Not a good time to be a silent Nigerian

“The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny,” Prof. Wole Soyinka.

Sir: As a responsible and concerned Nigerian, this is not a good time to keep silent.

President Muhammadu Buhari must rise to the occasion in this period of national crisis. Leadership requires prompt attention and re-assurance of the citizens in time of national mourning and adversity. The presidential assurance is imperative at this time to assuage or balm bruised nerves. The president’s efforts at degrading and destroying Boko Haram is gaining commendation in the international community. The wanton killings in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, have punctuated the peace that is gradually returning to Nigeria. Commendation seems to be turning to condemnation now, this period calls for national introspection.

The death of one is too many in a country trying to re-define its place in national and global consciousness. It deeply saddens our heart that we daily record avoidable national calamity in our clime. We aimlessly wander in political wilderness. Meanwhile, innocent souls are either being maimed or sent to early grave through gruesome murder or avoidable accidents. Mindlessly, ignorant citizens are daily being used as weapons to fight, kill themselves for religion and politics. We have refused to chart a common path to rediscovering a new chapter in our lives as a nation. We seem to be existential threats to our own future. Few days from now, I bet you, Kaduna pogrom will be forgotten, and it will be business as usual in a beleaguered country.

The number of avoidable deaths recorded through religious and ethnic strives each year is more than the number of victims of terrorists’ attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq put together; as we pretend to be holier than the Pope and more religious than Saudis

President Buhari must ensure that those behind this tragedy are brought to book. Government at all levels, traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders must come together to discuss a new way forward for Nigeria. Nigeria needs urgent restructuring. The country sits on a keg of gunpowder.

I profoundly express sympathy with the victims of this heinous crime in Kafanchan. We also commiserate with all Nigerians in general in this time of national mourning and untold hardship.

• Balogun writes from Arizona, USA.