After many years of listlessness, Nigeria has finally rolled out the list of those sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria. No drums were rolled out with the list, and every objection will be spent even before it is voiced. This is because Nigeria is not yet home and dry on the issue of combating terrorism. Indeed, every vestige of vigilance is still needed.
Slowly but steadily, Nigeria is putting names to its nemesis, naming its shamers and perhaps maiming their memories. The country appears ready to move on from what is surely one of its darkest chapters, but the signs are that the gods of gratification will fight to keep their gates open for far longer.
On Monday, 18th March, 2024, following the directives of the Federal Government, the Nigeria Sanctions Committee released a list of those accused of sponsoring terrorism in the country. The list which contains nine individuals and six companies has predictably set off a firestorm in a country riven apart by terrorism, but the fact that there could be more where it came from means that the days of terrorism may yet be numbered in the country.
In 2021, the UAE was said to have handed over to the Federal Government a list of those allegedly sponsoring terrorism in the country. Nigerians immediately expected the names to be made public, but it was never done, as the list soon became one of the sorest points in a country where terrorism continued to do irreparable harm.
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But finally, knowledge should bring information and information, power. The traumatised victims of the Kaduna train attack in 2022 should know those who sponsored their nightmare. The children of Baptist High School Chikun, Kaduna State, who spent months in horrifying captivity, should know those who purchased their tickets to such suffering. The villages of Southern Kaduna which have since lost count of their dead and missing should know those determined to annihilate them.
Effective repair often begins from identifying the cause of the rupture. Knowing why something is broken and how it was broken aids repair and even reparation. Nigeria’s confrontation with terrorism started slowly but has since flared into an inferno.
Now that the destroyers can be defined with some definiteness, maybe healing can start. Justice typically juts out from justification. For victims of heinous crimes, this justification means validating their pain, anguish, and distress. This kind of victim justification is impossible without proper accounting, putting names to faces and faces to names.
The child who has lost both parents and limbs to terrorism should know at whose word and will his world was cut off. The children whose schools were razed and teachers beheaded should be able to pinpoint with piercing certainty those responsible for their broken dreams.
A list like this often becomes tiny lips of light, piercing hitherto impenetrable darkness and illuminating stories and sorrow. Nigeria is one gigantic station of stories and sorrows and to illuminate its struggle and validate its sorrows, more lists like these are needed.
The list of those who have allegedly sabotaged the country economically is needed. Oil thieves, fuel subsidy scammers and even internet fraudsters should be included. The callous champions of Nigeria’s corruption should also have ample space to write their names in infamy.
There should also be a list for the saboteurs of Nigeria’s democracy. All those whose death marks appear on the corpse of democracy in the country should feature on that list. Coup plotters, corrupt members of the executive, judiciary and legislature, and of course, all those who have scuttled previous elections in the country should all have notable mentions.
A name nullifies ambiguity, brings identity to the fore, and engenders becoming. People and things often grow into the names they bear. In other words, they are defined by their names and come to define their names. That is the power of a name.
A name also imputes responsibility, implicates people for accountability, and unravels impunity.
In naming those who sponsor terrorism in the country, the current administration has shown that it may just have enough to eliminate the execrable excesses of the previous administration. It is a good sign because the government is worse when it is governed by secrets and long shadows.
Those named may argue that naming them has eroded their constitutional rights to presumption of innocence, as no court has pronounced them guilty of any crimes. They would have had a point had terrorism not become a national nightmare that justifies any minor inconvenience experienced by anyone else smeared by it anymore smeared by it to whatever degree.
Whatever point they would have about constitutional rights must be circumscribed by national security and by the practical aphorism that there is no smoke without fire.
They can go to court and obtain pronouncements but would have been too late. A more sensible course of action would be to cooperate with the authorities.
For Nigerians, it is important that the authorities go beyond naming the monster to cut off its head so that families’ entire communities can be spared further and future agonies.
Kene Obiezu wrote via [email protected]
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