, why can’t Nigeria be part of it, while those that are fighting in Nigeria as Boko Haram claim to be Muslims. But the way they are doing it is anti-Islamic, he said.

    When his interviewer pointed out that since Nigeria was roughly evenly divided among Christians and Muslims and that some Christians were complaining that he was giving Islamic identity to Nigeria, Buhari wondered why such Christians had not gone to fight Boko Haram in the North or militants sabotaging installations in the South.

    “Why can’t those Christians that complained go and fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militancy in the South. It’s Nigeria that matters, not the opinion of some religious bigots,” he stated.

    On whether he was trying to change the religious identity of the country, Buhari noted: “How can I change the religious identity of Nigeria?

    “No religion advocates hurting the innocent and just because the Muslims are the ones that claim to be Boko Haram and they are killing innocent people whether in the church, in the bus or in the market place, then I will just sit and look at them because I too am a Muslim? Islam is against injustice in any form.”

    Buhari’s admission of Nigeria’s membership of the Islamic coalition came barely two weeks after an official Presidency statement seemed to suggest that Buhari had turned down the invitation to be part of the coalition.

    A statement issued by the Senior Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Garba Shehu, during the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia had said that Buhari had pledged Nigeria’s support for the coalition even if it would not be part of it.

    The statement had said that two leaders who engaged in extensive discussions on regional and global issues also agreed that terrorism posed a common threat to their states and would require close cooperation to prevail over the threats.

    It observed that President Buhari who was making his first pronouncement on the invitation to join the coalition of Islamic states against terror spearheaded by the Saudis congratulated the Kingdom on its formation.

    The statement quoted Buhari thus: “Even if we are not a part of it, we support you. I must thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the recent creation of a coalition to address the menace of international terrorism. Nigeria will support your efforts in keeping peace and stopping the spread of terror in your region. This is in consonance with our own commitment and on-going efforts in seeking to stamp out Boko Haram terrorists from the West African sub-region and Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).”

  • Why Nigerians must unite against terror, by Lagos commissioner

    Why Nigerians must unite against terror, by Lagos commissioner

    NIGERIANS have been enjoined to unite to fight the war against terror.

    Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs Dr AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef said yesterday that war could only be won through collective effort.

    “Everybody should know that the current situation requires that all hands must be on deck. Every sector has a role to play – the media, the armed forces, the teachers, the lawyers – must have the fear of God. Everybody must know that this is a joint effort because the Quran says fear a trial because when it comes, it would consume not only those who started it,” AbdulLateef said at a seminar organised by The Criterion, an association of Muslim women in business and the professions.

    Speaking on “Misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Islamic teachings”, AbdulLateef said misinterpretation and misrepresentation of Islam manifests when Muslims neglect the basic teachings of Islam.

    He urged the gathering to be tolerant and seek knowledge and enlighten others on what Islam stands for.

    He said: “We need to continue to enlighten people. Religious leaders must not be silent. They must speak out and explain Islam to people. You can’t say you are a Muslim when you disrespect your parents, members of your family, harm your neighbours, not catering for the orphans and the poor regardless of their religion. That enlightenment is the spirit that everybody must imbibe because Prophet Muhammad lived with Jews and Christians and accommodated every one of them. “We want a situation where people understand that Islam is alien to violence, abhors intolerance because it tolerates people of other religion; it says no to rebellious activities; so, everybody must understand that. We must live together. Nigeria is a country where this marriage has taken place since the amalgamation and all Nigerians must learn to live together regardless of their tribal, ethnic or religious affiliations.”

    The commissioner blamed parents for youths’ restiveness in the society, saying they have abandoned their primary role of training their children.

    Speaking on “Manifestation of Deviant Behaviour, Group and Ideology,” Dr Lateefah Durosinmi, a university teacher, said deviant behaviours were caused by excessive religiosity, maladjustment from the home and absence of proper parenthood.

    Deviant behaviour, she said, manifested through bigotry, intellectual terrorism, intention to change society, controversies about social order, unnecessary desire for martyrdom, adding that the consequences include conflict in society and general social instability.

  • Minister drums up support for military in war against terror

    Minister drums up support for military in war against terror

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed  has  urged Nigerians to support the military in its efforts to clip the wings of Boko Haram.

    The minister spoke yesterday at the launch of a news magazine, SI, in Abuja.

    He stressed the need to encourage and boost the morale of the military to consolidate the achievements recorded in the fight against Boko Haram.

    The minister said: ‘’Many of our troops have paid the supreme price in liberating communities hitherto held by the terrorists, to such an extent that no community today is exclusively in the hands of Boko Haram. Yes, they may be operating in one or two areas but they are doing so from a position of weakness, unlike in the past when they brazenly took over territories, hoisted their flag, desposed and imposed emirs and collected taxes.

    ‘’We owe it a duty to support our gallant military, not to condemn or second guess them.”

    Mohammed hailed the magazine for featuring in its launch edition details of the reconstruction, resettlement and rehabilitation efforts undertaken by governments in the Northeast, especially in Borno State, saying in reporting the developments, SI magazine is contributing to efforts to consolidate the peace in the Northeast.

    He praised the founder of the magazine, Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya, for her innovation and creativity and solicited support for her enterprise.

    ‘’I am glad to say that Hajiya Khadijah and her team, who conceived the idea of the magazine we are launching today, have keyed into the government’s Change Agenda. Coming up with such an innovative magazine, the type of which I am sure we have not seen in these parts, is a sure way to keep our people better informed and educated, not just about the activities of government but also about our country, its plurality in terms of people, language and culture, as well as its richness in human and natural resources.

    ‘’The uniqueness of SI magazine lies in the fact that it has leveraged technology to the hilt, thereby separating itself from the pack…The magazine packs a punch as it uses a multi-media format to bring its stories to readers. Video, audio, picture, podcast, text are employed to ensure that the reader does not miss the messages. Then the authors also went beyond the stories that grab headlines, to bring out – from the grassroots – stories that are easily forgotten in the rush to chronicle the emergent events of the times,’’ the minister said.

    Chairman of SI magazine and a popular columnist, Mr. Mohammed Haruna, said the magazine would bring to the fore unreported issues, such as the suffering of women and children in the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps and efforts to rebuild communities destroyed by Boko Haram.

    He said the magazine was leveraging on technology to zoom its lenses on the value system and promote the nation’s cultural heritage.

     

     

  • ‘Military winning war against terror’

    The military says it is winning the war against terrorism despite challenges.

    The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division, Maiduguri, Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, who addressed reporters in Maiduguri, said: “We are winning the war. We are bringing the war to conclusion, soon.”

    He said Nigerians must support the military to sustain the success recorded. His words: “We want everybody to help us support the peace emerging.

    “Peace is more enduring and gratifying for us in Borno and other parts of the Northeast.”

    Ezugwu hailed Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that partnered the military toward the success of the counter-insurgency operation.

    Said he: “I thank monarchs and NGOs, who are stakeholders in the fight against insurgency.

    “Their information, support and advice have increased the relationship between the military and the authorities in our areas of operations.”