STILL ON ZARIA CARNAGE.....

 
While some people in Nigeria are celebrating the calamity that befell Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his Shiite group, looking at it objectively, there is actually NOTHING to celebrate. The carnage was another senseless destruction of human life and property that befell our country. It brings us no good omen, but instability and damage to our reputation globally. No Nigerian or indeed fellow human being in his right mind will enjoy watching the attached images of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his extra judiciously executed followers.
The Zaria carnage is tragic event and a major embarrassment to Nigeria at home and abroad. As the most populous black nation on the planet, it exposed us as woefully incompetent in dealing with public disorder without resorting to deadly violence. We at CUPS condemn the Shiites' propensity for disregard for rule of law and constituted authority. Mallam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky has to take huge responsibility for what happened to him and members of his group. However, the biggest condemnation surely has to go to the military for executing unarmed civilians in cold blood. There must be a way of dealing with this deviant group of people without having to resort to deadly violence, otherwise we have failed as a state.
It is the highest level of irresponsibility on the part of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky to attempt to form a 'government' inside a government at a time when the military are deploying all resources to comprehensively defeat the marauding Boko Haram barbarians. However, the approach shown by the military in dealing with the Shiites, if not carefully handled, could breed yet another deadly insurgency that we can ill afford. Dealing with rebellious groups has to include winning hearts and minds. The vast majority of their followers are actually ill informed disenfranchised Nigerians.
The tragic incidence in Zaria exposed the double standard and hypocrisy that is malignant in our military, police and security agencies. They have no coherent policy and even handedness in dealing with the different rebellious groups in our country. When the MASSOB and their IPOB brethren recently went on rampage cursing our president, killing Northerners in the South and calling for the destruction of the Nigerian state, hardly anything happened. Yet, when the misguided Shiites in Zaria took the law into their hands to block the COAS and his entourage, the consequence was devastating. We are not agitating for the same deadly violence to be meted on the Biafra agitators. Far from it. We are simply trying to hit home the message that there is clearly no coherent policy on ground on how to deal with civil unrest in our country. This situation is dangerous and is untenable.
We agree with the Sultan of Sokoto that his Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, should address the nation on this matter and also constitute a high level of inquiry to find exactly what happened in Zaria and make recommendations to avert future occurrence of similar incidence. This will calm nerves down at home and repair our damaged reputation abroad. Make no mistake about it, we will never prosper as a nation if all we do is to hack each other to death whenever there is civil disorder. Whether we like it or not, those who died in Zaria are fellow Nigerians. May their souls rest in peace.
May God save Nigeria and Nigerians. Amen.