The extent to which the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney went in mourning victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting and commiserating with their loved ones exposes how negligible Nigerian authorities estimate the lives of their citizens. Analysts have always cited what obtains in better governed societies but such references would always sound bogus and unsubstantiated. Here now is a veritable case study that shows how disdainful and emotionally detached Nigerian leaders are from everyday citizens.
A total of nine persons were killed on Tuesday at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School by 18-year-old transgender, Jesse Van Rootselaar, who died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed that those killed at the school were: 12-year-old Kylie Smith, 12-year-old Abel Mwansa, 12-year-old Zoey Benoit, 12-year-old Ticaria Lampert, 13-year-old Ezekiel Schofield, and 39-year-old Shannda Aviugana-Durand.
While two victims with serious or life-threatening injuries were airlifted in an ambulance to a hospital, 25 others with non-life-threatening injuries were taken for assessment at the local medical center. Police say the suspect had a history of mental health struggles and was previously admitted for psychiatric evaluation.
In light of the mass shooting, Prime Minister Mark Carney cancelled a planned trip to the Munich Security Conference to attend a vigil where hundreds gathered to mourn. Within three days, he visited the small town in British Columbia accompanied by federal leaders across the political aisle, as well as Canada’s Governor-General Mary Simon, in a show of national solidarity. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre disclosed that the prime minister invited the other federal leaders to travel to Tumbler Ridge on the same plane as him.
In a heartfelt message delivered at the wake, he said, “Please know that you are not alone. When you wake up tomorrow and the world seems impossible, know that millions of Canadians are with you. When the cameras leave and the quiet sets in, know that we still will be here. And know that we shall need you too. Because Canada is a community on each other’s grace. And may that grace bless us all.” In his own remarks at Friday’s vigil, Poilievre said “We all lead political parties. But today? There are no Conservatives. There are no Liberals, New Democrats, Greens or Bloc Québécois.”
Definitely, these soothing words rubbishes what President Muhammadu Buhari had to say in March 2018 when he finally visited internally displaced persons in Makurdi following the massacre of 73 persons by killer herdsmen in Benue State. We recall that the now-late Buhari shocked the entire country when he told residents displaced by the violent attacks to “accommodate” their neighbours and live in peace. This was widely interpreted to mean that the Benue people should be ready to accommodate their killers.
Looking at how hands-on and effective the RCMP responded to the Tumbler Ridge tragedy to the extent of immediately seizing a total of four firearms related to the shooting – two from the suspect’s home and two from the school, the same cannot be said of the Benue bloodbath. This is as the thenInspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris was even AWOL. One of the stories that dominated headlines at the time was Buhari saying “I’m not aware that the I-G did not spend 24 hours in the state as directed by me” when he visited Makurdi. And as has become the norm in Nigeria, the killers were never apprehended nor suspects convicted 8 years later.
Such underwhelming response from the Nigerian state and her Commander-in-chief has continued even in the current administration. After it was reported last month that armed bandits abducted 177 worshippers from three churches in Kurmin Wali village, Kajuru area council of Kaduna State, the police denied that the incident ever took place. It would later confirm the mass abduction, explaining that the earlier statement was “not a denial of the incident but a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected.”
Nigerians are now accustomed to the cold disposition of the President who is supposed to be the mourner-in-chief that they no longer call for his physical presence to commiserate with victims. When no fewer than 100 Nigerians were killed by jihadist fighters in Worro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State last week, it was Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who ran to Aso Villa to brief President Bola Tinubu, when the latter should have made it to the state to commiserate with the people and send a strong message to the perpetrators.
According to the lawmaker representing the area in the House of Representatives, Mohammed Bio, some reports put the fatality figure at 160. If that’s the number of those killed, we shudder to imagine how many villagers sustained life-threatening injuries or are missing. That amounts to a national disaster, yet Abuja is carrying on as if all is well! These aren’t mere statistics but people’s loved ones.
Attractions Media joins the Nigerian people to demands that President Tinubu immediately includes a visit to Kwara State in his itinerary now. The people of Woro and Nuku communities need to understand that the President feels their pain and losses. Let the President re-enact Carney’s humane approach to statecraft so that Nigerians can see that their lives matter. The Federal Government mustn’t leave the metastasizing security crises in the country to the state governments but should be more directly involved and unleash all its might on terrorist elements in the country!
