By Denrele Animasaun

“All cruelty springs from weakness.” ¯ Seneca

Tragedy once again has revisited our shores and being in the UK watching the news, makes me feel saddened and despondent. Yet, again there is no decisive plan as to what will be done to rid the country of these nefarious cold blooded murderers.

So we do what we do best. We pray that never again that evil would blight our people. This has not been the case as we have become so accustomed to the daily diet of disaster and once again, we adjust our already battered psyche, shrug our shoulders and carry on, sleep-walking into another crisis until the next disaster and the cycle repeats itself, only to react with indifference again.

Do you get what I mean? This is not normal and we should not treat it as normal. We are traumatised and there is no respite in sight. We cannot rely on our leaders, they tell us they are working hard to eliminate this pernicious affliction, they have not done so.

What they are doing is scrabbling for power and siphoning our commonwealth, diverted funds that should fully kit out our defence forces into their already bulging pockets and we have instead, a rag tag, demoralised army. President Goodluck Jonathan issued a statement offering his “heartfelt commiserations” to those affected in Yobe State. And although he admitted that Nigeria had seen setbacks in its fight against terror, the president maintained that those responsible would be “brought to justice and made to pay for their atrocious crimes”.

We have heard this before and these sound bites carry no weight. It seems there is no real will or commitment to eradicate this act of wickedness.What is the government waiting for? If they have not done anything now why should the people wait for the end of this administration to act? Do people need more of the same next time around? We have responsibilities to our children that their generation will be protected. Actually, we are responsible to ensure that they are protected and improve their living conditions. Alas, this is not the case and we have heard all these pandering. It is not good enough.

I understand that there is a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. But how do you become a refugee and a sitting duck in your own country?

So pardon me,for stating the obvious but there is no amount of heartfelt commiseration statement from the President that could bring back the dead and heal the injured. Communities are grieving for their abducted daughters, sons, brothers and fathers. What part of this tragedy can we say is someone else’s problem and not ours?So now we have enemies in our midst, they have taken to dressing up as school children and blowing up school age children. Where do we draw the line? What part of this disaster can be normal? When is enough, enough? There comes a time when the rose tinted glasses of tribal kinship, political and religious affiliation is taken off and we face reality. We have to stop living in a bubble and realise we are Nigerians. Nigerians, this is not OK and this is not right. We cannot blame people that are guilty by association simply because they are living in an area when the marauders and cold blooded murderers are allowed to carry out their nefarious activities unabated.

It makes mockery of the national security and personnel. We need to ask ourselves who is really in charge? And is this the best we can expect from the government?.

The last couple of days has been littered with tragedies you have to leave your blind loyalties behind and be humane, if we do not feel then, there is something seriously wrong with us as a people.

In Potiskum, bomb that exploded on the Assembly ground of the Government Senior Science Secondary School claimed the lives of at least 48 students and injured many others .The bomb went off from the bag of a young boy who walked up to the assembly ground after an unidentified car dropped this has become a brazen modus operandi. The sources said the suicide bomber was dressed in white shirt and black trousers which is the official dressing code for all senior students, and that he was hanging a heavy school bag on his shoulder. A witness said; “Many of us sighted him as he was dropped off by the car and watched how he confidently walked up to the assembly ground pretending to be one of the students, but unfortunately, he was immediately spotted by one of the teachers on duty who noticed his odd appearance amongst other students, by carrying a bag to the assembly ground, even though the school is a boarding school”.

And they went on to describe what followed; “the teacher on duty called his attention, asking him why he had to bring his bag to the assembly ground, but the bomber remained silent, ignoring the teacher. His attitude towards the teacher drew the attention of other students who milled around him to find out who he was. The teacher then moved closer to him, thinking he might be a new student on transfer since most of the students could not recognise him”.

Those that gathered around this person, challenging his belligerence caught the full blast of the explosion. The dead were innocent school children and teachers who were in school to learn and teach. Those that survived their living hell have only just begun, they will have to deal with the daily trauma of survival’s guilt, anger, sadness, anxiety not to mention the flash backs they will suffer without any intervention. Their families and loved ones will have to deal with this for a long time to come. One student told the BBC he saw the mutilated bodies of fellow students at the scene. A resident reported seeing parents wailing at the sight of their children’s bodies at the hospital.

You wonder why the soldiers who attended the site of the explosion were dealt understandably by the assembled crowds who pelted them with stones and accused them of not doing enough to halt Boko Haram’s insurgency. They were right when they said; “the government needs to be more serious about the fight against Boko Haram because it is getting out of control”. I think that is an understatement.

One of this that survived said: “I thank God that I am alive; but the deafening sound of the bomb affected my auditory system for several hours and “even from the distance that I stood before the blast, I found myself sprawling on the ground after the blast; that made me believe that the blast might have come from a huge explosive device”. And a grieving relative said his brother as a student in the school, died in the blast and he was about 16 years old.

Governor Ibrahim Gaidam in a statement , said: “Urgent action must be taken right now to restore a fast-waning public confidence by doing whatever it takes to stop the escalating violence.”

I won’t hold my breath and you wonder why people will keep their children at home and not send them to school. We know how much education means to our country,it will help lift our people out of poverty. May be, the powers that be don’t want that. Imagine the knowledge and empowerment in the country, maybe then wecan really vote in the right people!