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They did not march in Nigeria

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THERE was shock, disbelief and numbness on the streets of Paris, last week, spreading across the European continent when 12 French citizens were killed and 11 others injured at the Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters.
The international media honed in to provide live coverage.
A few days later there were 17 dead in total. A survivor could be seen sobbing on CNN.
The United Nations (UN) and 40 ‘powerful’ Western leaders needed no appeal just their ‘sensitive consciences’ to band together in solidarity with their fellow counterpart President Francois Hollande after a terrorist attack.
Charlie Hebdo the satirical French magazine had been known to publish provocative pictures of Prophet Muhammad.
Prophet Muhammad holds an important position in the Islam religion much like Jesus to Christians.
It was not the first time that the controversial magazine had printed provocative Prophet Muhammad cartoons. Ironically France has the largest number of Muslims in Western Europe because of its colonial history in North Africa.
The newspaper offices were once bombed in 2012.
The editors continued to call the attackers ‘stupid jerks’ who could not stomach Muhammad jokes which often depicted the prophet kissing a white male or naked.
So the European leaders marched hand-in-hand, arms entwined from the Place de la République in Paris, together as they always do in times of tragedy.
Charlie Hebdo magazine went on to print three million copies in ‘defiance’ just days after the death of their 12 colleagues.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram was wreaking havoc in Nigeria, killing about 2 000 people.
After Boko Haram had razed the town of Baga to the ground, they went on to strap a bomb on a 10-year-old girl which exploded at a mobile market.
The poor villagers had done nothing to provoke the terrorists unlike the French that taunted and offended Moslems.
The incident is just another report, not much attention has been paid to it at least by the world leaders that are revolted by terrorism.
There was no march in the streets of Africa.
Instead there was fear and uncertainty.
Despite the international troops stationed across the continent from Djibouti to Botswana, Boko Haram appears unstoppable.
The Conversation, an American publication, defended the attention on Paris saying the attacks were a surprise unlike in Nigeria where the conflict has been ongoing since 2009.
The Western media is seeing the attack not for the provocation it is, but rather a trampling of freedom of speech.
The message was clear, Europe would not tolerate this threat and within hours security was beefed up.
Dotted among them, in the defiant march, were six black faces.
President Barack Obama did not attend the march.
‘Former’ French colonies President’s Dioncounda Traoré of Mali, Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, Yayi Boni of Benin, Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Macky Sall of Senegal France were among those mourning the European citizens.
Former President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, once said in an interview, “Gabon, without France, is like a car with no driver.
“France, without Gabon, is like a car with no fuel.”
Not to be outdone, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was quick to issue a statement to condemn the Paris attacks while he remained mum about the latest genocide in his homeland.
As the presidents marched, it was evident again that the African leaders present had the same naïve thinking we had in 1980 in regards with our relationship with the British.
We thought because they had supported the nationalist in the guerrilla war therefore any imperialist intentions and racial superiority was forgotten.
It was during the highly successful Land Reform Programme when the truth came out and alliances were made.
Those that held our hands after 100 years of servitude suddenly turned against us.
‘We were going too far, trampling on human rights and equality’, the sanctions soon followed and the message was clear.
Each to his own, even those deported by the Ian Smith regime the likes of Terrence Ranger and Doris Lessing began to defend the empire.
As the Francafrique nations joined the European Union in condemning the Paris attacks, back home, the bodies of their fellow compatriots in Nigeria were reportedly rotting in the bush.
The defence by many journalists and diplomats is that the village is inaccessible.
On Nigeria, Reuters went on to comment that the 2 000 figure circulating in the media was not true, but rather an average of 150 people were said to be dead.
“The military has a habit of understating death tolls, while local politicians tend to overstate them,” the article said.
Even if it was so, how does 150 compare with 17? The truth is more than 13 000 people have died in Nigeria since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009 and hundreds of thousands more have been made homeless.
According to Western media, Nigeria’s military was one of the most powerful in the 90s, but today its soldiers are reported to have fled their bases at the approach of Boko Haram.
There will be no march on the streets of Africa until we take it upon ourselves to do so.

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