By Zik Gbemre

We condemn in the strongest terms the terror attack in France on Thursday July 14, 2016, when a deranged truck driver was said to have ploughed into a crowd in the French resort of Nice, leaving at least 84 dead and scores injured as at the time of writing this, after a Bastille Day fireworks display.

ATTENTION EDITORS – VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH – Bodies are seen on the ground July 15, 2016 after at least 30 people were killed in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday July 14. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

We were left in shock as we watched the graphic content of the said attack as a white truck driver, who was later shot dead after barreling down the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, driving at high speed across two kilometres (1.3 miles) onto the seaside road and through the crowd.

No matter what was used to try to justify this criminal act, no human being has the right to take the life of another, not to talk so much number of people, regardless of anything. This senseless and brutal killing is absolutely bad and ungodly. There is no religion in the world that preaches murder or the act of ending the lives of others.

While we sympathize and commensurate with the French Government and the French people over this rather unfortunate incident, we also consider it necessary to advise them and other countries around the world, including Nigeria, to strengthen, tighten and beef up its security and intelligence gathering whenever there is a public gathering of any event.

This latest attack in France seems to be a new style/strategy of terrorist attacks that is different from their usual use of Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs) and firearms on (soft) targets. Let this latest mindless and barbaric bloodshed in France, which came eight months after Islamic State jihadist attacks on Paris nightspots left 130 people dead, be another eye-opener for Governments and Security Authorities/Operatives across the globe to wise up, seat up and be proactive in ensuring the security of lives and property of its citizens. When trucks are now used as ‘weapons’ for terror attacks, no country is free from such terror attacks; it is the responsibility of every Government in every country to prevent this from happening.  We all must stand together as humanity demands to fight terrorism by all means necessary because these terror attacks are meant to instill fear and panic amongst patriotic citizens of nations. THE WAR ON TERROR MUST BE WON AT ALL COST.

Zik Gbemre, JP.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)