Men Killing Men: Where is the Sanctity of the Human Life?

Boko Haram Mayhem
Borno State

If since the beginning of the world, man with his vast knowledge of Science and Technology cannot create human life, and then who is he to take it?

The manner in which human beings are killing themselves all over the world calls for urgent concern and immediate review of man’s abilities and disabilities in terms of giving and taking of lives.

A closer look at the global community will reveal an appalling picture of huge loss of human lives on daily basis, not committed by some kind of strange monsters, but by human beings themselves.

For instance, at the moment tens of thousands of people in some parts of Somalia especially Bakool and Lower Shabelle are dying of famine due to extreme drought that has ravaged the country.

Note that these people are not dying because there are no alternatives; they are dying because their fellow human beings will not let humanitarian aid from some donor agencies enter the drought-stricken region.

A militant group operating in Southern Somalia known as Al Shabab, has banned some aid groups from bringing in aid deliveries into their stronghold, describing them as foreign spies.

Similarly, a while ago in Norway, a suspected terrorist detonated bombs in some government-owned structures, firing gun shots at some innocent youths at a political camp.

Many innocent people have been reported dead while many injured persons have been hospitalised.

In the same vein, the sit-tight syndrome of some leaders in Africa and the Middle-East has led to the destruction of thousands of innocent people.

At the moment, many human lives are still being snuffed out in the battle for Libya, as NATO and an unwavering rebel group struggle against the Libyan leader, Muhammad Gaddafi who has refused to step down for the take-off of a democratic government in his country.

In Syria, due to increasing acts of what authorities tagged as “civil disobedience,” the Syrian government has instructed security operatives to shoot at civilians staging anti-government demonstrations, undoubtedly culminating in huge loss of civilian lives.

The destruction of human lives in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast, Egypt and Yemen recently lives nothing to be desired.

In addition, both the pre and post-election violence that broke out in some parts of Nigeria during the 2011 elections led to the untimely deaths of many people.

Reliable statistics made public by Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police represented by his assistant, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu at the 2011 elections review organised by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) in Abuja revealed that 514 civilians and six policemen were killed during the post-election violence in Nigeria.

As if these deaths were not enough, an Islamic Sect, known as the Boko Haram launched series of bomb attacks in Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital as vengeance against the government for the summary execution of some of their members and their leader, Mohammed Yusuf by some members of the police during an uprising in 2009.

In response, the Federal Government of Nigeria deployed some soldiers to curb the Boko Haram mayhem, but some elders and legislators from Borno State have accused the soldiers of harsh reprisals which led to the killings of some civilians.

Now, the question is who is man to take another man’s life?

The position of Amnesty International (a global non-governmental organisation crusading for non-violation of human rights) on this is clear: “live and let live.”

The organisation frowns at the destruction of human lives in whatever form.

Many Nigerians can still recall the sad and sickening incident that occurred at Lagos-Ibadan Express Way at a time in the past in which some armed robbers commanded some passengers of a luxurious bus who had little or no money on them to lie face-down on the road and ordered the driver of the bus to run over them, thereby crushing them to painful death- man’s inhumanity to man!