Afenifere Challenges Northern Elite To Condemn Boko Haram Openly

Following the early morning Monday bomb blast at El-Rufai Park, Nyanya, Abuja, which left about 100 people dead and several others in hospitals with severe injuries, the pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere,  has challenged Nigeria’s northern elite to openly condemn Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

 
This was contained in a statement signed by Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary, on Tuesday.

Afenifere particularly blamed the irresponsibility of the northern elite for the insurgency in the country.

“We condemn the attitude that suggests that sections of the political elites in particular express covert support for Boko Haram because of the short sighted view that the reign of terror would aid their desires to get political power. Let them consult those, who incubated the ‘original’ Boko Haram for power purpose, if they can sleep with two eyes closed today,” Afenifere challenged.

It, therefore, called for outright condemnations of Boko Haram by the northern elites in particular rather than what it called the politically correct utterances in the ears of the sect that are heard every now and then.

A bomb, suspected to have been planted by a suicide bomber, exploded at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) town of Nyanya around 6:45 a.m., killing scores of Nigerians, most of whom were workers, traders and okada riders.

The group, which expressed its distress about the Monday bomb blast, condoled the families of the dead and prayed for the quick recovery of the wounded.

It described the blast as a continuation of the orgy of orchestrated violence in the Northern part of Nigeria, which has claimed huge casualties on a sustained basis.

“Afenifere is of the firm conviction that we have had enough of mere wailing and mournings. This is the time to move against the spread of terror and the wasting of precious lives that has become a daily ritual in our beleaguered country,” the statement read in part.

It stressed that Nigerians cannot continue to pretend that their security agencies do not have a faint idea of the enablers and sponsors of terror in the land.

“The President, at some point, hinted that the terror machine had infiltrated critical sectors of government, while the Gaji Galmatiri report has also identified some elements that are linked with the gestation of the blood-letting terror group. The Federal Government owes it a duty to the peace of the country to bring to justice all those, who have been linked to insurgency without further delay.
It is the absence of a nexus between crime and punishment that is setting the hearts of men to continue to wax strong in iniquity,” it said.

It urged the government to chart a new course in the fight against terror, while urging the whole country to rise across political divides to stop the insurgency, which must be seen as a Nigerian issue before it sets a total conflagration that may consume everyone.

While calling for the mobilisation and education of the citizenry on the wave of terror in the country, Afenifere added: “let everyone know where to plug in as we strive to rid our country of the mind-boggling festival of bloodshed that dehumanizes us as a people.
Ofoyeju said the suspect was cooperating with the agency’s team of investigators.

Meantime, Arslan, who speaks English fluently, confessed how he got the drugs.

According to him, “I am a student of Punjab College and I am in Nigeria as a tourist because my friend told me that Victoria Island and Ikoyi are beautiful tourist centres. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the Lagos airport, the heroin was found in my luggage. This is my first time of coming to Nigeria and I had intended to spend a week or two.”

In his reaction, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, who expressed delight over the arrest, said Nigeria was winning the fight against narcotics.

He said: “This arrest and seizure will further send a warning to drug trafficking cartels that Nigeria is winning the fight against narcotics. NDLEA is prepared to halt the criminal activities of drug barons through a coordinated drug detection strategies. We are working very hard to also identify other members of the criminal group.”