JUST last week, I was moaning and griping about a Christmas that to me was definitely not going to be merry given all the negative economic indices that stared Nigerians in the face. Little did I know that agents of darkness, had plans to make it not only a black Christmas, but one that would forever be a horrible anniversary for some families. In fairness to them, experts had prepared our minds for possible attacks by the spineless people behind the Boko Haram sect who not only waste the lives of their so-called foot-soldiers, (well, one can safely say that these people, the foot soldiers, chose to die foolish deaths) but also waste the lives of so many innocent people, who have no inkling of what the sect is all about or what they are fighting for.

If you ask me, I, like most Nigerians, can’t really place my fingers on what they want, except that they are being sponsored by some religious bigots who do not believe that every other person has a right to worship in whatever way he or she chooses. I therefore find it amusing, when religious leaders and security personnel, claim that the attacks are an attempt by some ambitious people who want power by all means to destabilise the country. What is the correlation? Now, what would you call the deliberate annihilation of families of a particular religious persuasion in some states and the recent bomb attack on the St. Theresa’s   Catholic Church in Madalla Niger State on Christmas day - a day that has profound spiritual implications for Christians?

Who are these people? What have the authorities done with the information gathered from the hundreds of those soldiers arrested so far? Why is the government so afraid to go after the sponsors? Have the foot soldiers been so brainwashed and so sworn to secrecy that they are prepared to die than give a clue to who their sponsors are? It would take more than television jingles to reassure Nigerians that the government is up to the task and while at it, would someone please take off the air, the foolish advert that is currently running? It talks about being security conscious and promptly reporting any strange movements to the police. While it was on, someone sitting beside me sniggered and said Boko Haram don find chop-chop avenue for some people. He added, “Which police? The one which was recently shown for what it is – a toothless bull dog that couldn’t even defend its own territory from Boko?”

Why do the government and its agents appear so helpless? Their inaction is not reassuring to Nigerians at all. We are afraid, and justifiably so. No one knows where they would strike next or when. Just last Friday, I received an unverified security alert that the South-west was the next target. I’m not taking this lightly, but would that stop me from worshipping my God and thanking Him, for all He did for me in the past year? For where? Na me and dem go usher in the New Year in a big way, no Boko Haram can take that away from me.

Having said this, my heart goes out to the young girl, 13 years old, who lost every member of her immediate family. She missed this “rapture” (as one survivor described the incident) because she had been in church the night before and couldn’t make the morning mass. Should she thank her stars for being alive? Or should she get vengeful and take up a fight against those who have hurt her so, when she’s in a position so to do?

Now permit my sermonising here; one survivor said she thought it was rapture – isn’t this instructive for us, Christians especially? Shouldn’t the state of the world make us resolve to always be prepared and not live life as if there was no tomorrow? Those people who went to the early morning mass on Christmas day, never thought they would never return home...isn’t this food for thought?  Some have argued that there is no heaven and there is no hell. Well said, but do I want to wait until I get there, when there may not be an opportunity to make amends before finding out? I don’t think so. Like the Girl Guide that I’ve always been, I’d rather be prepared! Have a very fruitful year ahead. It is going to be glorious Boko Haram or not.

FROM MY MAILBOX

Re: Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, despite Christ on sale: commercialised “church”, yet there's hope. God is there! Out of the black pot, comes the white pap. Let more of better policemen (like Cpl Eniayenfe Muritala) show up; would the Inspector General of Police please dress up as Santa and wish the nation merry Christmas?
— Timilehin John Aderemi 08055983466
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Merry Christmas, but when there is life, there is hope, please l disagree with you that this year’s Christmas cannot be abundantly merry! For any person with Christ like humility, if you don’t have anything to praise God for, can't you praise Him for what you escaped? Having said that, I recently observed how the resources of this country is being squandered, when I happened to be at the Lagos Television, Ikeja Lagos, where I saw an effusion of  children who had come to see Santa Claus. Most of these children, I believe, were children of politicians who had wickedly siphoned the cash allowances of the April 2011 party polling agents and are wasting such on the enjoyment of their children. — Sesan Adebayo- Oyende, Somolu-Lagos 08073887783

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Madam, in the pope's annual address at the Vatican, he expressed his pain on Christmas being turned into a commercial venture. What we have now is the stingy Santa without its Claus-but with claws that annually drain parents' purses. On the cop's courtesy, our elders are right that out of a black pot comes the white pap. 
— Dayo Oladeji, Saki, Oke Ogun 08027278748

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