Nigeria Is Bleeding
I have been very careful about discerning the true meaning of the present pathetic situation in Nigeria. It was not because I lacked an accurate definition of a country named Nigeria, but the truth is that, I don’t really know what Nigeria stands for in the now and in the future. A country so entrenched in an ugly stench of reactive policy objective rather than being a country where the consistence of proactiveness policy enforcement must be sacrosanct. Many people have called it Banana Republic, some Zoo enclave while some, Nigga. Whichever, it’s even more distorting when in the euphoric illusion of democracy, militarism has become synonymous to all Nigerians’ dictatorship bondage, and exclusively, a nation where the citizens’ lives and properties have become the routines of government’s unconcerned nature.
Few days ago, many communities in the plateau, Benue, Niger and Kaduna States were sacked by Fulani herdsmen or marauding insurgents. Many Nigerians were gruesomely murdered in their ancestral homes. Yet, the government didn’t feel like losing human beings. In France, only five people were killed, the government declared a mourning mood with President Macron visiting the victims relations and cancelling his oversea engagements. In Kenya, six people lost their lives in the last election, an inquiry committee was set up with GEJ nominated to be part of the committee.
Lives don’t have any value in Nigeria anymore. FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, we have become ruthless in our hearts that if it doesn’t touch me, it’s a fairytale.
Many Nigerians are not sure if Nigeria is a country, or a collaborative organisation where few terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and criminals in power have the absolute mandate to govern the docile citizens.
In a space of two months, Nigeria experienced five power grid collapse.
63 years down the line of NIGERIA’S independence, we cannot fix our electricity, education, infrastructures, economy, security, healthcare, industries etc, and yet, we can donate $1M to Afghanistan country, a country who has no regard to human rights or women emancipation. We sounded like a story of a man, whose household is starving but prides to the public as a man in abundance. As fathers and mothers without any iota of morality values and principles, many of our leaders are still traveling to UK, Dubai, US, India, Germany etc on vacation, medical tourism and looting warehousing.
Let me talk about our media houses that have reduced themselves from investigative journalism to government aprons. Today, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has become synonymous with dictatorship bondage against the media houses. Press freedom PHILOSOPHY of journalism professionalism started and ended with Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbase, Dele Giwa and a few others.
For everytime that I am a guest to any media house, I am always warned that my views are exclusively mine, and not the station’s. Sometimes, I get embarrassed by such opening caveat that has the tendency of inflicting fears into me, and the result being that my views may be watered down in order to suit the draconian circulars or dictates from NBC.
The main problem why insurgents and terrorists are having field control of Nigeria space was because the media has gone hidden from its sole responsibility of educating the people on the true state of events in Nigeria. Our media houses have solace in broadcasting Russia and Ukraine war, with the stench of western world hypocrisy, but are afraid to report the atrocities in their own domains.
I was shocked at one of my media chats discussions, when the moderator pleaded with me to refer to terrorists as bandits. When I inquired, it happened that it was a mandate from NBC. An enclosure where Lai Mohammed publicly said that terrorists are just armed robbers while IPOB are terrorists. He even went further to detonate the difference between terrorists and IPOB as Apple versus Orange. It buttressed the earlier stance of Governor el Rufia assertion that bandits are business men, preferred to separatist like IPOB, or other self-determination groups. Bandits to him were collection of independent criminals.
The sad news about our media houses is that they are behaving as if they’re not aware of our insecurity problems. They feel ignorant of the atrocities, and always asking for evidence to prove that bandits are terrorists.
Who is in Nigeria presently that will argue as if he or she is not aware of the fundamental issue of our insecurity situation?
We have seen many governors and political leaders pointing out clearly and in public domains of those who brought these terrorists into Nigeria. It was an open secret when some notable Nigerians have accused the present regime of the import of terrorists because of 2015 elections. el Rufia has recently opened up the carnage offshoot when he called the president to end the insurgents’ atrocities. He went further to state that the government knows these bandits’ phone numbers, locations and bank accounts. General TY Danjuma was very blunt in his assertion of a pre-planned ethnic cleansing disorder that was orchestrated by the new emerging armed bandits. He went further to accuse the military’s non-neutrality stance in the protection and facilitation of the armed bandits’ operations and movements.
It’s becoming increasingly disruptive to hear that soldiers in Ondo State are now escorting herdsmen to destroy people’s family lands. A confrontation between Amotekun and herdsmen incursions was rebuffed by the soldiers. On January 18, 2021, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu gave a seven-day order for herdsmen to vacate Ondo State forests. The presidency, Miyetti Allah group and some Northern Governors attacked him. The same last year, a Federal High Court declared bandits as terrorists, and till date, the Federal government of Nigeria has remained resolute as the president only asked the security agencies to shoot only bandits seen in public places with Ak47 guns. The question is, how many people could carry Ak47 guns in the open? The Court’s declaration could have been an authorised basis for our security agencies to bomb all the locations of these terrorists’ hideouts.
Was General TY Danjuma right in his public allegations?
In Cross River State, Ogoja precisely, some herdsmen caught by the community vigilantes were seen with military uniforms and ammunitions.
Sunday Igboho’s case is still very fresh. Some DSS members invaded his house, and at first, they denied being part of the invasion until they were identified. Before their identities were uncovered, the news headlines were chiming out ‘Unknown Gunmen Invaded Igboho’s home’. Just a few days ago, the legal luminary, Femi Falana revealed publicly that civilian arrests and detentions were not part of DSS functionalities. DSS main objective is to ensure that internal security architecture of Nigeria is monitored through intelligence gathering and actions.
For some time now, South East has become a new enclave of the same unknown gunmen. Many local governments’ headquarters in Imo and Anambra have been inundated with series of unknown gunmen attacks without any culprits. Last year, an unknown gunman was shot dead by the police, but only to be discovered as a member of DSS in Imo State.
This kind of oppression from double-faced government will naturally brew resistance from the people. Governor Ortom has emboldened his people to defend themselves against herdsmen intruders. It’s becoming very uncertain about who these unknown gunmen are, especially in South East. I don’t want to believe that Igbos from the South East would like to visit the kind of violence that they are witnessing right now upon themselves. How can we be sure that what is happening now does not have the involvement of the state? The late Gen. Sani Abacha aptly summarised the truth about insurgency escalation when he said that, “If insurgency lasts for more than 24 hours, the government has a hand in it”
I have taken some time to research on why MNK and Sunday Igboho were enemies of Nigeria, and my conclusion was very clear. I didn’t see Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with a gun or demanding for ransoms, kidnapping or destroying other ethnic nationalities homelands. Yes, he may have talked too much, but he’s expressing his freedom of speech, right and privilege. People are born with diverse nature, and we must treat people with respect to their averred opinions. The same scenario was the exact idea about Sunday Igboho’s case. Meanwhile, agitation for freedom is the basic principle of human associations and relationships.
These two never waged war against Nigeria or Nigerians, but were of their own opinions, felt like asking for freedom for their tribes. But on another clime, we have seen people waging war against Nigeria and Nigerians, but instead of arresting them or calling them terrorists, we are busy pacifying their atrocities with VIP treatments. They can walk in, throw their hands up and surrendered. The next day, it will be published in the media houses, and with funfair, assimilate into the society as if they never committed any crimes. These are enemies of Nigeria, who have killed more than 700 soldiers, uncountable police officers and thousands of Nigerians, with many maimed and their ancestral lands destroyed. Like a people under a spell, we bleed in fear of tomorrow, and shamelessly pretend that all is well in Nigeria.
On the 10th of April, 2022, the newsstand was agog with an alleged secessionist declaration of the President of Arewa Youths forum. He vowed that if APC or PDP gives any South East candidate the mandate of vying for the president of Nigeria in 2023, he would declare Northern Independence from Nigeria. If such a volatile statement had come out from South East or South West organisation, the leaders would have been under siege, and probably in DSS detention camps.
When I wrote last week on, ‘what’s the crime of Igbos to Nigeria?’ many tribalists took my position as a tribal propagation. The truth is that our media houses have failed woefully in Nigeria, and only few of us are risking our lives for a better tomorrow for our children.
It’s equally a pity that the security agencies being used to trap and oppress Nigerians have their relations and family members in this same sordid situation. No one is interested in destabilising his or her country, because, Nigeria as at today is our country, but every Nigerian should have equal rights and privileges irrespective of birthplace or religion.
Several days have gone, and those kidnapped in Kaduna train hijack are still languishing in the forest. There was a video clip of a drone showing the terrorists’ location in Kaduna State, but nothing seemed to be done. The release of Alwan Hassan, MD, Bank of Agriculture (BOA) by the terrorists may not be as physically portrayed in the public. Even at that, we thank God Almighty for his release, and equally, beg the religious beliefs terrorists to use the same Ramadan doctrine to release the rest of their captors. That way, we will all understand that they are indeed very upright in their religious beliefs.
There are many voices of Jacob and hands of Esau in Nigeria, and except our President, who’s our Commander-in-Chief decides to clear the air about who’s Jacob and Esau, we will continue to lament on our pretentious nature that all is well with Nigeria.
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