By Uchenna Isiani
The history of the world is replete with chronicles of terrorism. Today, more than ever before, it is the greatest plague threatening the very existence of humanity. By the side of terrorism as practised today, war becomes a minor inconvenience.
Yes, in many ways, war is prized over and above terrorism; war does not just happen, and the civilized world is conversant with the concept of just war. Besides, those in the theatre of war have a moral duty to be bound by the rules of conduct, the violation of which has serious consequences. Thanks to Henry Dunant’s Memoir of the Solferino which initiated the convocation of the Geneva Conventions.
Terrorism is a different kettle of fish. Terrorists are a vicious adversary whose rules of conduct are neither defined nor punctuated. The world over, the sanctions against terrorism have always exacted a real price. André Malraux’s La Condition Humaine chronicles the attempt of some terrorists who set to pursue the liberation of Shanghai.
Seeing that the commander of the forces does not favour their pushing the revolution as far as Communism, they go for his life. But in their unsuccessful attempt, they are captured, imprisoned and executed one after the other.
In The Trial of Adolf Hitler, Philippe van Rjndt wrote that certain acts are not affected by the passage of time: “These – mass murder, wanton cruelty and the continuous systematic infliction of pain leading to death and genocide – are beyond exculpation. The fact that a man has not paid for his actions in twenty-five years [as it applies to the hero of the novel] does not lessen the intrinsic character of the action, nor does it affect his association with the crime. The blood may have dried on the hands, but it has not been washed away”. These instances are fictional.
In fact, Somalia’s Islamic extremists, al-Shabab, are at par with Nigeria’s Boko Haram. Both sects have etched an indelible horror on the psyche of both countries – horror such as surely was never seen in the annals of the countries’ histories except in an artist’s impression of some damned souls in torment! But Somalia has manifested strength of character in dealing decisively with the menace.
About five weeks after he was sentenced to death, Hassan Hanafi Haji, journalist-turned-islamist, was executed by firing squad on April 11th. It is also a fact that Cameroon sentenced over one hundred members of Boko Haram to death. Vladimir Putin of Russia is famous for his recent statement that the onus is on God to forgive terrorists but it is incumbent on him (Putin) to send the terrorists to God.
The leaders of these countries have demonstrated their resolve to re-define the social and political order of their time.
Regrettably, at this stage in our national life, Nigeria is still learning about history instead of creating it. The carnage brought about by the activities of Boko Haram is awful in its pallid agony. It cannot be recalled when in Nigerian history a sect’s crimes have been better known; their motives more minutely exposed and the perpetrators more universally condemned.
The picture will be clearer if we erase the days that separate this moment from that bigoted furnace of those jabbering monkeys who fancy they are men. Picture the image of all the destruction – the explosions whether it was in the church, market, media house, UN Building, police headquarters or Nyanya Bridge; the beheading of soldiers and civilians alike; the deplorable abduction of Chibok girls; the untold story of rape; the pillage of some military barracks as well as villages in Yobe and Adamawa States; the Jos Terminus inferno of the modern Gomorrah, and so forth – in its raw state; then shall we understand the magnitude of terror that this government wants to minimize.
In a shattered country, the human spirit was deflated and now, sound judgment lies in ruins.
On what grounds, therefore, does this government choose to kowtow these low rascals permitted to burden the country? Where is the consolation of those gruesomely beheaded? And those who lost their loved ones? And the displaced? And raped? And Nigerians? For as J.P. Clark puts it, the casualties are not only those who are dead nor those who are wounded in the theatre of war. It extends to those who are unsettled by the news of violent eruptions which comes with the annihilation of the country.
Why promulgate laws that are ineffectual? Why exonerate the guilty by politics? Why stamp Nigeria as a contaminated nation, trained perfectly in the lax morals and sham political heroism of the time? Why make our national frames complete disguises for our actual images?
Recently, the Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence of Reverend King for killing a member of his church and attempted murder of other church members. Why not forgive and re-integrate the poor man?
Many high profile cases of corruption are in court now. Which is a minor inconvenience to the country: corruption or Boko Haram? Why maximize the ‘crimes’ of the non-violent secessionist? Have all those displaced by Boko Haram been comfortably re-integrated? Why not rise boldly in revolt against falsehood and sham?
These rhetorical questions only re-emphasize that good governance is a hollow promise and that Nigeria has failed, through discipline and will, to rise once again.
•Isiani writes from Port Harcourt