Terrorists on the prowl

My original plan this week was to conclude republishing my 2013 letters to northern leaders. But so many things have happened to warrant a change of plan, which is why I have postponed the conclusion to next week.

To all Americans, especially those who lost loved ones in the Florida school shooting on Wednesday, I send my heartfelt condolences. It is one shooting too many. But the real problem is that, in my opinion, American governments do not consider the perpetrators of these criminal shootings the very dangerous criminals that they are, in reality. They always excuse and rationalise their atrocities because they (the killers) are privileged to be non-black and non-Muslim.

When the Las Vegas mass murderer Stephen Paddock shot and killed at least 59 people attending a music concert on October 1, 2017, both the US President Donald Trump and the police tried to mitigate the seriousness of his crime. President Trump was quick to describe Paddock as a “very, very sick individual”, refusing to call him by the name he deserved. The police also tried to rationalise Paddock’s atrocity, regardless of the sufferings of his victims, by invoking his trouble-free past.

“The guy…did not cause any problems at any time,” they claimed. And with that the problem was put aside and heads buried in the sand, despite the president promising to let discussions on gun laws continue. But we are back to the same problem and this time too the killer is a privileged terrorist that cannot be called by the name he has earned himself.

19-year-old Nikolas Cruz did not just appear from the blue to carry out the killings in his former school. He had warned of his plan in a YouTube post, to which FBI’s attention was drawn by a kind user. But the matter was, again, not taken as seriously as it should have been. The FBI says it was contacted by one Ben Bennight who had come across Cruz’s post on YouTube last year. But, based on what it claims was its inability to identity “the person behind” the post, it could not trace it to Cruz and forestall his plan.

But it was not only FBI that failed to prevent the would-be mass murderer from making good his promise. His former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in my estimation gets a larger portion of the blame. And this is because, if the school had reported him to the police after he threatened students for which he was expelled it would have been much easier for the FBI to link the YouTube post to him. But all the authorities in the school did was to expel and order him not be seen on the premises with a rucksack, which is easier said than implemented as the Wednesday shooting has proven.

The American gun culture is a massive problem to which a corresponding serious attention is not paid. When President Trump promised to let the debate on gun laws continue it was clear he intended not to do anything to control access to guns especially by people of questionable character and mental stability. Otherwise he would have put in as much as energy as he put in making sure his blanket ban on immigrants from certain countries was successful.

Since the Paddock tragedy many more killings have happened and most of them were in schools in different parts of the country. But the government did not (and still does not) find it expedient to vigorously pursue a policy that would restrict access to guns and save innocent lives, just like it is doing by keeping out foreign terrorists.

While it is true this policy of keeping out foreign terrorists has kept the US safe from attacks from this category of criminals, pretending that homegrown white, non-Muslim terrorists are not as much a threat as their foreign counterparts even after causing more deaths simply begs the question.

Terrorists should called by their name regardless of their race, colour, religion and other identities. Nicolas Cruz, a man with links to the white supremacist group, the Republic of Florida, is clearly a terrorist and should be treated as such.

Zamfara in the news again

Long before the killings in Benue occupied the front burners of the Nigerian media and turned the state into a sort of pilgrims’ hub, Zamfara State had silently suffered vicious attacks by armed bandits and cattle rustlers. There were occasions when communities were encircled and residents, including women and children, were executed in cold blood or markets sealed and traders and buyers were subjected to endless torture and eventually killed.

In November 2017, for example, the villages of Mallamawa, Barka da Yabo, Tungar Kahau, Maikamar rimi and Gidan Anna were attacked in broad daylight, dozens of villagers killed and many more injured. Despite the governor’s SOS message to the Federal Government the attacks were only temporarily halted. The criminals have since returned with vengeance and have continued to perpetrate more atrocities, which are hardly reported in the media.

Every life is sacred and every crime against humanity, whether it results in the death of anyone or not, must be condemned in its entirely and the perpetrators be brought to justice. The herdsmen attacks that have led to the loss of many lives in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and other places are criminal acts that should not be condoned by the state. Similarly, attacks on Fulani anywhere in the country, whether as a payback for the herdsmen atrocities or otherwise, are criminal. The media, being the society’s watchdog, should not be selective in reporting these atrocities as it unfortunately seems.

If every crime, regardless of the ethnic or religious leanings of the perpetrators and victims, is given the kind of reportage it deserves the government would be held to account until it has done what is right. But by ignoring some, as the case of Zamfara suggests, authorities are given the leeway to treat such serious matters with levity.

This, perhaps, explains why the criminals holding Zamfara hostage struck again on Thursday, killing no fewer than 41 people in a village called Birane in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state. To the victims and their families my sincere condolences go. But the governments at all levels must step up to bring an end to these criminal activities. Ignoring the victims is just not acceptable.

This article is also published in the Blueprint newspaper of Saturday, February 17, 2018.