By Farooq Kperogi

I have just finished watching the videos and photographs of the unspeakably bloodcurdling carnage Boko Haram has unleashed in and around Maiduguri, and I am left shuddering in absolute disbelief at the scale of the horror.

It is the sort of violence that at once numbs the senses and chills the soul.

At this rate, the unthinkable no longer feels remote. The prospect of Maiduguri slipping from state control is no longer idle speculation, and the implications are grave.

In moments like this, leadership is measured by symbolic presence. A competent, attentive, and empathetic commander-in-chief would interrupt whatever engagements hold him abroad and return home, if only to stand with a grieving nation and affirm that the country is not alone in its anguish.