On the same week this January, two events happened across two continents: One in Paris, France and the other in Baga, North-East Nigeria. They were both terrorists’ acts, one involving the murder of 17 French citizens and the other, the massacre of up to 2,000 Nigerian citizens by Boko Haram.
Although federal authorities downgraded this estimate to 150, the account of locals was a slaughter of unprecedented proportions: “…the whole of Baga was full of bodies; people were killed like animals”. What was certain was that no one stayed behind to count the bodies, not even the military. Amnesty International’s satellite image of Baga after the massacre revealed the scale of the destruction, with more than 3,000 buildings set alight. There are obvious parallels to be drawn from the events in Paris and Baga. Within days of the Paris shootings, the French president, Francois Hollande, declared a day of mourning for the dead and rallied his people round for a march in defiance of the terrorist attack.
The march was unprecedented, attended by over 40 world leaders who joined hands to lead a procession of over 1.5 million Parisians. The murdered police officers were posthumously awarded France’s highest gallantry honour in a state funeral led by the French president. Such a privilege is only reserved for the political elite in Nigeria.
Whilst the world and its leaders rallied round France in expressing revulsion at the murders, the incident in Baga was almost a non-event. It was as if those who died in Baga had no brothers or sisters or parents or friends or even a nationality. They were lesser human beings, it seemed. In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan and his All Progressives Congress opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, continued their campaigns for next month’s elections as if nothing had happened in Baga. Even the nation’s official TV station, the Nigerian Television Authority, barely gave the Baga massacre the airtime it deserved. Those that died were not human beings, they were flies. If this was not even news in Nigeria, how can you expect others to rally round you? A BBC commentator once remarked at the height of the #BringBackOurGirls world demonstrations that there were more people demonstrating in the streets of London and other world capitals than in Lagos or Abuja. Whilst those who died in France had names, the dead in Nigeria nay Baga will remain unsung. There will be no cenotaph to remember where they fell. It is a tale of two worlds. There are perhaps lessons our leaders will do well to draw from the way the French government handled their tragedy. On the same day of the shootings in Paris, the French president was on TV straightaway to address the nation and rally his people. In Nigeria, we are still waiting for our President to comment on Baga. We have heard from Amnesty International; we have heard from the CNN and the BBC; we have heard from Aljazeera and other world news media, but silence from our President. This is what is frustrating for Nigerian observers. At times like this, people need to see their President visible and leading from the front. They need to see their President empathising with the people and giving them hope. You don’t wait weeks or months to do this, at the prompting of the media. Likewise, you don’t delegate this assignment to a Mr Mike Omeri or any other government official. On matters of national importance like this, the world would expect to see none other than the President, as we saw in France. If you are not quick on your feet to tell your own narrative, others will tell it for you and put you on the defensive! This same pattern was played out when the Chibok girls were abducted. It took weeks after the international community had begun to express concerns for our President to address the nation and even much longer for him to meet with the families of the kidnapped girls. Even this was prompted by the visit of the Pakistani female activist, Malala Yousafzai. Whilst Jonathan’s recent surprise visit to Maiduguri is welcome, one cannot help but ask the question, why now? This should have happened many months ago. There is no doubt that the President has recorded some key achievements, not least, the resurrection of the railways and the privatisation of power, (which will take some years to manifest), but his advisers have served him badly. They have shown very poor judgment on some critical decisions. You do not deal with a problem by pretending it is not there or by playing down its significance. Within two days of the Paris killings, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was in France commiserating with the families of the four Jews killed in the Paris attacks. He did not wait for the families of the bereaved to come to him; he went to them and arranged for the bodies of the deceased to be flown back to Israel for burial. This is the kind of empathy that is lacking in our leaders, across the political divide. You don’t invite bereaved families to Aso Rock like Jonathan did to the parents of the Chibok girls – you go to where they are, whether in Jos or Maiduguri – just the same way presidential visits are made often to the families of bereaved “big men”. It shows empathy and endears the leader to his people as we saw in France. It sends the message to the grieving families that they are not alone, and that the nation is with them in their grief. Almost on a daily basis, the destruction of lives and property continues brazenly in Northern Nigeria, largely unreported. Whoever emerges as Nigeria’s president after the February elections must govern for the people and unite the nation against this Boko Haram insurgency. We must address the concerns of our foot soldiers and support our military in the fight against this enemy. President Jonathan must look again at the strategy being deployed to fight this war. The seeming abandonment of Nigeria by its Western allies at this time of need will remain a scar on the world’s conscience. Nigeria needs more than training; we need military intelligence, equipment and military hardware, – the same support as the West currently renders Iraq in its fight against the ISIS. We were there for the world when they needed us and gave the lives of our young people on various UN missions. We expect no less support from our allies to contain this fire before it becomes an inferno that potentially could engulf the whole region. As a British politician once put it, if you don’t deal with terrorism abroad, you’ll soon have to deal with it at home. As the Paris attack showed, Syria and Yemen can come to France. Terrorism has no boundaries.
Although federal authorities downgraded this estimate to 150, the account of locals was a slaughter of unprecedented proportions: “…the whole of Baga was full of bodies; people were killed like animals”. What was certain was that no one stayed behind to count the bodies, not even the military. Amnesty International’s satellite image of Baga after the massacre revealed the scale of the destruction, with more than 3,000 buildings set alight. There are obvious parallels to be drawn from the events in Paris and Baga. Within days of the Paris shootings, the French president, Francois Hollande, declared a day of mourning for the dead and rallied his people round for a march in defiance of the terrorist attack.
The march was unprecedented, attended by over 40 world leaders who joined hands to lead a procession of over 1.5 million Parisians. The murdered police officers were posthumously awarded France’s highest gallantry honour in a state funeral led by the French president. Such a privilege is only reserved for the political elite in Nigeria.
Whilst the world and its leaders rallied round France in expressing revulsion at the murders, the incident in Baga was almost a non-event. It was as if those who died in Baga had no brothers or sisters or parents or friends or even a nationality. They were lesser human beings, it seemed. In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan and his All Progressives Congress opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, continued their campaigns for next month’s elections as if nothing had happened in Baga. Even the nation’s official TV station, the Nigerian Television Authority, barely gave the Baga massacre the airtime it deserved. Those that died were not human beings, they were flies. If this was not even news in Nigeria, how can you expect others to rally round you? A BBC commentator once remarked at the height of the #BringBackOurGirls world demonstrations that there were more people demonstrating in the streets of London and other world capitals than in Lagos or Abuja. Whilst those who died in France had names, the dead in Nigeria nay Baga will remain unsung. There will be no cenotaph to remember where they fell. It is a tale of two worlds. There are perhaps lessons our leaders will do well to draw from the way the French government handled their tragedy. On the same day of the shootings in Paris, the French president was on TV straightaway to address the nation and rally his people. In Nigeria, we are still waiting for our President to comment on Baga. We have heard from Amnesty International; we have heard from the CNN and the BBC; we have heard from Aljazeera and other world news media, but silence from our President. This is what is frustrating for Nigerian observers. At times like this, people need to see their President visible and leading from the front. They need to see their President empathising with the people and giving them hope. You don’t wait weeks or months to do this, at the prompting of the media. Likewise, you don’t delegate this assignment to a Mr Mike Omeri or any other government official. On matters of national importance like this, the world would expect to see none other than the President, as we saw in France. If you are not quick on your feet to tell your own narrative, others will tell it for you and put you on the defensive! This same pattern was played out when the Chibok girls were abducted. It took weeks after the international community had begun to express concerns for our President to address the nation and even much longer for him to meet with the families of the kidnapped girls. Even this was prompted by the visit of the Pakistani female activist, Malala Yousafzai. Whilst Jonathan’s recent surprise visit to Maiduguri is welcome, one cannot help but ask the question, why now? This should have happened many months ago. There is no doubt that the President has recorded some key achievements, not least, the resurrection of the railways and the privatisation of power, (which will take some years to manifest), but his advisers have served him badly. They have shown very poor judgment on some critical decisions. You do not deal with a problem by pretending it is not there or by playing down its significance. Within two days of the Paris killings, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was in France commiserating with the families of the four Jews killed in the Paris attacks. He did not wait for the families of the bereaved to come to him; he went to them and arranged for the bodies of the deceased to be flown back to Israel for burial. This is the kind of empathy that is lacking in our leaders, across the political divide. You don’t invite bereaved families to Aso Rock like Jonathan did to the parents of the Chibok girls – you go to where they are, whether in Jos or Maiduguri – just the same way presidential visits are made often to the families of bereaved “big men”. It shows empathy and endears the leader to his people as we saw in France. It sends the message to the grieving families that they are not alone, and that the nation is with them in their grief. Almost on a daily basis, the destruction of lives and property continues brazenly in Northern Nigeria, largely unreported. Whoever emerges as Nigeria’s president after the February elections must govern for the people and unite the nation against this Boko Haram insurgency. We must address the concerns of our foot soldiers and support our military in the fight against this enemy. President Jonathan must look again at the strategy being deployed to fight this war. The seeming abandonment of Nigeria by its Western allies at this time of need will remain a scar on the world’s conscience. Nigeria needs more than training; we need military intelligence, equipment and military hardware, – the same support as the West currently renders Iraq in its fight against the ISIS. We were there for the world when they needed us and gave the lives of our young people on various UN missions. We expect no less support from our allies to contain this fire before it becomes an inferno that potentially could engulf the whole region. As a British politician once put it, if you don’t deal with terrorism abroad, you’ll soon have to deal with it at home. As the Paris attack showed, Syria and Yemen can come to France. Terrorism has no boundaries.
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