I read the front page newspapers about yet another bomb blast ripping apart
dozens of people in my country Nigeria, particularly the massacre and adoption
of innocent children with a silent prayer in my heart.
Different gruesome images of dead or injured children, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers were difficult to forget. Inconsolable mothers and fathers wailing about loss of their young children, wounded men looking helplessly for body of their dead friends, families, buildings and vehicles destroyed beyond recognition from time to time.
I felt as if that ugly face of terrorism of the US 9/11 and London 7/7 was looking at me square in the face again as I witnessed both attacks respectively. From US to London, Spain, East Africa and now Nigeria, the domestic terrorist attacks have become far more frequent and far more destructive over the last few years.
The attempts to wage war on Boko Haram have not only considerably failed to contain the terrorism- menace but in fact, it has served to escalate it to unimaginable proportions. Only few cities in the Northern part of our country can be considered safe from these threats and that’s why it becomes imperative that today’s elders and traditional rulers from the North of Nigeria should try and make their young ones truly understand this complex worldwide atrocities.
There might be different ideological and economic conflicts at the surface, if a spade is called a spade, but on careful scrutiny, it becomes clear that religious strife has been the single most common cause of our problems. The advances in technology have shrunk the world in size too. The television, internet and mobile phones have made it easy to disseminate information to any part of the country and the world at large.
This technological advancement has regrettably played into the terrorists’ hands. When the Boko Haram commenced operations in 2002, they were portrayed as religious warriors and their acts as religious duties, this misinformation cleverly manipulated them into further ugly violent acts, particularly after the death of the founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009 whilst in detention.
• Ethelbert Oney is an Int elligence & Security Expert ethelbertoney@zis sltd.com (08067764342 SMS only)
Different gruesome images of dead or injured children, brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers were difficult to forget. Inconsolable mothers and fathers wailing about loss of their young children, wounded men looking helplessly for body of their dead friends, families, buildings and vehicles destroyed beyond recognition from time to time.
I felt as if that ugly face of terrorism of the US 9/11 and London 7/7 was looking at me square in the face again as I witnessed both attacks respectively. From US to London, Spain, East Africa and now Nigeria, the domestic terrorist attacks have become far more frequent and far more destructive over the last few years.
The attempts to wage war on Boko Haram have not only considerably failed to contain the terrorism- menace but in fact, it has served to escalate it to unimaginable proportions. Only few cities in the Northern part of our country can be considered safe from these threats and that’s why it becomes imperative that today’s elders and traditional rulers from the North of Nigeria should try and make their young ones truly understand this complex worldwide atrocities.
There might be different ideological and economic conflicts at the surface, if a spade is called a spade, but on careful scrutiny, it becomes clear that religious strife has been the single most common cause of our problems. The advances in technology have shrunk the world in size too. The television, internet and mobile phones have made it easy to disseminate information to any part of the country and the world at large.
This technological advancement has regrettably played into the terrorists’ hands. When the Boko Haram commenced operations in 2002, they were portrayed as religious warriors and their acts as religious duties, this misinformation cleverly manipulated them into further ugly violent acts, particularly after the death of the founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009 whilst in detention.
• Ethelbert Oney is an Int elligence & Security Expert ethelbertoney@zis sltd.com (08067764342 SMS only)
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