Russian Roulette

Captain Lee Joon-seok, who anchored the Sewol ferry that sank in South Korea, ordered the passengers to stay put in their cabins, despite an earlier warning for the ferry to be evacuated. His orders were obeyed because he was trusted as a leader. Lee did not only betray the trust reposed in him by endangering the lives of those on board, most of who are school children, he also shirked taking his responsibilities as a leader by abandoning ship while others were left to their fate. The few passengers who escaped alive either did not hear or flouted Lee’s instruction founded on poor judgment of an imminent danger.

The president of the country, Park Geun-hye, said the actions of some the captain and some crew members of ferry were tantamount to murder. "Above all, the conduct of the captain and some crew members is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense, and it was like an act of murder that cannot and should not be tolerated,” she said. They were arrested, and are expected to face trial. The vice principal of the high school which lost 339 students and teachers in the mishap was so overwhelmed with guilt and a sense of duty that he committed suicide. He just could not live with the reality that his charges perished while he lived. How could he look into the eyes of their parents? He had a conscience. May his soul rest in peace.

Here in Nigeria, three tragedies befell us in quick succession (two of them on the same day) and our response has cold, to say the least. Some weeks ago, the minister of interior, Abba Moro, and the comptroller general of the Nigeria Immigration Service, David Parradang, failed the nation by conducting an insensitive, exploitative and murderous recruitment exercise that got young Nigerians killed and many more wounded. They are still in office and accept no responsibility for the tragedy. The latter is even on the campaign train of the president, dancing Kukere and making merry on the podium with the full knowledge that, though he has failed in the discharge of his duties to Nigerians and has hurt their trust, he didn’t have to take responsibility.

As we are all aware, and as projected in the National Security Adviser’s Soft Approach to Countering Terrorism, there are many pull and push factors responsible for the insurgency we are witnessing today. The impunity of our leaders and their inability to take responsibility are factors being exploited by the terrorists. They have now resorted to bombing bus stations in Abuja and kidnapping school children, knowing full well that no one at the top truly really cares. Rather than look at what we are doing wrong and how we can flush out this evil, the police instead scaled down the number of casualties of the tragedy while its spokesperson advised Abuja residents to “avoid crowded areas”. If you stay in the shantytowns from Nyanya to Masaka, how do you avoid crowded areas? When you put a checkpoint on the main road that creates ‘go slow’ while hawkers ply their trade, how do you avoid a crowd? Their utterances were laughable if only we were not crying already.

So far the security forces have made no headway in investigating the disappearance of our children. The one statement they made on it turned out to be false. That the parents of the girls are braving security risks and searching for their children themselves is an indictment on the military high command.  The minister of state for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, wants us to be grateful to the military for accepting that it misinformed Nigerians. How do over 200 girls disappear without a trace? How did 40 escape? Can they give no insight into their ordeal? Or are they children or friends of the kidnappers who were released? Did they run back from Chad or Niger? Or is all this a game that toys with our lives?

The stark contrast with the action of the Koreans shows how far Nigerian society strays in the opposite direction it’s therefore not our fault. This mentality has made it difficult for us as a people to tackle challenges and forge ahead. Our response is pathetic. The security agencies have now resorted to cordoning themselves off from the public, while we are left exposed to a clear and present danger. Bullet-proof cars are now in high demand, while another bomb blast has gone off in Nyanya, killing yet another countless number of souls. The national conference should bring this to the fore of our discussion and make sure something is done.