By Denrele Animasaun

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” — Martin Luther King Jr

Nigerians have been in the doldrums for far too long that most of  us have  lost  the means to feel for others, we have stripped  ourselves  of  every shred of compassion  for  our fellow  human beings. So  in  a country  where  most profess to  be  religiously minded, we definitely  do  not  practise  what  we  preach.

We actually and truly hate our brothers and sisters.  We instead are conditioned by our insatiable hunger for wealth at all cost, poverty, greed and avariciousness.

Last week, I wrote about the abducted girls and it seems that it did not sit well with some that I dared criticised the government for not acting decisively.

One wrote; “your support for the Northern Governors forum is obvious in spite of the fact that this horror was caused by one of their own and by their collective blackmail of the armed forces. Was it not these same people that elected to promote Sharia law above the constitution? That being the birth of Boko haram? Yet you blame the President in spite of formal evidence written to Borno State to avert this situation. Shame on you, Reporter Anima!”

*Shekau and Jonathan

The shame of these people who rather blame the young people that were abducted than face the fact that our leaders have failed the nation. So as far as they are concerned Jona is blameless! The president of Nigeria, is the president of the whole country and he had his eyes off the ball and they tell me that he is blameless? None of the president’s men and their respective first ladies fared any better.  None.

This crisis is our calamity and one that we need to shoulder collectively. The world is supporting the whole of Nigeria not just one section of our country. I, like other right thinking Nigerians and citizens of the world, cannot sit  around and watch idly  by  that young girls are  been abducted and say  nothing. Sometimes, I do wonder how some of us think.

Malcolm X once said; “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” We  have a blind slide ; we support our respective  tribe, state or  faith to  the hilt  no  matter  how bad things  are. This has been the undoing of us. They say you cannot   continue to do the same thing over and over again, and expect a different result. This is lunacy. It simply will not do and there cannot be progress.

I touched on the fact that the armed forces had not reduced the activities of the BH. Someone wrote  to  me to say;” I agree with the points you made but would disagree that our military is incapable Their unimpressive performance is due in part because this is a fratricidal war that some men in the military are unwilling to fight thus rendering a strong fighting force ineffective. The countries assisting will soon notice it.

What the military needs is restoration of unity.But the split among the politicians will make this difficult .The rest of us will do well to avoid blaming each other as that will mean playing into the hands of the adversary”.
Some Nigerians have reservations that the international community assistance in the past has not always been supportive. What is the alternative?  That we do nothing. Surely not. So that other countries will notice our shortcomings, the fact is, when we fail and that will be our problem, no one else but ours.

I am not sure the passing salvo is a threat but it is evident, no one wants to carry the can for the debacle of this government and its grandees. No one seems to care that thousands have lost their lives in the ensuring BH maleficent activities. We have lost the capacity to apportion, accept blame and own up to our mistakes and omission.  The only way forward is to accept that we ran our country to the ground. Only by accepting our faults can we move closer to rebuilding our nation.

The  media is  right  to criticize Goodluck Jonathan, that it was “only after international condemnation and street demonstrations poured in and around Nigeria that the President Jonathan told Nigeria that he would take all necessary actions to return the young women to their parents and schools, while also acknowledging that the whereabouts of the abductees remained unknown.”

Our international newspapers were contemptuous of his tardiness to act .The New York Times faulted the Nigerian president: “It wasn’t until Sunday, more than two weeks after the kidnappings, that he called a meeting of government officials, including the leader of the girls’ school, to discuss the incident.

DAWN, an English language newspaper in Pakistan, published an opinion piece that takes Nigeria to task for not moving against Boko Haram.
“The popular upsurge in Nigeria in the wake of the latest unspeakable atrocity provides some scope for hoping that the state will finally act decisively to obliterate the growing menace,” wrote columnist Mahir Ali.

And in Sweden, an editorial posted on the left-wing news website POLITISM.SE, blogger Nikita Feiz criticized the international community for its slow response and asked why the situation hadn’t triggered as loud a reaction as when Malala was shot in Pakistan. “Looking at the situation in Nigeria, Malala appears like a false promise from the West that it would stand up for girls’ rights to attend school without fear of being subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse,” Feiz said.

BH has no friends amongst the learned and religious establishments. The Al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of Sunni Islam’s most prestigious institutions, urged Boko Haram to release the kidnapped schoolgirls. Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb of Al-Azhar said the abductions “completely contradict Islam and its tolerant principles.”

The Egyptian Religious Endowments Minister Mohammed Mohktar Gomaa also said, “The actions taken by Boko Haram are pure terrorism, with no relation to Islam, especially the kidnapping of the girls.”

In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, the Jakarta Post published an editorial earlier this month condemning the Boko Haram leader for “wrongly” citing Islamic teaching as his excuse for selling the abducted girls into slavery.

It is a month since the girls ‘abduction and the sighting of the girls must have brought some relief to their distraught families and relatives. We all witnessed a glimpse of the girls’ presence hurdled together reciting prayers.

It is a relief that they are alive but whatever state that they are in, they must be terrified and traumatised. And now Abubakar Shekau wants to trade; his imprisoned comrades for some of the girls. He is  adamant  that he is not  afraid, well ,am  sure that thought of  the international soldiers and  personal may  have  shaken his  nerves.

Nigeria’s government said again on Wednesday it is exploring “all options” to win the girls’ safe return. Parents of the girls and supporters holding protests have demanded the government take action.
There are talks to negotiate with him but I do hope that no one does his bidding. The message should be unequivocal; no deal with terrorists!

Earlier this week, the Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima in his press conference, stated that he had pass on information regarding the sightings of the girls to the military for verification.
Mr Shettima added that he did not think the girls had been taken across the border to Chad or Cameroon. I do hope it leads to their rescue.