TheCable

Yakubu Dogara, former speaker of the house of representatives, says it appears Nigerians have been accustomed to the killings happening across the country and have accepted it as the new normal.

Dogara spoke while delivering a keynote address at a summit organised by the Sultan Maccido Institute for Peace and Development Studies, University of Abuja, according to ThisDay.

He said the situations have been accepted as part of daily lives for the Nigerian people.

“Today, Nigeria is faced with an unprecedented crisis, so much so that nothing in our history prepares us for such a time as this,” Dogara said.

“We seem to have accepted killings and mass murder as our new normal and so many cold-blooded murders of our brothers and sisters no longer make the headlines in the media.

“As students, lecturers, and political leaders, some of us are complicit, while the few who have dared to speak up are already outraged, fatigued and have surrendered to fatalism- a feeling that nothing matters anymore. It is like Nigeria seems to be suffering from some kind of God-ordained ineluctable fate.

“What we have done before doesn’t matter; all that matters is our present station. As long as we are not actively engaged in seeking solutions to these intractable issues, we are actually, wittingly or unwittingly, actively promoting it.”

Dogara added that Nigerians can only defeat their challenges if united.

“We’ll be strong and when we strive to keep our bond and remain undivided, we will be invincible. This is what should concern every patriotic Nigerian at the moment, not scheming for future elections,” he said.

“All efforts of patriotic citizens must be geared towards stopping our dear country from the ongoing death by a thousand cuts.

“Attacks are unrelenting and there appears to be no end in sight. The situation has clearly gotten out of hand, following the repeated overrun of military formations by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, wanton killings and kidnap for ransom and mass abduction of school children in different parts of the country.

“For instance, we all know that the north bears nearly 90 percent of the insecurity brunt of the country. If estimates are anything to go by, not less than 50,000 northerners have been killed while over three million have been displaced in the northeast alone.”

He also commented on the number of out-of-school children, unemployment rate, saying the youth have become frustrated, angry and violent and that this makes them susceptible to criminal activities.

He enjoined the government and leaders to find solutions to these problems, saying “there is no hiding place for us anymore because Nigeria is no longer the same.”