Nigerian celebrities have taken to social media to lament the insecurity in the country following the Monday terrorist attack on a train along Abuja-Kaduna route.
The train was forced to a halt after terrorists planted bombs on the tracks. Witnesses said the attackers later surrounded most of the coaches and opened fire before they forcefully gained access.
About nine persons were reportedly killed and many others abducted by the terrorists who escaped into bushes.
The sad incident has triggered a wave of reactions from Nigerians, including celebrities.
Nigerian actress and film producer, Mercy Aigbe, took to her Instagram page to share pictures of the horrible incident. She wrote on how one of the victims that died, Dr Chinelo, was mocked after she tweeted about being shot.
Aigbe advocated that more love should be shown to people and advised against passing hasty judgements. She captioned the pictures, “I woke up with a heavy heart, completely heartbroken…. I am so drained…… God this country is exhausting. When exactly will God answer our prayers and flush out these evil leaders?
“Seeing the replies to Dr Chinelo’s tweet further broke me… has it degenerated to this? Where is the love??? No empathy whatsoever… people just hide behind their key pads and are quick to unleash venom …. How did we get here?
“I know we have horrible leaders but truth is as a people, we can do better.. it doesn’t cost a thing to show love, you don’t know the actual situations people are in, don’t be too quick to judge most especially when you are not privy to events, situations. Dr Chinelo only asked for prayers, yet she was mocked, bullied, attacked, cursed.
“With sadness in my heart I say R.I.P to another promising, young Nigerian, whose life was cut short because of this horrible system. R.I.P to those who lost their lives, Nigeria failed you. As a people we can do better, cos (because) we are all we’ve got.”
Veteran actor, Richard Eyimofe Evans Mofe-Damijo popularly known as RMD, also bemoaned the deplorable state of the country while making references to Abuja-Kaduna train attack and the fight that broke out at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja after Nigeria lost to Ghana in the World Cup qualifier match.
Taking to his Instagram page, he said, “My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their lives, the wounded and those who will be traumatised by this incident for a long time. At this time last year, I was on this same train to Kaduna and we talked about how unsafe life is and the risks we were taking. We are the lucky ones.
“Again a month ago, I was on the Lagos/Ibadan train and it was the same spectre of death and attacks that plagued our minds. This is not to disregard the comfort and timeliness of the train ride and how desirable it is.
“A few weeks later we heard reports of the same train breaking down on the tracks due to lack of diesel. Again I was lucky that this didn’t happen to me. (The) point is, it could be anyone any day. On the road, at the airport, train station, no where is safe anymore. This is the extent of our brokenness.
“If anything is an indication of how broken we are today, then the shameful storming of the pitch and destruction of the MKO national stadium, Abuja, is a clear indication. People are angry and bitter and are just looking for triggers. And boy! they are plenty. See the initial reactions to the quite clear tweet of the young doctor who died from gunshot wounds from the train and you will see that we’ve also lost our humanity.
“Nothing surprises and shocks us anymore. We’ve seen and heard it all. Ridiculousness has been enthroned by our leaders at every level. There is an urgent need to declare a state of emergency in this country. We are heading for the precipice and it doesn’t seem like we are interested in pulling the breaks. After now it’s a free fall.
“The government needs to do more than just promises to apprehend the perpetrators and truly save the lives of WE THE PEOPLE. #Rmdsaysso”
Nigerian singer, Nonso Amadi, also took to his Twitter handle to weigh in on the country’s predicament which described as citizens being loud in laughter but silent when suffering.
He tweeted, “We Nigerians are loud in our laughter, silent in our suffering.”
Also Nollywood actor, Femi Adebayo Salami, shared photos from the train attack and said, “This is really sad and unfortunate that innocent and bright lives were taken. May God Almighty grant the departed eternal rest. However, it’s important measures are put in place to prevent future attacks. It’s just too much.”
