LAGOS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The wanton killing of over 70 persons in Nyanya, a suburb of Abuja, Nigeria's capital city on Monday is the latest shocking reminder that the West African country is fast drifting into a state of anomie reminiscent of Thomas Hobbes state of nature where life is said to be nasty, brutish and short.

Most of the affected people met their tragic end after a powerful bomb planted in a Volkswagen Golf car ripped through a packed bus station, killing 71 person and injuring some 123 people.

Those injured were receiving treatment in hospitals within Nyanya and other parts of the Federal Capital Territory.

About 16 luxurious buses were torched and 24 vehicles of assorted make were equally damaged.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the nature of the attack bears the signature of Boko Haram, an Islamist terror group operating from northeastern Nigeria.

The sect has proved to be a major security threat in the West African country since 2009.

The Abuja killing is tragic development signposts a violent campaign taken too far. And the question may be asked What end do perpetrators of this dastardly act actually want to achieve with the cold-blooded murder of these young, innocent and defenseless students? Again, another question that urgently begs an answer: What exactly is the ideology and rationale behind this kind of senseless and horrific killings?

This is the time for all well-meaning Nigerians to stand up to condemn these barbaric killings before the nation slides into anarchy. It is no time for rhetoric and half hearted condemnation.

The government must act decisively now. President Goodluck Jonathan should urgently initiate fundamental changes in the security strategy to end continuing civilian casualties and a climate of insecurity across the country.

Nigerians have heard promises from this government before that it would take all possible steps to prevent bombing tragedies and citizens' deaths and injuries.

As a first step, the government must swiftly, transparently and thoroughly investigate the killings, make the findings public and bring anyone suspected to be involved to justice.

Nigerians are reeling from so much loss, and this government should do everything possible to ensure that disasters like that of Nyanya Motor Park are not repeated.

In another development, there appears to be more to the bloodletting in the West African country as the Boko Haram fighters continued their killing spree as they killed no fewer than 60 persons in Ngoshe and Kaigamari villages of northeast Borno State close to the border with Cameroon on Sunday.

Before that, the suspected terrorists massacred more than 200 persons including students who were writing their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Borno on Saturday.

The terrorists also set ablaze many houses, shops, telecommunication masts and other property worth millions of naira.

While the families of the victims try to come to terms with this brutal murder of their beloved innocent children, they may get scant comfort from the expected vacuous condemnation from officials of government at all levels which is the traditional response to the seemingly long serial of mindless killings of innocent Nigerians in recent time.