SUNDRY thoughts

With the dizzying speed that events unfold in Nigeria, there can never be any dull moment for any journalist worth his calling. There is so much to report to the people, so many things to say. But there are times when you must yield space for your readers to speak up. That’s exactly what I’m doing today. I yield this column to you, today. There is a deluge of reactions to articles published on this page; but we cannot take all because space constrains us. But I promise, we shall be doing this at fairly regular intervals. Enjoy.
GUDU 10 and the rest of us
Boko Haram: Nobody should distract the security people
In as much as your view on Gudu 10 is reasonable, I have my reservations considering the flip side of the whole story. First, do people have a right to encroach on other people’s property and refuse to vacate it when it so required? Could the neighbours contradicting security reports not have done so under threats by the terrorists some of whom are known to them? Are our security men so dumb to be so easily drafted, by any individual, to commit such an unprofessional and crazy crime?
For what purpose would such have been done by as high a security head as General Ihejirika? And must we subject our security arm to investigation at a time like this when Boko Haram is killing Nigerians in droves, daily? If we do that, we have surrendered our lives to the terrorists. The security outfits should be left alone to settle their scores internally, please. There should be no distractions for them. They need everybody’s support for their mission now.  –Lai Ashadele, 08023632992
Thank God for sparing Nigeria the Kenyan horror
Thank God, you posted the question on the people killed by security operatives at Gudu in Abuja to President Jonathan during the Presidential Media Chat, and he confirmed that they were not peasants or wheelbarrow pushers or Keke NAPEP drivers. They were terrorists planning to wreck havoc like their blood-mongering brothers did in Kenya. But God destroyed their evil plans and shamed their sponsors. I think the Nigerian media should not rush to conclusions on a security matter as sensitive as terrorism. You don’t, and cannot have all the information. The SSS had correct information. The Army had correct information. The president had correct information, and he told you they confessed. Let us be patriotic. Let us place Nigeria above all other considerations. –Rev. Gabriel Oyediji, Christ’s Compassion Ministries, Lagos.
Selective writing
When Igbos are being killed in their thousands in the north with northern Christians, you journalists will never see anything to write. It’s only when security agents kill two or three so-called mallams or Boko Haram that you people would know how to write. –Anonymous, 07058712715
Why worry about the dead?
I don’t know why you are not worried about those Gudus still lying critically ill in the hospital so that they will not die mysteriously. You are worried about those already wasted by unknown soldiers. Are you not a Nigerian? Please, write on something else. …Our rulers are still very much in charge and in full control. –Mafe A.J., 08098949479
Like Gudu 10, like Apo 6?
GUDU 10 + APO 6 = Nigerians.
We demand to know the identities of the GUDU 10. We would like to know whether they were terrorists or poor, innocent Nigerians. We also demand to know what happened to the case of the APO 6, the six innocent Nigerians, all of Igbo descent, who were killed by the police?
–Cletus Ozoelo. 08168763634, Enugu
The Agagu plane crash
Wickedness has covered the land
We have lost our sense of sympathy, pity, love consolation, and human feeling. Cruelty has overspread the land. We have a whole lot of self-righteous people who talk and write loosely about the death (as seen in the social media in the immediate aftermath of the plane crash that killed 14 of the 20 people flying with Agagu’s corpse to Akure). –Noah Sule, 08095683807
May God heal their hurt
I read your piece (on the cruel fate that visited the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu even in death). It was a wonderful one. It beats me hollow that some people would make wicked insinuations about the dead like some people did after the crash. Some people were saying he must be a wicked person. Some were saying maybe he was a cultist. That’s wicked. I believe God knows better. God rest their souls. For the families that lost their dear ones, may God heal their hurt and fill all void. –Agnes Okon, 08066093177, Calabar
That Presidential Media Chat…
You’ve sealed our hope
Prof., do you see why I had to forward my reservations which you replied? For my readership club and I, you are professorial in your articles. We read your articles as synthesizer of our democracy. But that presidential chat sealed our hope in you for us.
–Dennis Nyoroh, 08033769796, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
Why did Jonathan dodge the issue of Shekau?
Glad to watch you on the Presidential Media Chat. Many people may spot different things but for God’s sake, how can the President say he does not know whether Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram? The implication is too much for imagination. –Benkay, 08185414700
The whole story, please
Good reporting, Shola. But what did you guys eat for dinner with the President?
–Etim Etim, 07034109724
You guys?
I wonder where you and your colleagues get your strength. I enjoy your write-ups a lot. I watched your interview with the president … –An unemployed youth, 08038679734