Please lend your voice to this...
The many killings of innocent individuals and bystanders in the Northern region of the country are no more news to Nigerians. From Boko Haram terrorism to banditary, these killings have taken a double-header dimension. And questions have been raised to determine the innocence of the North in this matter. Is the North just a victim to these daily killings or is it a willing participant to the crime?
To be able to answer that, it would be necessary to take a look at two separate events that happened this week in Borno and Katsina respectively.
Borno state: about 81 souls were said to have been taken by a gang of Boko Haram terrorists in Faduma Kolomdi village in Gubio local government area of Borno state on Tuesday. The account, as recorded by The Cable, stated that the group 'deceived' residence with 'religious sermons' before perpetrating the heinous crime.
In one of the accounts given to the state governor by an eyewitness, the terrorists operated for more than 6 hours during the operation.
“The insurgents in gun trucks and armored tanks, came around 10am. They operated for about six hours and left around 4pm.
“They gathered us and said they wanted to deliver religious[sic] sermon to us. They asked us to submit whatever arm we had. Some villagers gave up their dane guns, bow and arrows.
“The insurgents pretended as if they were there for any violence[sic]. Suddenly, they started shooting at will. Even children and women were not spared, many were shot at close range. Many started running. At the end, many persons[sic] were killed," said the eye witness.
This account raises lots of questions in need of answers:
The story that they were deceived does not hold at all. I doubt if terrorists drive like a wedding convoy; they must have driven into town at high speed haphazardly. So they mean to tell us no one took to his/her heels when the terrorists were spotted coming furiously?
It was evident to the villagers that the terrorists came into town with guns and armored tanks, yet the terrorists successfully 'deceived' them to lay down their own weapons, and gather them for 'religious sermon'?
The two questions raised above only show that this is not the first occasion the terrorists had come to that town. For the villagers not to have run upon sighting them, and for the terrorists to have gathered them for 'religious sermon', then the villagers must have gotten used to such. This can be confirmed by what the governor, Zulum, said when he visited the town:
“Last year, about same[sic] number of people were killed in Gajiram like it happened again. This is barbaric. It is very unfortunate…," he said.
What the governor is pointing out here is that this same technique was used in Gajiram, resulting in the same number of killings. These villagers are familiar with this technique, except that it now resulted in death. The villagers have oftentimes been paying host to these killers, coming to town to pray and have 'religious sermons' with them. They never reported it!
The third question is, were there no military checkpoints to stop the terrorist from having access to this village? Where was the military presence, when these killers were in town for more than 6 hours? I leave that to the government to answer.
Katsina: A recent picture and video making the rounds on the internet of bandits roaming unperturbed the street of a village in Katsina state, is only a testament to the aforementioned proposition that the North is likely more than a victim of these killings -- they could also be an accomplice.
As it could be seen in these pictures, there are no signs that the villagers were terrified of the gun-wielding bandits. In fact, reading through the images, one could see the villagers having some rapprochements with them.
Boys and men could be seen very close to the bandits -- they were by no means terrified of them. Why aren't they reporting this to the police? They clearly know these bandits and, probably, admire them.
Note, this isn't a hamlet. There are visible signs of electricity poles there. The pictures and videos were taken by a mobile phone; it wasn't a journalistic reportage. The village has some level of civility, so no question it is out of reach for security men. Then why weren't any security architecture in place to arrest such a situation?
You wonder where these criminals get their weapons from. Do you remember Masari, like El-Rufai, had a peace deal with these criminals and paid them off to dissuade them from causing trouble? Instead of sincerely fighting these monsters, the government is pampering them with money.
The people of the North appeared to have lost their voice during Buhari's first term in office. But somehow, they seem to be waking up. Youth in Katsina state were recently spotted protesting against the inability of the Buhari and Masari led administrations in solving the many insecurity challenges in the state. They were seen to have torched a billboard carrying the pictures of Masari and Buhari. In a tweet made by Adamu Garba, he stated the need for the people of the northern extradition to start criticising the president.
He tweeted, "…It seems to me that our beloved President @mbuhari respond[sic] faster to criticism than with love…"
This tweet questions the rationale of a whole region in singing the praise of a government that has done nothing in improving security issues in the region and across the country at large. It's not like these challenges were painted over between 2015 and 2019, but they chose to remain silent in pain rather than speaking up against their own like they did against Jonathan. Barely a year into another four-year term, they've suddenly found their voice.
If you call these Boko boys, bandits, and Fulani herders foreigners, then are you saying the borders in the north aren't as closed as that in the south? If they aren't closed, are the Northerners speaking up against that? They have their son...
More from the source... https://www.operanewsapp.com/ng/en/share/detail?news_id=fdc9400ef260b823b633d17069a1e360&news_entry_id=s311bcccc200612en_ng&open_type=tanscoded&request_id=news_f94f424f-8921-4b72-bb11-dbabb225d8da&from=news 
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