Adeola Aderounmu

I want to forget this week as quickly as I can. This is one of the saddest weeks of my life. This week, several Nigerian youth were massacred across Northern Nigeria. They are graduates who were serving under the National Youth Service Corp Program.

In one situation about 50 of them were locked up in a building and burnt alive. I take no pleasure writing down these horrific lines. There are some corp members who even left their comfort in Europe to go and serve in Nigeria and they died in the process.

These are irreparable losses. Families are left to weep and count their losses. This is a national tragedy.

Terrorism has gained a firm root in Northern Nigeria and southerners are sacrificed from time to time in these ugly situations.

Gooduck Jonathan has said that the attacks were premeditated while M. Buhari stated otherwise. The bottom line is that Nigerian government is weak and slack when it comes to protecting life and properties.

Premeditated or not, the attack could have been nipped in the bud if the country has efficient internal security systems. What we have is a system where offices are duplicated and everyone is leaving the job for someone and no one ends up doing it!

I have complained earlier in a recent post that it is absolute stupidity to have a minister of Internal Affairs plus a Minister for Police Affairs plus an inspector General of Police. In the case of riots or terrorist acts as we now see in Northern Nigeria, no one knows where the order to quell the upheaval is to come from.

Should it come from the Presidency through the Internal Affairs? Should it come from the state governor through the Inspector General of Police? Where and how does a Minister of Police Affairs come into all of these?

Another sad dimension to it is that the real culprits are probably walking free. I can imagine random and indiscriminate arrest of people who are probably not connected to the crimes.

Almost all the acts of terrorism in Nigeria fetched no known perpetrator(s), save for the Boko Haram guy who was arrested and killed in police detention.

So in that respect the system needs a total overhaul.

RIP Adefemi Olubayo, (13 August 1985 – 18 April 2011).

Nigeria’s football star Adefemi Olubayo, I just want to say Rest In Peace. I’m still trying to find words to express my sadness and sorrow. This is another sad story on top of the series of sad stories from Nigeria this week.
You were already a shining star. You’ve played for Nigeria at 3 different levels and just recently made your entry to the senior team.

I’m too sad this week to write more about your deaths and those of the Nigerian youth, women and children slaughtered in Northern Nigeria.

All of you, mMay your souls rest in peace.