By Adeola Aderounmu
On December 26 2009 I wrote on my blog page that Nigerians are not terrorists. That statement is no longer valid.
Nigeria is now among the league of growing terrorist nations.
On Christmas day in 2009 one over-pampered kid Abdul Mudallab put Nigeria’s name on the global map. He is the famous underpants bomber.
One year later at the end of 2010 there has been series of blasts in Nigeria. From Abuja to Maiduguri to Jos and back to Abuja.
Terror now has its grip on the Nigerian nation.
At about 1730 Nigerian time on the last day of the year 2010 there was a deadly bomb in a busy area in Abuja. Thirty people may have lost their lives with several others injured.
As usual the Nigerian government is quick to point accusing fingers. The blame has been shifted to Boko Haram, a group whose mission is not really clear to the rest of us.
It is cheap and easy to blame Boko Haram because of their attack on the police and civilian populations in Northern parts of Nigeria. People have been killed in Jos in violence related to both religious and political conflicts.
There are insinuations that MEND could also be responsible for the Abuja attacks.
Nigerian security forces need to step up and try to stay ahead of these terrorists whether they are MEND or Boko Haram. Otherwise there will be no solution to the oncoming onslaught of violence and devastations that will hit the rest of the country.
The current pattern indicates a clear motive to disrupt the fragile peace in Nigeria. We know we have political problems and we are aware of the massive corruption and unimaginable social injustices in Nigeria: it is therefore easy for a group or groups with selfish ambitions to penetrate jobless extremists and use them to achieve a sort of destabilization that will usher in the final demise of Nigeria.
That in my opinion is the goal of consecutive bomb blasts and terror attacks. The aim will be to fulfil the predictions that Nigeria will disintegrate before 2015. I thought there are better approaches. When this country becomes ungovernable I look forward to negotiations that will usher in the separations of its parts. The consequences of war we are all familiar with. The Biafran experience should not be an option.
Whichever way, there are going to be many questions from now on. How did we get to this point in Nigeria? Are these attacks preventable? Are these attacks related to bad government and corruption across all the tiers of government in Nigeria? Are these attacks premeditated to make Nigerian ungovernable for a man from the Niger Delta?
There are multitudes of questions. There will not be simple answers. Even in the Scandinavian countries where it seems that the government is almost perfect terrorism is beginning to take firm roots.
The government of Nigeria is now finding itself in a dilemma. So many things and issues have been neglected since 1960 that it will be impossible for us to fathom the reasons for these attacks and the nature of things to come.
Just as recent as October 2010, we wasted over N20b celebrating a useless anniversary. We made the biggest cake in the history of man. There are over 100m Nigerians who are poor and impoverished. They have no hope and no option to a life of poverty. Yet we wasted so much money for nothing! Stupid people making useless decisions!
The Nigerian politicians continue to steal and loot across all levels. The presidency, the executive arm, the National Assembly, the state government and all places where politicians reign across Nigeria it has been stealing, looting and enrichments as usual.
Our legislators earn the most money in the world. We complained that they should review their salaries to what civil servants take home, all in vain.
In Nigeria there is no electricity. Where I live in Nigeria we have 4 generators and run 24-7 on them. There is no public power supply. We don’t have water from the government. Our roads are bad and we drive at average speed of 30km/ hr or less.
Public Schools are becoming historic. We pay high fees to keep our children in schools. Education is now a luxury. Foods are expensive, quality and standard of living are terrible and unacceptable!
Pensioners are suffering and people get laid off indiscriminately. NITEL staffs were dismissed without the benefits of continuous pensions. What a wicked government! So silly!
Nigerian politicians keep their families abroad while they suffer us at home.
When you add all of these woes together you get a failed country. Nigeria is a failed country. Therefore it appears as a golden opportunity for those who believe in violence. It doesn’t even matter if the stimulating or sponsoring agents are within or outside Nigeria. The fact is that they have found cracks in the wall and it is therefore too easy to penetrate and destabilize the country and the government.
The government of Nigeria will be at a dilemma and crossroad for sometime to come. How do you begin to know the elements or characters that are so angry they only resolved to kill innocent people? The Nigerian politicians have a way to protect themselves and their families. The victims of the attacks in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja are people or individuals like me. We have no means to protect ourselves and the security provided by the Nigerian government is almost non-existence. Usually troops lined the streets after the evil has been done. Sometimes this fans the violence and lead to more deaths.
Who will save our souls? Evil is on the rise. The government has failed the people. For fifty years, public servants and politicians stole and stole. They are still in Nigeria. Nothing has been done to them. They ruined our lives. They stole our future and they took our hopes away. Until this day the story is the same.
The new found love of terrorism in Nigeria is an additional plague that we will now have to live with. It has taken 50 years to destroy this country. It will take more than 100 years to fix it.
Nevertheless we must start to build this country now. This is a country with vast potentials. The task of reclaiming the glory of Nigeria is before all of us. It should not really matter who becomes the president if we established a sound foundation for our democracy. What matters is that the likes of Atiku, IBB and even Jonathan should be sent to face trials for the mis-governance they have participated in. I see no hope in the present crop of looters and thieves that are in Aso Rock then and now.
If Nigerians think that they have democracy now, they really need to wake up from that nightmare. Democratic structures run on institutions and not individuals. Democracy runs on the rule of law which no one is above. In Nigeria, several people are above the laws of the land. This has made it possible for impunity to reign supreme. Our political parties are so useless they have no clear cut goals and objectives. Their dream is to capture power and loot the treasuries nationwide.
We really need to sit down in this country and think. We can’t afford to get it wrong this time.
The first ingredient for our future attempt at progress and development will be to find a genuine democratic process.
When we do, we must begin to address the issues relating to the rule of law and the promotion of social justice and state welfare. There is a need to form political parties based on ideology and good governance. We need to promote literate participation with the attempt to eliminate thuggery and insanity from our politics.
The people must know that they have government and governance that works.
The Judiciary must be independent and have the possibility to work with the police to wipe corruption once and for all.
Nigerians must start to probe the sources of wealth. People are stealing in government and private businesses. The nation is sinking because of the actions of a few men and women.
We must rebuild all public institutions, not physically but mentally. Nigeria must now tap deep into the cognitivity of its intellectuals with a view to promoting merit over national character. There is an urgent need to revive nationalistic movements that will carry everyone along. A massive re-orientation along the line of nation building is urgent. The goal will be to save this sinking nation.
The other option is to allow it to continue with the status quo and pretend that all is well while the nation sinks. Such pretentions will allow terrorism to take a firm root and grip on Nigeria. One day a new group will declare once and for all “to your tent O’ Isreal!”
At that point, the prediction of the disintegration of Nigeria would come to pass. Our lives are in our hands.
A View From The Scandinavian 
If this case is just about terrorism, then I expect to see Muslims rise up all over the country to condemn the actions of this terrorist-group. I’ll also expect to see the forces of law and order pursue the perpetrators with a vengeance.
On the other hand, if this case is about a religious war between Muslims and Christians (like the terrorist group claims), then Nigeria’s prospects don’t look too good. And you are right, a full blown religious war in Nigeria will have drastic wide-ranging ramifications including the possible disintegration of the country.
Something tells me that the powers heavily invested in Nigeria will not actually allow for a situation that jeopardizes their financial or economic interests. So if a full-scale religious meltdown is going to tip the scales against their interests, then you can be quite sure it will not get to that stage.
The issue is–how often and for how long will Christians in the North be butchered at the least provocation before it creates a reprisal domino effect in other parts of the country, hence, creating the perfect conditions for full-blown warfare?
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Wow, as a foreigner from America living in Nigeria you have an interesting perspective. It’s so easy to get caught up in the propaganda left and right all over the place about how “good” all of these politicians are, yet Atiku Abubakar is currently the subject of a U.S. Senate investigation on corruption worldwide. He was chosen as one of four case studies in the WHOLE WORLD to highlight how corruption has taken hold on destroying the potential of developing nations. I certainly can’t say I understand this place or this country, as it is so complicated, but I definitely agree with a lot of your points. I think there is hope but it is hard to stop the powerful and self fulfilling machine these Nigerian Politicians have been free-riding on for decades. Well done oo!
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looked like you slept on my pilow- your first paragraph. i threatened to quit my job just to protest nigeria’s innocence. oh how wrong we were. i wrote a song-letter to Mrs.Robin, us ambassador,it goes…not all birds are vulture. some are parrots some are eagle. away from poetry, te security situation in Nigeria today is the result of years of rat race. When the govt is ready for security, we will know. real security men will be employed to defend the nation, not people who have been forced into secirity job out of the overwhelming joblessness in the country nor those who woke up to see appointment letters on their pillows courtesy godfathers.
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yes, i agree thinking that nigerians are peace loving country was totally wrong……within just few months we ve been in and out terrorist act…from the MEND issue to abdulmutallab bombing to jos crises aka human slaughter….now it this thing called Bokoharam….when are going to grow up….its high time we act…because d government are pretending to be concerned but are not…because d last time i checked the senators of the national assembly were laughing over d bokoharam issue during one of the ministarial screening session…..seeing d way they showed off thier teeth…gush….anyways i wouldnt blame them like you they send their families abroad to keep them save…they are disturbed in anyway.. in just few months we ve been in and out terrorist act…frm the MEND issue to abdulmutallab bombing to jos crises….human slaughter….now it this thing called Bokoharam….when are going too grow up….its high time we act…because d government is pretending to be concerned but are not…bcos d last time i checked d senators of the national assembly were laughing over the bokoharam issue during one of the ministarial screening session…..seeing d way they showed off thier teeth…gush….anyways i wouldnt blame them like you said they send thier families abroad to keep them safe… so they are really perturbed in anyway. But come to think of it, the bone of contention is that….are all this chaos truely a religious or political fightns are peace loving country was totally wrong……within just few months we ve been in and out terrorist act…from the MEND issue to abdulmutallab bombing to jos crises aka human slaughter….now it this thing called Bokoharam….when are going to grow up….its high time we act…because d government are pretending to be concerned but are not…because d last time i checked the senators of the national assembly were laughing over d bokoharam issue during one of the ministarial screening session…..seeing d way they showed off thier teeth…gush….anyways i wouldnt blame them like you they send their families abroad to keep them save…they are disturbed in anyway.. in just few months we ve been in and out terrorist act…frm the MEND issue to abdulmutallab bombing to jos crises….human slaughter….now it this thing called Bokoharam….when are going too grow up….its high time we act…because d government is pretending to be concerned but are not…bcos d last time i checked d senators of the national assembly were laughing over the bokoharam issue during one of the ministarial screening session…..seeing d way they showed off thier teeth…gush….anyways i wouldnt blame them like you said they send thier families abroad to keep them safe… so they are really perturbed in anyway. But come to think of it, the bone of contention is that….are all this chaos truely a religious or political fight
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yes, i agree thinking that nigeria was totally wrong…..in just few months we ve been in and out terrorist acts…frm the MEND issue to abdulmutallab bombing to jos crises….human slaughter….now it this thing called Bokoharam….when are going too grow up….its high time we act…because d government is pretending to be concerned but are not…bcos d last time i checked d senators of the national assembly were laughing over the bokoharam issue during one of the ministarial screening session…..seeing d way they showed off thier teeth…gush….anyways i wouldnt blame them like you said they send thier families abroad to keep them safe… so they are not really perturbed in anyway. But come to think of it, the bone of contention is that….are all this chaos truely a religious or political fight
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We pray that God will dismantle every attempt of the terrorist to disintegrate the country in Jesu name. Amen.
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Disintegration of Nigeria is not a desireable thing. However, a revolution may be an option that will help to clear the mess. The politicians are the bane of Nigeria. How can one Senator be taking salary of over 10million Naira a month and a civil servant cannot be be paid N18,000= and in the private sector university graduates who are fortunate to get something doing are earning less than N15,000 a month. The Government has not plan for the youths coming out of school in hundreds of thousand every year year to roam the streets. In the Niger Delta it is MEND, in the North East it Boko haram, MASSOB came up on peaceful agitation they mow them down. It they choose the terrorist way maybe the Government will rise up to listen to them. In the South West, it is OPC, but they are not throwing bombs or going for suicide attacks. I think the next group will be Kamikazee or Mahumahu or Yabantu and they will be sneaking into top government offices and homes to detonate bombs. They may choose to sent rocket launchers or artillery bombs to the National Assembly during their kangaroo or money-sharing sessions or during FEC meetings before the wicked, thieving politicians will rise to good governance.
The real solution is true federalism not what is there now.
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If potbellies are not executed in this country dis-integration is inevitable.
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what is the way out after hundreds of lives had gone to the early grave and mr. president is dormant and care less about the so-called boko haram sect?.The rate of terrorism keeps increasing daily,let us watch and pray less………….
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Nigeria is a nation where an individual is richer than the whole nation due to corruption, oppression, embezzlement, crude oil theft perpetrated by the so call leaders. the sons of the poor masses are leaving in abject poverty and you are talking of security. a situation where some people are leaving like gods eating their feel beyond moderation and some have nothing to feed on and no hope on the horizon, surely that is not a situation where peace will ever reign. our leaders in Nigeria therefore should know that they will never have peace because they have murder sleep the will never sleep. they are using religion to cage the masses, economic situation of the masses will eventually remove the cage. No terrorism in Nigeria, people are just struggling to liberate themselves from the economic bondage they were artificially put by the leaders.
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