Who is a Terrorist in Nigeria – By Tochukwu Ezukanma

Posted by admin Articles, Boko Haram, Columnists, NNP Columnists, Tochukwu Ezukanma Thursday, April 26th, 2012

By Tochukwu Ezukanma | Lagos, Nigeria | April 26, 2012 – The word, terrorism, conjures up images of rebellious elements, armed with guns and bombs, blowing up bridges, buildings and planes, and killing security personnel and innocent civilians. And since the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka took terrorism to new heights with their introduction of suicide bombing, it, also brings to mind images of brainwashed and idealistic, yet murderous youths, who, in the full transport of their fanatical religionism and/or suicidal nationalism, are ready to strike at their targets by blowing themselves to smithereens.

Interestingly, the word, terrorism, does not literally apply to the acts of violence of these fanatical rebels and suicidal agitators. It actually refers to the situation created by their violence. The Webster Dictionary defined terrorism as the act of terrorizing (to reduce to a state of terror). It defined terror as an overwhelming impulse to fear, extreme fright or dread. A terrorist, by his actions, terrorizes the people, that is, reduces them to a state of terror. So, a terrorist may not necessarily be a gun slinging, bomb strapping insurgent attacking government, military and civilian targets, but anyone or group of people who by their actions create terror: fear, intense fright, dread and emotional tumult amongst the people.

Undoubtedly, the Boko Haram is a terrorist organization. By its attacks on government and civilian centers, it has caused death, deformity, pains and sorrow. It has traumatized and bereaved many Nigerian families and caused intense fright and dread amongst Nigerians. Their acts of violence which include attacks on churches are mindless, reprehensible and inexcusable.

However, it will be totally wrong to restrict our definition of terrorism in Nigeria to the terrorist activities of Boko Haram. Such circumscribed definition of terrorism is deceitful and hypocritical; a self-serving propaganda for the Nigerian political class. There are many other individuals and groups that are needlessly killing innocent Nigerians and consigning many families to mourning the death of their loved ones, and causing people to be distraught, fearful, sorrowful and hopeless, that is, terror-stricken – the same consequences of Boko Haram terrorism. Essentially, all such individuals and groups are terrorists.

The Nigerian Police Force is brutal, trigger-happy and infamous for extra-judicial killings. They shoot and kill motorists, especially, commercial bus drivers that refuse to pay them bribe. Routinely, they torture suspects to death in police cells and execute suspects without trial. At police checkpoints, they cause serious accidents. Trailers, unable to stop at the checkpoints, have, on occasions, rolled over vehicles held up at the checkpoints; crushing the vehicles and their occupants. At these checkpoints, also, tankers filled with petrol, trying to stop or to avoid the police have been involved in accidents that caused the spillage of petrol and fire outbreaks that engulfed surrounding vehicles, their occupants and anything and everyone in proximity.

So, although the Nigerian police do not blow up churches and the offices of international organizations, they deliberately murder the innocent and visit bereavement, sorrow and terror ( overwhelming impulse to fear, extreme fright or dread).on Nigerians. They are culpable of terrorism.

The Nigerian power elite are world renowned for their theft of public funds. They steal from the public coffers with the avarice and disdain for the public good that will startle the conscience of even the most conscienceless. James Ibori, a former governor, stole hundreds of millions of dollars from his home state of Delta. Such Ibori-styled grand larceny is not an exception in the circles of the Nigerian governing officials. It is actually common in all tiers of the Nigerian government. Was Timipre Sylva, another former governor not recently indicted by the Alaibe Report of “committing financial fraud amounting to over 660bn naira” (about $4.125bn)?

The embezzlement of a significant portion of the national wealth by the ruling elite feeds on the misery, avoidable death, bereavement, social unsettlement and terror of the Nigerian populace. The channeling of excessive amounts of money into personal accounts leaves very limited resources for the improvement of the living conditions of the people. And as such, t he quality of life in Nigerian continues to deteriorate. For example, the health care delivery system is appalling, roads and other public infrastructure are in disrepair and hazardous and other public institutions and facilities are dilapidated and dysfunctional.

As a result, so many Nigerians, especially, pregnant women and infants die in our substandard and ill equipped public hospitals. And there is high incidence of poverty, the environment is squalid and festering, housing, especially, for the poor is shoddy and overcrowded and neighborhoods lack clean, drinkable water. Therefore, many Nigerians suffer and die from variegated diseases, especially, dirt borne diseases like typhoid fever and malaria.

The roads and other public infrastructures are in poor conditions and very dangerous, and in some cases, are outright death traps. Quite naturally, therefore, accidents abound on Nigerian roads. And annually, tens of thousands of people are killed and maimed in road accidents that would have been avoided if the money earmarked for road rehabilitation and construction had not been stolen by power elite. . . Due to inadequate investment in public infrastructure, almost all Nigerian cities still lack state-of the art drainage system. They make due with canals and open gutters. But even these anachronistic drainage systems are neither adequately maintained nor functional. The gutters are clogged with debris and the canals are overgrown with bushes and stopped-up with trash. Consequently, every year, in cities, like Lagos, floods destroy buildings, wash away homes and drown hapless individuals, and sometimes, wipe out entire families.

An exhaustive enumeration of the deadly consequences of the looting of the treasury by the Nigerian ruling elite is beyond the scope of this article. The point, however, is that the number of people that die from our dreadful health care system, decrepit and dangerous roads, primitive and dysfunctional infrastructures and other direct consequences of this shameless looting is staggering. And this relegates too many Nigerians families to wailing, weeping and mourning over the death of their loved ones. It renders many Nigerians distraught, heart broken, hopeless, frightened and confused. And thus, terrorized, that is, subjected to overwhelming impulse to fear, extreme fright or dread, which are the exact conditions visited on Nigerians by the Boko Haram.

The Nigerian power elite are the foremost terrorist group in Nigeria. By their heartless stealing of public funds, they cause more death, emotional tumult, social unsettlement and terror for Nigerians than the Boko Haram. No wonder, they are losing the war against terrorism. This is because a band of terrorists cannot fight terrorism.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria

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