Renewed Boko Haram killings spark outrage

The renewed massacre in the North East by Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has pitted many Nigerians against President Goodluck Jonathan.



The latest incident, which occurred on Tuesday at the Federal Government College, Yobe State, resulted in the death of over 42 pupils.

Members of the sect, in the last few days, had attacked many residents of Borno State, killing many people, including children.

The #YobeMassacre and #BornoMassacre, as coined by Nigerians on various social media platforms, have again thrown up a fundamental question about the determination of the Federal Government to check the activities of the terrorist group.

According to them, the FG must rise up to its constitutional responsibilities of securing the lives and property of the citizens by putting an end to the killing spree.

For the wife of a former governor of Kwara State, Toyin Saraki, with the killings, many Nigerian pupils have been “denied of their childhood life and the dignity of a name in death.”

She describes the killings as a “wrongful death” and calls for a speedy end to the tragedy.

“A life is a life, a death is a death. A wrongful death is a wasted life and a crime. It is an ongoing tragedy that these deaths are still continuing, four years after; in my beloved country that has so many good people,” she writes on her Twitter feed.

A health worker, Laz Ude-Eze, who says the happening in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states is the “most callous crime against humanity”, asks the FG to seek better strategies to salvage the situation.

According to him, the FG should urgently embrace whatever strategy that can halt the “senseless killings”.

He tweets, “I’m sickened and appalled by the most callous crimes against humanity that have been reportedly happening in Borno, Plateau, Yobe and Adamawa states in the recent past. It is very traumatic to imagine that this could be happening to fellow compatriots.

“No word can aptly express how terrible I feel about the recurrent massacre in the northeastern part of the country. We have in our hand the killing of many innocent pupils in their sleep. Kids killed in their sleep. Young girls abducted, defiled and possibly murdered. There is blood everywhere! Can it get worse than this?”

Students also are lamenting the government’s approach in handling “terrorism war” in the country. One of them, Abiodun Omonijo, accuses the President of “sleeping” while innocent lives are being lost.

“Now this has got really out of hands. #GEJ said Boko Haram has been driven away from Abuja to the fringes, are there not people living there? Just as #GEJ was claiming to have made success over Boko Haram, they were busy executing their plans and the President kept sleeping. I cannot just hide my anger at this #GEJ and his empty talks.

“When young vibrant people are killed in their sleep with impunity and the President is still comfortable in office then not all is well. Now Goodluck Jonathan has over stayed his welcome. In a saner society, the President would have resigned by now,” he says in a series of tweets.

A former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, blames the escalation of the crisis on those she describes as the “elders-in-the-land” in the North East.

She alleges that the “elders-in-the-land” and the FG have failed to collaborate to protect the citizens. She adds the FG owes the citizens a more “transparent communication” on its war against terrorism.

The former minister, who admonishes Nigerians not to see the situation as a helpless one, declares, “Use your voice and act when called upon.”

She tweets, “I read the tragic news of mass killing of school children in Yobe State. Word fails us. Word simply fails us that our nation lives in denial. One of our greatest tragedies in Nigeria is the dearth of elders-in-the-land. We lost them to selfish accumulation of wealth and partisanship.

“That the elders-in-the-land, especially in the zones of terrorism – seem unperturbed while this violence escalates is tragic? It is an abomination. That the FGN, states and the elders-in-the-land failed to collaborate to safeguard citizens is the severest erosion of nationhood in our land.

“Those who fool the President with vain praise that all is well with our land at this time in our history will contend with the wrath of God. I know that all is ultimately well with our land. But like men of Jericho in the Bible, we must admit that we have serious issues and seek help. Pray for our nation to be delivered from the evil that assails.”

Some Nigerians also berated Jonathan for threatening to withdraw troops from Borno State over the comments credited to the Governor, Kashim Shettima on the killings.

“If the President must be told the truth, the subtle threat to the governor during the Monday media chat is very un-presidential and degrading,” one Tunde Bakare writes on Twitter.