I turned on the television in my hotel room in Mokwa, Niger State and stumbled unto the video of an IS (Islamic State) renegade, beheading the second American journalist and I flinched. I quickly changed the television channel. I could not stand the gory picture. How could a normal human being in the 21st century use a butcher’s knife to slowly slit the throat of another human being and then go on to cut off the man’s head, with blood gushing all over like that of a beheaded chicken. This is grossly inhuman!
I had similar pains when I watched the television footage of the attack by two deranged Nigerian-British nationals who hacked a British soldier to death with Butcher’s knives some time last year in broad day light in the UK. A few weeks ago, a Boko haram terrorist was caught somewhere in Bauchi State and when he was asked his role in the cell, he said he was the “chief butcher”. Human butcher!
When the terrorist group Alqueda appeared on the global scene with their brazen invasion of the United States of America’s airspace on 9/11 and took the lives of thousands of Americans and other nationals, the world thought that we had seen the worst of evil that can be conceived by man against man. I kept wandering what America did to Osama bin laden and his tribe of nihilists that they wanted to take America down in one day. Today Alqueda is still fighting in different parts of the World and training and supporting other terrorist organizations with the singular intent to shed blood, destroy and cause pains.
At first, I thought that they were just a more virulent faction of the “pirates incorporated” that Somalia on the Horn of Africa had become, until the Kenyan Shopping complex terrorist attack perpetrated by the Al-shabab terrorist group. Since then, they have effectively stopped the lucrative tourist trade in Kenya, deeply affecting the Kenyan economy and taking several innocent lives in the East and Central Africa regions. Can anybody tell me what is the cause of their anger and who they are fighting? If Alqueda is fighting American or Western interests, whose interest is Al-shabab fighting?
When Boko Haram broke into the National scene after the 2011 elections, many thought they were angry that President Jonathan won the Presidential elections, instead of General Muhammed Buhari. This thinking was predicated on the utterances of General Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and a couple of the Northern political elites who threatened brine and limestone .Then they began to attack and bomb Churches and We began to think that either it was because they felt that many southerners and Christians voted for President Goodluck Jonathan or that they were embarking on another round of Jihad. When they began to bomb indiscriminately, killing Christians and Moslems, We got confused. And then they attempted to attack or bomb the Late Emir of Kano, and eventually killed the emir of Biu, we could no longer find any logical motivation or reason for the madness. Now, Boko haram has gone completely bizarre, killing and kidnapping any human being they can lay their hands on. They have taken old people and young people of all ages and of all creed in addition to the CHIBOK girls and despite all the “bring back our girls campaign” around the globe, nothing has happened and only God truly knows the fate of those innocent school girls. They have now gone on to the mode of capturing territories and placing their white and black evil empire flags. Every morning, they wake up and drive into the nearest village, gather the poor and innocent people and shoot them to death, without any feeling and then vanish into the forest. In fact, they rejoice after every such orgy of blood-letting and then they would praise their god. Which type of god is it that rejoices at the deliberate and unending shedding of innocent blood? Some weeks ago they attacked The Cameroons, killing and kidnapping. Recently, they announced that they had established a ‘Caliphate’ in Gwoza, Borno state. Indeed they almost killed Gen Buhari recently. So what do we make of all this brigandage and thirst for blood? What are they fighting for and whose interest are they fighting? “The devil only comes to steal, to kill and to destroy”
Then Lately, the ISIS now IS( Islamic State) appeared in global consciousness with their exploits in Syria and particularly in Iraq. They have begun to take territories, starting with Christian territories. Those who agreed to convert to Islam were allowed to live; those who refused had their head severed.
Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa
