Enforce the directives without any laxity (Haroon Yusuf)

his column respectfully urges Mr. President to relieve some of the security chiefs of their duties for being unable to prevent the havoc Boko Haram has been wrecking in the country. Latest being the bombing of the UN building in Abuja that could have and should have been prevented as the United Nations' Security Chief, Gregory Starr, revealed that Nigerian government officials were informed in advance about the threat to the UN building and still nothing was done to prevent the bombing. The heads of all the nation's security agencies getting only a reprimand from President Goodluck Jonathan for their inability to stem the growing wave of bombings in the country is not enough. Those security chiefs heading institutions which failed in intelligence gathering and analysis, thereby allowing the rising incidents of bombings across the country, should be fired immediately.

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irng.com wrote �Despite having an intelligence report that some Al-Qaeda trained Boko Haram leaders were on a mission to attack specific targets in Abuja two weeks before the suicide bomb attack on the United Nations house in the nation�s federal capital, facts have emerged that security forces still failed to avert the tragedy notwithstanding the foreknowledge�. There should be no more room for laxity and incompetence, so heads should start rolling immediately! US Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) was right to say that �The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people�. For this column, that which is wrong must be set right! Boko Haram has declared an �all out� war against the Nigerian state without really knowing what it�s fighting for. Boko Haram (BH) should know if it�s worth the cause. Lao Tzu, a 5th century Chinese mystic philosopher, may have had Boko Haram and all terrorist groups in mind when he asked �How could man delight in the slaughter of men?�

This column wants to reiterate once more its unequivocal stance that it�s time to re-negotiate Nigeria as that�s the only panacea for the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan should give some thought to the matter, because, as Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) noted �The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous�. Daniel Goleman, an American author, psychologist, and science journalist, had it right when he wrote that �Societies can be sunk by the weight of buried ugliness�. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) wrote that �Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another...� Robert F. Kennedy wasn�t wrong to say that �violence breeds violence�... and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul�.

The President should know that his reluctance to convene sovereign national confab will be judged or misjudged as a failure of will. May be Ronald Reagan was referring to President Jonathan when said that �Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing�. The President should know that the attack on UN building is �one bomb blast too many� and he (the President) should make it Boko Hiram�s last, by using all the powers at his disposal in snuffing the sect out of existence before it wrecks more havoc on the nation. Because, according to Ramman Kenoun �All it takes is a single act of aggression to permanently wound a nation's reputation�. Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) put it that �It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so...�

On the other hand, the government should endeavour to remove all the conditions which make the birth of terrorist organizations possible in Nigeria by providing the basic necessities of life and employment for the citizens, because, a healthy and busy mind may not be lured into a life of crime as Rick DellaRatta wrote, years back, that �When we fill our souls up with creativity, artistry and intelligence ...we have a better chance at avoiding the behavior that leads to destruction�. And Lydia Sicher (1890-1962) correctly noted that �(violence) might be avoidable were more emphasis placed on the training to social interest, and less on the attainment of egotistical grandeur�.

This column leaves Boko Haram and other religious zealots with the words of Nima Shirali of Middle Eastern Reconciliation Forum: �Let us form a new religion, that which would be called 'humanity', with 'peace' as its prophet. Let us become inspired by inherent beauty, and not impassioned by manufactured hate�. Boko Haram should remember what Michael Servetus (1511-1553) said that �To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man�, and Martin Luther King, Jr. noted that �Nothing good ever comes of violence�.

President Jonathan should know that Nigerians need peace which according to Dorothy Thompson (1893-1961) �is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle�. She (Dorothy Thompson) also wrote that �Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism�. Peace, according to Daisaku Ikeda (a Japanese Nichiren Buddhist), �will be realized only by forging bonds of trust between people at the deepest level, in the depths of their very lives�. And that�s where a sovereign national confab comes into play!

May God help Nigeria!

TIT BITS

* Ambassador John Campbell, the Former US Ambassador to Nigeria wrote:

1. While I condemn any act of terrorism and violence, I couldn't fathom some logic and sense in the claims, responsibility and responses to the unfortunate incident of yesterdays bombing. 2. The level of laxity in the Nigerian security is quite appalling and not willing to improve despite incidences of repeated bombings in the capital city of Abuja in the last six months. 3. My question is; everyone is pointing fingers to an alleged "suicide bomber" but no one is showing a footage of the incident. Who are the witnesses? An office and international organisation such as the UN building doesn't have a CCTV camera? It�s illogical. 4. I'm not exonerating anybody, but I'm beginning to lose credibility for the news of claims by Boko Haram terrorist group most of the time. In how many months of escalated bombings there seem to be no "faces" that can be linked to the group. Like Al-Qaeda, at least we know the faces behind the terrorist group and their modus operandi. In this case, with every claims to BH bombings we are left with no faces only just statements which can be done by anybody, or are there "ghost workers" in the Boko Haram terrorist organisation? 5. Since Oct 1 of last year, Nigeria has been reported to have 5 incidents of bomblast. The security agencies are yet to show a face that will be linked as a top member of the Boko Haram Group. There will always be questions to these bombings in Nigeria but no logical answers. Its time for the Nigerian security agencies to change tactics and wake up from their lethargic approach in this renewed global fight against terrorism.

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!