By Denrele Animasaun

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” — Desmond Tutu

A week ago, terror visited France and claimed 17 of its citizens. We watched on TV as France went into lock down and swiftly smoked out the culprits and delivered a decisive action.

All French people regardless of their religion, race and creed declared that France will not be robbed of its freedom of expression or speech. All French and its allies declared that they too were Charlie. The people stood together and the world watched how much the French values its freedom of speech and expression and most importantly, they felt strongly that they have the right to live their lives as a result of the privilege that the rights afford them.

The French president, François Nicolas Hollande was in charge and fervently working with his intelligence services to ensure France was safe and its people reassured of their safety.

Close to two million people marched to defend the principles of free speech. The terror attack on freedom of expression drew clear condemnation from many Muslims as well as other faiths.

Many of us cannot fail to see the contrast between the Paris event and the subsequent of the event in Nigeria.

I am sure it will be easy for apologists to shout that it is different! Yes, agreed that the west does control the big media houses and they have advanced technology at their disposal, that is because as it happened in Paris, it was widely reported as compared to what happened in Nigeria. Reporting such atrocities depends on the conscience and commitment of the media. It is quite alarming that such disaster can happen and it got covered up for a few days before the internal national media caught wind of it and reported it. To rub salt in the psychological wounds of Nigerians, a day after gunmen killed 12 people at the French satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris; GEJ issued a statement condemning the “dastardly terrorist attack.” And in Nigeria BH killed 2,000 people and there was no reaction? Well, he obviously did not think that charity begins at home.

What happened has just begun to filter through to the international media and it is horrifying but measured.

And the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, said he was appalled by reports of the killings in Baga and condemned what he called “the depraved acts of Boko Haram terrorists”. Well, of course any sane person will respond similarly.

The true horror was captured in a CNN graphic aerial view of depicting the total destruction of properties. This was corroborated by witness account that BH continued their carnage by going from house to house, forcing people out and assembling them and killing them. Amnesty International described as the terror group’s “deadliest massacre” to date, and local defence groups said they had given up counting the bodies left lying on the streets. Those who escaped did not fare any better as they had laid ambush and they met similar grizzly end. It was reported that the terrorists came prepared and were better armed than the army that they had in their array of arsenal, armoured vehicles that they seized from demoralised army. We now have over 20,000 Nigerians fleeing to Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the past two weeks after their towns and villages were attacked by Islamist sect Boko Haram, according to the United Nations and government figures. The influx of refugees has put further strain on some of the poorest nations in Africa, which are already struggling to feed and protect their own people in a region that is recovering from drought.

So what has Jonathan done? Very little. Not much come from him or his office only for one of his spokesmen, Doyin Okupe, to post Twitter message questioning the reported death toll, while Abati failed to comment.

Ibrahim Shuaibiu said: “Look at what happened recently in France when 12 people were killed, they immediately responded, preparing a contingent of thousands of troops to tame the terrorists’ attacks, here hundreds of people are being killed at Baga and other places, but the President is busy campaigning. It is very sad.”

This is very much the modus operandi of Jona, who wants Nigerians to re-elect him come February 14th. When 200 schoolgirls from Chibok were abducted in April last year, Jona did not make any comment for three weeks and there was the very same attitude from his office as to if the girls were not really abducted at all. The silence is telling and by him not acknowledging the scale of the violence and the level of human misery and casualty does shows his failure as a leader and his denial shows a deep disregard for Nigerians at least and a disconnection from the people at most. If he cannot get the security of Nigeria right now, he will not get it right anytime soon.

I really admire the Archbishop Kaigama, who told the BBC, that the slaughter in Baga had shown that the Nigerian military was unable to tackle Boko Haram;” and it is a monumental tragedy. It has saddened all of Nigeria. But… we seem to be helpless. Because if we could stop Boko Haram, we would have done it right away. But they continue to attack, kill and capture territories… with such impunity.” Archbishop Kaigama said facing down Boko Haram required international support and unity of the type that had been shown after last week’s militant attacks in France. “We need that spirit to be spread around,” he said. “Not just when it [an attack] happens in Europe, but when it happens in Nigeria, in Niger, in Cameroon.

“We (must) mobilise our international resources and face or confront the people who bring such sadness to many families.”

It would help if the government can be truly honest with the people and tell the people that it is unable to rid the country of BH threat without outside help. There are many countries willing to help but it seems the gate keepers are too proud and hiding something that perhaps, may expose them that they were not capable of governing traffic talk less of a country like Nigeria. It may also show what exactly it is, that they spend the defence budget on. So if they are not equipping the army where has the entire budget gone? The irony is that   it is abundantly clear that there is no defence budget, no procurement of advance equipment, or training for our army and definitely there is no   programme to rid the country of these scums called BH.

We are Nigerians, and in spite of what some people may think, what happens in north concerns everybody. Yes. We are all Nigerians. If some disagree, so does that mean those that were killed deserved to be killed or that their lives do not matter? Is it all right to be displaced in one’s own country? What is happening is a serious crime against humanity and it does not seem that Nigerian lives are valued at all. The insurgency has so far cost over 13, 000 lives since 2009 and if we continue to tolerate this, it means that we are by our silence or denial, complicit to this horror.