To Finish The War On Terror

AS Nigerians are told that the war against terrorists is nearly over, we want to add that the public takes seriously the advice to be alert.

The law enforcement agents tell us to take note of suspicious elements in our midst and report them to the right authorities, as they say that insurgents are escaping to other parts of the country.

We, therefore, think it is serious security issue that some have been arrested in the southern part of Nigeria.



A comprehensive report of the ordeal of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in a camp at Maiduguri still brings pain to the heart, as also the killing of people in a Yola camp at time we think the war may be over.

It should not be a surprise that terrorists have been seen in the South either, but we should want to know that the country is prepared after the war has been won, because we do not want to go through the Boko Haram experience again.

A mop up operation should ensure this; a programme that may include teaching survivors, including the actual victims who are bombed, maimed, killed and burnt out of their homes, the value of human life.
Survivors may be youths who partook of the gruesome activities and enjoyed the power of killing other people for as long as it lasted, but are lucky to escape the military action.


If they are repentant, their fate is left with the government to decide, but anybody who took part, willingly or otherwise, in the in the war of terror should be taught tolerance, living within the law of the land and the ability to resolve conflicts without shedding blood.

The Case
THIS September, I got to Lekki Phase1 gate around 9 30 pm. There were not many vehicles on the road, but many motorcycles were packed to one side.

One man held on to one in an obvious disagreement. As the seconds passed, more of them came and the last group came bearing sticks, stones, etc.

The man stood his ground. As they surrounded him, he tried to run, but they pursued him, throwing heavy stones at him.

There was no help; motorists only tried to avoid knocking him down as he ran blindly in the middle of the road, with some of his attackers still in pursuit.

I did not hear what the argument was about and I did not bother to go near them, because only the previous week, there was a similar occurrence. On a pavement, I had seen a young man coldly pummeling the face of a rider. He never showed that he heard me, because to my question, he bent lower to have a better view of the spot he hit mercilessly.


Out of conscience or curiosity as to what happened to the man, I went back, but saw them riding triumphantly into the estate four to one Okada.

What happened to the man? I asked some people. “He ran outside,” they said.

Did they beat him? They did, he said and for explanation said they begged the man, but he refused, so they invited people from the sites, meaning that the group who resolved the debacle came from construction sites.

To end terror, we think we should adopt the same approach to the control of childhood diseases, like polio, the last of which we have just seen.

Like immunisation campaigns, we should go from one construction site to the other, one uncompleted building to another, house-to-house, using people who can communicate with them effectively.

Source:guardiannews