Kalu denounces tragic Abuja attack

A former governor of Abia state, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has condemned in strong terms, the Monday morning bomb explosion in the nation’s capital, Abuja that left 71 people dead and 124 others with various degrees of injuries.
In a statement, Dr Kalu said the the calculated attack will serve as a reminder once more regarding the increasingly dangerous threat of organized militant extremism.
Noting that the explosion is the Boko Haram’s most recent strike against Nigeria’s capital, he also recalled the group’s “strike against the UN facilities in Abuja in 2011, as well as its slaughtering of approximately 1,500 civilians in three states in the northeast of Nigeria over the past year alone.
The statement reads further, “We must gather ourselves composedly and vigilantly begin to work with the international community to once and for all eradicate the threat of terrorist sects and any prospects that they could return.
“While the Federal Government has made valiant attempts to do so in recent years, such as offering amnesty to Boko Haram fighters and installing martial law, little can realistically be promoted as having been tangibly achieved.
“Indeed, so futile have been the results in checking this malleable threat that said attempts have perhaps even inspired Boko Haram to increase its acts of terrorism with such relative impunity.
“As this group’s mantra and perhaps even operatives continue to seep into neighboring countries in West Africa, the danger grows that regional jihadist factions will further align and pool their intelligence to strike beyond national borders.
“Thus, as the world becomes ever more globalized, the international community must play an increased role in matching intelligence with intelligence and effectively fighting forces such as Boko Haram.
“Today’s blasts in our urban political center should send a much-needed signal to the world community that collaborative anti-terrorism efforts must be escalated now.
“As global partners create innovative avenues to work with our military and counter-terrorism forces, the threat to our territorial integrity and role as Africa’s economic figurehead has never been more clear and present than here in Abuja and now for Nigeria”.