When evil is relentless… When hatred unleashes the forces of hell… When hatred of others opens wide the gates of horror… When that horror itself remains forbidden, bewildered and disgusted by the bloodthirsty impulses of creatures that are only human in morphology… When the unimaginable, the unspeakable and the despicable are perpetrated by dark ignoramuses, researched and exploited by dirty intelligences… The whole country is experiencing moments of intense, painful and haunting emotion.
Once again, the enemy, to whom we owe nothing, has shown the extent of its rage against the only right we claim: the right to live in peace and security on our soil. By striking the most devoted of our children with its treacherous sword, it wants to strike us in the heart, to dissuade us from continuing to defend the sovereignty of our dear and beautiful country. By denigrating the sacrifice of the most ardent defenders of our homeland, they are trying to extinguish our people’s thirst for freedom and pride.
Nothing else can explain, let alone justify, the implacable determination of an external enemy that is still determined to turn our island of prosperity into a land of disaster. What is even more incomprehensible is the often ambiguous, sometimes outrageous attitude of some of our fellow citizens in the face of the enormity of these terrible events, which should nevertheless compel us to show respect and prudence. Fortunately, these profiteers of our misfortune are few.
Wulgo in Nigeria, like Darak, Kumba, Ekondo-Titi, Jakiri, Bafut and some other places in Cameroon, are theatres of tragedy that remind us of the high price of freedom. The geographical origin, the oath and the service of our children, brutally snatched from life by the cowardly machine-gun fire, must remind us of the importance of remaining united beyond partisan ideologies, following the example of those who took it upon themselves to defend us all without prejudice.
Pain and decency must remind us that under the uniforms riddled with bullet holes, under the uniforms stained with blood, lie our compatriots, citizens like us, sons of our families, horribly mutilated long after their deaths, as if to desecrate the sanctity of the Republic. The very location of the tragedy should convince us of the scale of the efforts being made, as well as the immensity and complexity of the mission assigned to our Defence Forces in the fight against terrorism, a “global threat” to which the Head of State, His Excellency Paul BIYA, recommended a “global response” exactly ten years ago.
This long-term and far-reaching battle will require the mobilisation of all the human and material energies of our people to ensure the survival of our national identity, based on unity in diversity, consolidated rights, accepted freedoms and the quest for prosperity.
Let us remain vigilant. /-
