Owo attack: Going beyond the doling of condolences
…South west on red alert
An attack on the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa Street, in Owo Council Area of Ondo State, by suspected bandits who opened fire on worshipers on Sunday afternoon has left narratives of saddened sensations. While the end target of the villain gunmen has not been ascertained, some see them as kidnappers, others believed they were armed herdsmen of Fulani extraction. A lawmaker representing Owo, Constituency II in the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olayemi Adeyemi, had while speaking to journalists alleged that those who attacked the St. Francis Catholic Church were armed herdsmen of Fulani extraction. “The gunmen invaded the religious premises with explosives which they detonated before opening live rounds on members while church service was ongoing. The attack was a reprisal aimed at sending a message to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu who chased away violent Fulani pastoralists from the area. Locals around the church premises saw the attackers who were on the run after unleashing the horrific act on the church. They were armed herdsmen of Fulani extraction, a tribe accused of spear-heading insecurity across the country,” he was quoted.
The gunmen who shot indiscriminately reportedly supported their attack with an explosive, all leaving worshippers — children, and adults — numbering over 50 dead, while injuring scores.
As the norm would likely be, people from all quarters including the political leaders and government officials whose responsibility it is to ensure the security of lives and properties, have in their usual resort began to send condolence messages and visits. The turn to condolences after preventable mishaps have become a known culture even when the government is failing in its duty.
It is only rational that the reactions to terror, particularly of the government, should be such which firmly transcend the ceremonial splashes of condolences. In protest against mere condolence without forceful measures of clampdown on terror acts, political economist and Chairman, Catholics in Politics and Business, Pat Utomi had in a reactionary statement he issued, on Monday, 06, June, 2022, stated why Nigeria must not accept condemnation “as enough,” averring “people must be held accountable, consequences met and future deterrence put in place.”
His statement partly read, “I was crying to the God of purpose to please help me find the purpose in this senseless bloodletting crippling Nigeria. The expected flurry of condemnation have come from the high and mighty for it is a condemnable act of mass murder of innocents. We must not accept condemnation as enough. Enough is enough! People must be held accountable, consequences met and future deterrence put in place. If we were normal, a few resignations and sackings should have been announced by now. More importantly, all serious politicians should be seeking meetings to discuss how we live together. Peace and Justice precede progress. Not to have either one is to retreat into primitive times. More people die every day in Nigeria than in a month in the Russia/Ukraine war. It must stop. Every politician who fails to ask for serious engagement to decide how we move forward betrays his mandate. It is time for that Peace promised by that Holy Spirit the faithful went to encounter on Pentecost Sunday.”
It is notable that the struggles over political gimmicks towards the 2023 election has preoccupied political officers, to the extent that critical state matters are suffering from poor attention.
It is lamentable that the Government has largely rescinded to rounding-off heinous acts of terror in the Country to condolences. The aftermath of such terror acts are, more often than not, forgotten after condolences by custodians of government architecture on whose shoulder it is vested to be responsive to ensuring the security of lives and properties.
Once again, series of condolence visits, messages, and donations, have awashed the public space, from political officials. While this may not be evil, it becomes such when all done is limited to such disposition, without the culprits brought to book and stern actions taken to forestall future occurrence.
The winds of insecurity in the Country have worsened with the neglect syndrome of political heads, which has seen a disposition of passive attention to threat incidence, such that after their flashlight or signals, those bearing responsibilities to track their roots, the culprits, bring them to justice, soon become cold, as the they are quick to develop a passive out-turn to threat incidents. The passive disposition has seen insecurity scourge grown tough in parts of the Country which now has become turbulent zones.
It cannot, in any way, be justified that the Government is oblivious of threat flashes, not just in the particular affected locality, the State, but beyond — the Southwest region as a whole. The unfortunate incident cannot be expunged from been likened to the outcome of insensitivity to the flashlight of threats over time. Intelligence of insecurity threats have well enough reflected danger, concrete enough for firm actions to have been taken to forestall such colossal mishap. However, the passive irresponsive posture of custodians of government offices, has left open a gap that terror groups could capitalised on to inflict their blows on the society, leaving the helpless masses in pain and disdain.
It has become lamentable, the incentive posture of the Government to the concerns of security of lives and properties which is a prime necessity in the demands of the duties of government. The syndrome of doling out condolences while leaving out stern actions to forestall and foreclose any incidence of act of terror is condemnable, just as terror blows are. If pursuit of political-power exchanges would be engrossing to leave gaps for terror groups to have their field day, then those whose responsibility it is to see to security of the society, but are carried away by such interest, are only failing the citizens on whose mandate they rise.
Threats in the Southwest so far, have shown enough signals to reflect that the region is sitting on a timed bomb. It is pertinent that the custodians of state powers within the region do not rest their oars, displaying passive concern to the threats. Waiting to swing into action or roughly resorting to condolences after stormy incidence begin to take course, is an indirect art of criminality itself. It behooves the custodians of political powers within the region to work concertedly with all relevant stakeholders to combat the sprouting wings of terror heat, which are gradually laying down their structures for a threshold. It would remain inexcusable and lamentable if the threats are left, leaving terror groups to embolden their thrust for a stronghold to wreck havoc on the zone. The Owo attack is a flash point which should not be taken likely as a mere incident, but as an awakener to responsive turn to clampdown on all threat signals in the region.
