HOW TO QUENCH THE PLAGUE OF TERRORISM IN MY COUNTRY
It is 4.00pm in dapchi, a small town in the northeastern part of Nigeria, the blaring heat of the sun would not make anyone suspect that the day is far spent, neither would the rigorous and delightful sporting activities performed by these young girls make them aware of the looming danger even if they could gaze into the future. Mother earth in her benevolence would try to avert the looming calamity and had employed her siblings the elements to cause a shower and a hazy sky, but this would not dissuade these deadly predators from continuing their heinous task. At about 5:30 pm, all hell broke loose, and little ‘Leah Sharibu' studying in her isolated chamber was not spared, about one hundred and ten (110) schoolgirls aged 11–19 years old were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi on February 19, 2018. Approximately four years ago about 276 schoolgirls were abducted from Chibok a small town in northern Nigeria with many of them still missing today. The previous year, dozens of student were killed at a secondary school in Yobe State, Nigeria. Terrorism in Nigeria is not only destroying lives and properties but is aimed at annihilating the core forces that can terrorize its existence, which is knowledge; gotten by education. The gravity of this kind of outrageous terrorism, which targets the young ones, can be adequately described by Jesus statement “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” (Luke 17:2, The New King James Version), so I believe should be done to terrorism, if anything necessitates total annihilation and utmost destruction, then it should be terrorism. The only way to achieve a long and lasting solution to terrorism is to combat it form it root, thus identifying the root cause of terrorism is of utmost importance; if success must be achieved. Many factors have been postulated as causing unrest in Nigeria, Namely: Unemployment, bad governance, lack or inadequate basic infrastructures, corruption and corrupt practices of government officials, perceived victimization, and arrant poverty in the midst of affluence, this entire sum up an unstable economy. The question arising now is; is it only Nigeria and other terrorist harbors that are facing economic challenges [1]? Other countries battling with an economic crisis, are they plunged into severe terrorism like that of Nigeria[2]? Not all, this is a pointer to the fact that economic crisis might be a catalyst to terrorism but not the root cause. The plangent question now is; what is the root cause of terrorism? Terrorism in Nigeria has been evolving over the years before reaching its present state, a critical look into the various stages shows that terrorism spurred from the spread and transfer of corrupted knowledge. The word ‘Boko Haram' means western education is forbidden, it is believed that Boko Haram evolved from Sunni-based terrorism, which is a result of warped interpretations of religious “jihad” by poorly educated and ideologically motivated clerics and recruiters who believe in religious cleansing [3]. Therefore it can be said, that corrupted knowledge and belief is the root cause of terrorism. A very popular adage says “an idle hand is the devil workshop”, so also is an empty mind void of knowledge. A person who lacks “good knowledge” will easily give in to all manner of corrupted knowledge and belief as there is no repelling force within him/her. It is commonly said that “to catch a monkey, you have to behave like one”, I believe that to quench terrorism; adopting a terrorist-style in a counterproductive way is a great option. I refer to this method as “terrorizing the terrorist”. The idea is to create a club that will foster unity among people of different religion, belief, and ethnicity with the common goal of spreading of “good knowledge”; which is religious tolerance, peaceful coexistence and shun to terrorism. A very famous Chinese proverb says “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. To exterminate terrorism, this one step “terrorizing the terrorist” need to be taking. REFRENCES 1. Ross, S. 4 Countries in Recession and Crisis Since 2008. 2015; Available from: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/111615/4-countries-recession-and-crisis-2008.asp. 2. Skleparis, D. Explaining the absence of Islamist terrorist attacks and radicalisation in Greece. 2018 [cited 2018 6/12/2018]; Available from: http://www.eliamep.gr/en/. 3. Nakhleh, E. Nigerian Terrorism: Causes And Solutions. 2014; Available from: https://lobelog.com/nigerian-terrorism-causes-and-solutions/. 4. Leah Sharibu; the kidnapped girl, that is yet to be released by the Boko Haram Sect.