Putting Back the Fight Against Terrorism on the Rails, By Muhammadu Buhari

Sinister terror and hatred have again reached from the
shadows to steal the lives of innocent Nigerians. In
Nyanya, seventy-two people were killed by a car bomb.
Hundreds more were injured in the devastation. Their
killings served no purpose except for those who exalt in
evil. The bomb blast quickly came and went like the
deadly thief it was; but we shall be left to endure the
pain and loss from this terrible act for a long time to
come.
What the nation lost is irreplaceable. The number 72
seems like just another grim tally among the death
statistics that have become all too common. But what
occurred is much more than that. We must really stop
and take notice of where evil is attempting to drive us
to. The abduction of over one hundred school girls is
unacceptable, condemnable and saddens me greatly.
We cannot allow these merchants of death to make us
numb to the tragedy they manufacture. Those who were
killed were not merely numbers on a page. They were
human beings, made of flesh and blood body and soul
like all the rest of us. They were someone’s father or
mother, brother or sister. They had parents; they were
someone’s child. They were husbands or wives,
neighboring friends and colleague. They had dreams and
hopes. They were loved and loved others in return. Now,
life has been taken away and those who cared from
them must bear a grief no person should be asked to
carry.
These people committed no wrong. Their only crime
was to be ordinary working class people seeking to eke
out a livelihood and tend for themselves and their
families. For this, they were killed.
They represent the backbone of the working people. Not
many of them lived an easy life. Most worked hard and
long for modest wages. They lifted themselves up every
morning to earn their daily bread. They faced the many
social and economic challenges and obstacles our
society poses, yet they worked not to destroy but to
make this a better place by bettering the lives of their
family and loved ones.
These people lived anonymously and died the same
way. We do not yet know their names. But, in a
fundamental sense, we know who they were. They were
part of us. They shared the same aspirations we all do.
We seek an improved fate for our children and hope to
leave them a better life. We want to work and live in
dignity and respect. We want a life of peace and
harmony with our neighbors regardless of religion,
ethnicity or background. We seek prosperity not poverty.
We seek brotherly understanding not strife. We seek
peace, not bombs.
It was not just 72 people who were taken in this
depraved assault. Each of us lost something that day.
Yet, despite the loss and suffering, we must not cower
in fear, and let the purveyors of death believe they have
scored a victory over us.
Those who committed this act have declared war on all
that is decent and good. They have declared war not
against the state or even the government. They have
declared war on Nigeria and all Nigerians because this
murder took men and women, old and young, Christian
and Muslim alike. In trying to scare, frighten and divide
us, the evildoers committed injury to their own cause.
For they have shown us that we all suffer inhumanity in
the same way.
No matter our religion or place of birth, we all bleed and
are wounded the same way by injustice. Decency runs
through the teachings of each religion and ethnic group
that comprise the people of Nigeria.
We may have our differences, but the vast majority of
Nigerians stand united against the appalling violence
committed in Nyanya and other places.
These acts have no place in Nigeria. Those who commit
them have no place in our country. The perpetrators
may look like human beings. They may have limbs and
faces like the rest of us but they are not like us.
In killing innocent people, they have become inhuman.
They live outside the scope of humanity. Their mother is
carnage and their father is cruelty. They have declared
war against the people of Nigeria. They have shown
that they do not want to liberate the people. They want
to kill them. Yet, with all the energy of their evil and
ignorant hatred, they shall fail. The good people of
Nigeria shall triumph.
Such a wicked mission shall not succeed. We have gone
too far in our journey to nationhood and endured too
much to allow these terrible acts to divert us. Not only have these agents of death killed innocent
people, they also abducted over 100 young women from
their school. Why abduct school girls? Whatever they
plan, they should be ready to face the wrath of Nigerian
people. They should release these young girls unharmed.
Anything else would be an abominable crime.
We all must take close heed at this moment and
recognize the severity of what is upon us. A small
minority seeks to bring the nation to its knees through
terror. Thus, we must stand tall and united. We can ill
afford to allow their crimes to go unpublished united.
I call on the government to improve and redefine its
strategy in the light of this expanding menace. Clearly,
its intelligence gathering needs to be improved so that
it can break terrorist plots before they hatch. Moreover,
it needs to enact greater social and economic reform in
the blighted areas of the nation to win the hearts and
minds of the people.
Give the youth a viable alternative and they will not be
duped by the lure of extremist dogma. A major initiative
with immediate and long-term strategies for mass
employment should be introduced right away.
Nigeria must and will overcome this scourge but it
cannot do so merely by wishful thinking. We need wise
and decisive strategy.
As for me and my party, we deplore and condemn these
and all such attacks. Those who commit them must
know that the nation stands four square against them.
While we are engaged in tight political competition
against the ruling party, we shall not play politics on
this issue so vital to our national survival and wellbeing.
We pledge ourselves to the unity and safety of this
nation and shall do nothing to undermine national
security. We seek no political advantage from this
calamity and wish the present administration success in
fighting it.
We stand ready to help in any meaningful and
productive way to fight this battle against evil. We
extend our hand and earnest offer of cooperation in this
regard.
Nigeria and Nigerians have suffered enough. Those who
now lead the nation and those who would lead her
must overlook political differences to find whatever ways
we can cooperate to make this a safer, more secure
nation for all.
Thank you and May God Bless the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.

General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR was one time
Nigerian Head of State and a former presidential
candidate.