Nyanya Park and the other territories we lost to Boko Haram

Everywhere in the world, the goal of terrorists is to create a lingering sense of fear and helplessness. And this is achieved not only through killing and maiming of innocent people, but in the disruption of social services and functions.

Countries that know this have ensured that every time terrorists strike, the priority is to ensure that the memories of the attack and those killed are not forgotten, but that also, normalcy is restored as soon as possible.

The fact that many roads passing by police offices and public buildings in Abuja have remained partly closed since the Boko Haram attacked the Police Force headquarters and the UN Building in 2011 is advertently, a morale booster for the terrorists hell-bent on disrupting normalcy.

When Emab Plaza in Wuse was bombed in June 2014, security agents closed down the place for weeks, long after it was no longer a viable crime scene, until traders and business owners grovelled and begged for the premises to be reopened.

The popular Nyanya Bus Park, which was bombed in April, 2014, has remained closed ever since and two and half years after, the place has turned into a rough-shod military barrack, with soldiers permanently encamped there.

The downside is that the buses and taxis that used to utilise this park have taken to conducting their business by the roadside, thereby contributing to the gridlock on the ever busy Keffi-Abuja Express Road.

These actions, this ‘Proclamations of fear’ if you like, are not only encouraging the terrorists that they have the power to hold us to ransom, but they are also reminders to us, that we are inevitably at the mercy of criminal elements and that our compensation for being attacked is the closure of our businesses and the inconveniences we are subjected to everyday as a result of these closed off roads, shut down parks and indiscriminate checkpoints that contravene the logic of security operations in sane climes.

It is vital that we must never forget that we have been attacked, that some of our best and brightest have been snatched from us in the conflagration of fire and death, but the best way to remember them is to build monuments and engrave their names on it, so that we will not forget, so that we will remember to say a prayer for them. But we must honour their deaths as the sacrifices that they are and show that they were not in vain and that they have given their lives so we may continue living, not hiding in fear.

There are other ways of securing public facilities without shutting them down. And what the Nyanya Bus Park has become today is an eyesore and keeping it shut, even in the face of the massive triumphs recorded against Boko Haram, is a triumph for the terrorists. Inadvertently, all these sealed off roads, and closed public spaces are territories we have lost to Boko Haram.

This message must not be allowed to stand. The Nyanya Bus Park should be renovated and reopened, with adequate security provided. Let this be a message that we refuse to live in fear. And let a monument be erected for the dead and injured so that we never forget.