It is a familiar lesson of history that those who fail to learn from their past soon become victims of their history.
Now, it is crystal clear that the knots and bolts of security in this country are hopelessly loose.
The Northern part of the country has already had a fair share of insecurity induced by the activities of bandits, terrorists or whatever you use to call them. They have had enough of it.
For those of us in the South-West, do we think we are impregnable despite our porous borderlines? The writing on the wall is clear.
Are they not coasting southwestward? Only Allāh knows.
The crude murder and senseless slaughter of innocent worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo is still fresh in our minds. No worship centre is immune to the knife of these bloodthirsty murderers.
How are we sure that they are yet to infiltrate us beyond our knowledge?
Tomorrow is Friday and all Muslim faithful will gather in their various mosques to observe the Jum’ah prayer (Jumat service).
It will be better for us to step up our game in protecting the lives of congregants. We should try to put in place some stringent safety measures.
A security measure that will make it difficult for evil perpetrators to carry out their evil machinations. At least it will serve as little effort from us to protect ourselves. And we won’t be caught unaware.
It is indisputable fact that Allāh protects but let us try to tie our camel down before we apportion blame to what is not.
It is common sense and reasoning that Allāh in His Infinite Mercy has bestowed upon the human intellect so that we can take due precautions, plan and prepare for possible future events, and create a means of addressing those needs on our own.
It seems to have become a common practice for people to say that preventative and preparative actions are unnecessary because they display a lack of trust in Allāh for our sustenance, safety, or plans.
If we do not bother to tie our camel, and it wanders off or is stolen, we have only ourselves to blame. Let’s increase our trust in Allāh, but let’s do our part by first tying our camels!
It is never too late for us to prepare.
Abdulhakeem Mahmud Raji-Alaufe writes from Saki, Nigeria.
