The sad event happened on the evening of 13 November 2015, where a series of coordinated terrorist attacks consisting of mass shootings, suicide bombings and hostage-taking took place in Paris, France, and Saint-Denis, its northern suburb. The deadliest attack was at the Bataclan theatre, where attackers took hostages and not just that, but they engaged in a stand-off with police which ended at 12:58 France time on 14 November.
Reports have it that at least 132 people were killed including 89 people at the Bataclan theatre. A further 352 people were injured by the attacks, including 99 people described as being seriously injured. In addition to the civilian casualties, seven attackers were killed and authorities have continued to search for any accomplices that may remain at large. Prior to the attack, France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers. The French President François Hollande has since announced a state of emergency and that would be the first since the 2005 riots. He has also placed temporary controls on the country's borders....! -
Now this is the crux of my ramblings;
A couple of Nigerians have come out to air their opinions based on how the world is rallying around france with condolences and how facebook gives you an option to Change your profile picture to support France and the people of Paris.
A post on
facebook that caught my attention was the one posted by Olisaeloka Leo
Osemeka
He wrote this:Nigerians die in numbers across the length and breadth of North Eastern parts daily from fundamentalist suicide attacks, herdsman and Boko Haram. I have never seen Facebook create an app with Nigeria flag for the world to use as support and solidarity for my beloved country, suddenly France witnesses same terrorist in a smaller scale. Facebook deems it appropriate to honour them. My greatest anger is seeing Nigerians across the globe who have never sent a one line condolence message or lift a finger in honour of women, children, men and our gallant troops who are murdered in cold blood daily in the North East Nigeria yet deem it expedient without prompting to honour the dead in far away France. I was taught Charity begins at home.
Lot of folks are asking questions like How tightly closed are our borders since we still are going through what Paris is going through? How has France helped to fight terrorism in Nigeria, why do we need to show solidarity?
And What makes one massacre more newsworthy than another?
Now the question that i am going to pose out is this:
When a citizen dies out of terrorism whether in the US, in Europe, the truth remains that they take the death of one citizen seriously and maybe thats why when same plague that we face happens to them, it is blown out of proportion than ours all over the world.
They remember those lost in the 911 twin tower attack in the US and yearly there is commemoration. Coming down home, how many of us can remember the exact date, those chibok girls were taken or the date, day and time when we first had our attacks?
I am even taking it too far, do we even have documents of those citizens that we have lost since 2009 till date?
Is it true that we have become so used to this new normal called terrorism in Niaja such that when there is a blast in any part of the country, we no longer flinch but when it happens in other country and there is a major buzz, thats the only time we remember those killed in Borno and then we attack those Nigerians who show support to other wailing countries going through same pain as us?
Is it true that the lives of Nigerians dont matter around here as much as other nations around the world take seriously the lives of its citizen? If so, why do we complain about the so much buzz given to Paris?
I just really wonder why I never saw a Nigerian flag raised when our brothers and sisters were being burned alive, I did not see or hear people in Paris use Nigerian flags...Oh I do say a prayer for our world, but are we praying for one another? Are we saying a prayer for our neighbours who are living in penury around us, are we raising our flags and demanding with intense continuity that the girls who were kidnapped be brought home? Or is it "on to the next thing" as usual? We are so in tune with the business of others that we have neglected our own. Are we truly concerned with our own environment? Paris is a gorgeous country, I love and sympathize with them, but I am more concerned that my fellow Nigerian citizen abandon their own for the glitz of what is common.. Vicky
The truth is, we as Nigerians, we have become immuned to our own problems. The
life of one citizen don't matter to the government or the people unlike the
western world, a loss of life is a tragedy and they take it seriously. they
look for the root cause and deal with it. Each life is well documented and
those lost are well commemorated. If i may ask you, can you tell us when we had
our first attack by Boko haram and how many souls were lost? Or better still
can you tell us how many souls we have lost so far since 2009? I am sure you wouldn’t know because as Nigerians
we don’t care.
So we should stop being emotional about how much solidarity and support is been shown towards Paris. if you don’t take your own nation seriously, no one will.
So we should stop being emotional about how much solidarity and support is been shown towards Paris. if you don’t take your own nation seriously, no one will.
Talking about the missing Chibok
girls, the buzz about the release of these missing girls escalated only when
the international bodies stepped in with placards saying “bring back our
missing girls” with the likes of Michelle Obama embellishing the campaign for
the release of these girls .
What happened next?
As soon as they turned their attentions towards their own problems, the zeal to look for these girls dwindled especially in this present Buhari administration. So doesn’t this show that Nigerians are followers and not leaders?
What happened next?
As soon as they turned their attentions towards their own problems, the zeal to look for these girls dwindled especially in this present Buhari administration. So doesn’t this show that Nigerians are followers and not leaders?
Unless the international leaders
step in on cases that affects us, we would just sit, lament and do nothing about it... Media would carry the news for a few days and after a day or two, we go back to our normal business. why complain, Naija, if Paris gets all the attention on media platforms???
Aren't we Followers than Initiators?
We should cover our heads in shame and take a leaf from France.
Aren't we Followers than Initiators?
We should cover our heads in shame and take a leaf from France.
I agree media in Nigeria is not playing their part well
anymore. Investigative journalism have been left in the backyard of
broadcasting. No one is reaching out to these families that have lost their
loved ones through the dastardly act of the terrorism. Do we have statistics,
names or can we put our fingers to the identities of the affected families from
2009 till date?
I dare say ...No!
Why?
Because we don’t have a system that is accountable. Nigeria
cannot account for the total number of citizens dead or alive, precisely unlike
other developed countries. We are just a country that works with estimated figures.
There is no precision with human figure..!
Until we get to the place where we have realized that the life
of one man be it an armed robber or an innocent labourer is accounted for, we
might just be a country relapsed, collapsed and ravaged by war like Sudan whose
citizen languish in abject poverty such that grass is what they have as meal for
a day.
Its high time we took our citizens seriously, look into their
plights and give all necessary answers plus solutions to their burning questions
and protection to their defenceless lives.
I dare say ...No!
Why?
Because we don’t have a system that is accountable. Nigeria
cannot account for the total number of citizens dead or alive, precisely unlike
other developed countries. We are just a country that works with estimated figures.
There is no precision with human figure..!
Until we get to the place where we have realized that the life
of one man be it an armed robber or an innocent laborer is accounted for, we
might just be a country relapsed, collapsed and ravaged by war like Sudan whose
citizen languish in abject poverty such that grass is what they have as meal for
a day.
Its high time we took our citizens seriously, look into their
plights and give all necessary answers plus solutions to their burning questions
and protection to their defenseless lives.
0 comments:
Post a Comment