Fear in the expert opinion
of Psychologists is said to be a vital response to physical and emotional
danger and they also said that if we don't feel fear we couldn't protect
ourselves from legitimate threats. This is correct because we grow up to learn
the native intelligence that self preservation is the first aw of nature.
Aside native
intelligence, we also learnt from http://www.psycholgytoday.com/ we are also told that we
often fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for
no good reason. Fear also triggers off trauma and in this same professional
dictionary of psychology we also learnt that traumas or bad experiences can
trigger a fear response within us that is hard to quell but in their words
'exposing ourselves to our personal demons is the best way to move past them'.
Speaking about the
phenomenon of fear reminds us of the national traumas that most Nigerians are
experiencing now as a result of the consequences of the bombing campaign by the
armed Islamic insurgents over the past three years. From Maiduguri in Borno
state to Umuahia in Abia state, panic and fear of the unknown is spreading like
wild fire no thanks to the diabolical inclination of these terrorists to
instill fear and apprehension around the country in their sinister moves to
take their brand of Islamic radicalism to a new height. Usman Stanley Ola [not
real names] told me that since after the last bombing campaign in Abuja he
stopped going to any commercial complex around town and he avoids the markets
like a plague.
Again, Nigerians of all
classes and affiliations have come to recognize this ugly fact that fear has
become our new national demons even as most persons have begun debating the
best methodology to bring about the lasting resolution of the campaign of
terrorism across Nigeria.
In Abuja, fear has
replaced enthusiasm and the usually boisterous character of the municipality
just as majority of the residents are now contending with the uncertainty of
where and when these armed insurgents will detonate their weapons of mass
destruction next after they succeeded in mid April 2014 in detonating high
caliber bombs in the most centralized and easily the busiest commercial
complex in the nation's capital- Emab Plaza in Wuse two which killed a high
number of Nigerians who were simply there to transact their daily businesses.
The latest explosion of
bombs in Abuja followed the successful attacks by the armed insurgents in
Nyanya commercial bus park parked with thousands of commuters which
also resulted in very high casualty rate. Symbolically, what these
armed insurgents have succeeded in doing in these rash of bomb explosions in
Abuja is that they had targeted the most populated areas of the nation's
political capital to pass a message that they are on a campaign of mass
slaughter and killings of ordinary Nigerians and that the law enforcement
agencies are incapacitated and incapable of providing fool proof security to
Nigerians.
Understandably, Abuja
residents in their thousands are now jittery and fearful of patronizing
commercial buildings which has now crippled the economic activities of a
dominant sector of the Nigerian society- the small and medium scale
enterprises.
This much has been
repeatedly emphasized by prominent Nigerians who have ceaselessly tasked the
Federal and state governments to move rapidly to bring to an end the spate
of attacks targeted at ordinary Nigerians and to salvage Nigeria from imminent
collapse.
The latest high
profile personality in Nigeria to add her voice to the widening worries over
the violent terrorism spreading fear across Nigeria is the Chief Justice of
Nigeria who delivered a key note address recently at a national judicial
event and rightly reminded Nigerians that terrorism is gradually
destroying Nigeria.
Chief Justice of Nigeria
(CJN), Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar who spoke in Abuja said the
adverse effect of the seeming unending insurgency in the country has manifested
itself generally in such a dastardly fashion that it has affected economic
activities and thrown spanner in government’s effort in attracting Foreign
Direct Investments (FDI).
The CJN also charged
judicial officers to brainstorm on ways by which witnesses and victims of terrorist
acts could be best protected and supported to give evidence in court against
perpetrators of these unwholesome acts.
There is no gainsaying
the fact that because of fear of reprisal most persons who have critical
information that will assist in reducing terrorism activities are not
sufficiently rendering those vital information to the public domain and/or to
the security agents. Again, the few suspects arrested and dragged to courts for
terrorism have remained in detention longer than necessary because people
are frightened by the danger that may befall them if these terrorists and their
sponsors trace them to their places of abode.
So the charge by the
chief justice of Nigeria on the authorities to work out better protective
measures for witnesses in cases of terrorism is a welcome development and
should indeed be promptly addressed. This is because the delay in bringing
decisive justice to suspects accused of carrying out widespread killings of
innocent Nigerians has created doubts in the minds of most Nigeria concerning
the commitment of government to fight this menace of terrorism. If mass killers
are not punished sternly then impunity will take root in the society.
It was in a bid to save
Nigeria from sliding into lawlessness and impunity that the chief justice of
Nigeria is calling for immediate action. Speaking at the opening ceremony of
the national workshop for judicial officers on anti-terrorism, Chief Justice
Mukhtar noted that “terrorism poses serious challenges to any nation unfortunate
to experience it as it has the risk of undermining core values of the nation
such as the Rule of Law, respect for human rights, protection of civilians,
tolerance among the various ethnic groups.”
“Its motivation,
financing and support mechanisms, methods of attack and choice of target are
constantly evolving, thus adding to the complexity of any effective strategy to
combat it”, she lamented.
The CJN said “Terrorism
undermines overall economic activities and development, thereby seriously
affecting living standard of the poor segment of society. It has driven all
investments away – both local and foreign. Terrorist attacks devalue the
quality of life and affects the enjoyment of some basic rights like right to
life, freedom of movement, access to possible employment and educational
opportunities.”
The CJN said the onus
had therefore fallen on the judiciary to contribute its quota to ongoing effort
to combat the menace, which has led to several losses of lives in the country
since the activities of Boko Haram started.
On this ground I think
the government should set up military tribunals to handle the prosecution of
cases of terrorism even as witness protection program must be activated so that
more convictions can be obtained. Prosecution of terrorism related cases must
not be treated just like the conventional criminal trial since these terrorists
are the worst kinds of mass murderers who are out to destroy the fabrics of the
nation State.
The Nigerian Chief
Justice stated as much when she affirmed thus: “Faced with the above scenario,
the strengthening of the capacity of the judicial officers on the system
adopted to suppress and combat terrorism becomes imperative and a crucial
component of a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy. This is because the
perpetrators when apprehended must be brought for trial in full compliance with
the National and International legal regime against terrorism and Rule of Law”.
The other issue
that has mystified most observers is how fast Nigeria has declined in her
ability to protect the citizenry which is the most basic and fundamental duty
of every government in contemporary time. Reports in the media concerning the
combat readiness of Nigerian soldiers is frightening. This calls for sober
reflection on how the defence and policing sectors of Nigeria has
deteriorated due to ineptitude and corruption in the procurement systems in
place in those two key security institutions.
While it is
imperative to task Government to find out measures to check corruption in the
defence and policing sector so as to protect Nigeria's sovereignty, it is also
timely to generally task Nigerians to stand up and design implementable
mechanisms to defeat this situation of monumental fear that has enveloped our
nation and has made us a republic of fear.
All segments of the
Nigerian society must be united with a common purpose of defeating terrorism.
We must stop playing ethnic or religious cards on matters of counter terrorism
campaign going on by the armed security wing of the current government.
It is pathetic and
obviously primitive that some state governments especially in the North through
their officials have made some vexatious claims in the media alleging that the
counter terror fight is being waged against their people. The governor of
Adamawa state and a retired Naval Chief in the Nigerian military sector was
recently in the news for alleging that the armed Islamic insurgency going on
especially in the North was a sinister design by President Jonathan to
depopulate Northern Nigeria. Retired Rear Admiral Murtallah Nyako who took part
in several military coups in the past which progressively weakened the
combat readiness of Nigerian soldiers, went to the ridiculous extent of
alleging genocide against President Jonathan.
This line of argument is
puerile and infantile because what we contend with in Nigeria are a bunch of
monsters that are well armed and ideologically bent to destroy our basic
freedom by planting bombs which go off every now and then killing thousands and
inflicting psychological pain and fear in the minds of millions of Nigerians.
Government at every
level has the constitutional obligation to protect the security of lives
and property of law abiding Nigerians for this is the primary constitutional duty
of government. It is dangerous and satanic for someone like the Kano state
governor for instance to claim that security forces are targeting
Northerners when in actual fact Kano has come under several attacks by
terrorists which cost the precious lives of mostly Southerners and even Kano
indigenes.
+Emmanuel
Onwubiko; Head Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria; blogs
@www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.huriwa.org.
9/7/2014
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