What is there to be proud of in this country Nigeria? You are here this second but may not be here the next. Not because your maker has called you home but because some demented servant of satan has determined to cut your life short for no reason.
Nigeria has degenerated into a minefield of death, a thick forest littered with bones of its own, which it has devoured. At every provocation, or no provocation at all, blood flows unrestrained into the murky waters. People have sold their consciences to the devil and the only way to serve this god is to shed innocent blood.
Take the just concluded elections, for instance. Politicians shed much blood for them to attain power to ‘serve’ the people. We were witnesses to the just concluded exercise, especially in Rivers and Bayelsa states, where many lives were mauled in exhibitionist power tussle. Human rights activists put the number of dead at almost 50 but it is suspected to be more than that. It is ironical that politicians kill the people they purportedly want to serve.
When did it become egalitarian to kill for service? If the people want you and you truly desire to serve them, must you force your way to to power? If they ended up killing all of us, who would be left for them to serve? I suppose they would now have the common till that was their target all to themselves till they begin to devour themselves and leave the country totally bereft.
I pity the foolish youths that allowed themselves. They would ship their loved ones to safety but push the useless dregs of society to do the mean work for them. They deliberately emasculate these youths and preserve them for use every four years when they would unleash them on the society to snatch ballot boxes, kill and maim. But it never occurs to these misused individuals to ask their sponsors to bring their children to lead the attack.
Unfortunately, the ripples of the misadventure is long in abating. Having armed these hoodlums on their way to power, the politicians didn’t demobilise and disarm their goons. They become content with the spoils of office to bother. They would secure themselves but the evil army they created now vent their anger and frustration on a hapless society, turning the guns on everyone and everything. Now kidnapping, robbery and sundry crimes is rife, making the society very unsafe and unwholesome.
This is even the lesser evil compared to worrisome activities of security operatives. They are paid to protect the people but oftentimes become harbingers of death.
They are everywhere around us. They were chief architects of the Rivers and Bayelsa gory incidents. They took down handsome and harmless Kolade Johnson, who ran away from his base in South Africa because of xenophobic attack, only to be cut down in his own fatherland. What an irony!
Its not only Johnson. There was also the poor hunter up North that brought several of his members out on the streets to protest. There was the little schoolgirl killed while assisting her mother at her bukka. So many Nigerians are killed daily by the police, especially. The change of name from SARS to FSARS has done nothing to reform the killer squad. Once these guys are given uniforms and armed, a different spirit possesses them; a fake spirit of invincibility and omnipotence, that would not leave them until assuaged by blood.
I watched a surreal video clip of policemen in serious combat over who would hold the gun assigned to a patrol team. It did not make sense to me and my heart kept pounding, fearing their usual accidental discharge but thankfully, it never did. I hope the authorities have also seen the video and done something about it.
All over the city, you see poorly dressed policemen, prowling with guns carelessly slung over drooping shoulders. They would commandeer commercial buses and order the passengers out because they need the bus for operation. Haba! They don’t care about the inconvenience they cause people, who had already paid their fare. They don’t care about the bus owner, who invested in the business to fend for his family. And, of course, nobody dares ask them question, not to talk of refusing to surrender the bus to them.
Even operatives of the OP-MESA team are not left out, as you see them visiting bus stops, keke and okada parks every morning and evening to collect ‘protection money’.
What manner of country is this? Where does the budget for the police and army go? How safe is it for these frustrated men to parade the civil communities unchecked with deadly weapons? When they kill, they would always blame it on accidental discharge? How can this be stopped? By the way, who told police that Public Relations is dishing out lies?
What angers me is that there are far too many security operatives who have given themselves to this job, making untold sacrifices daily to secure the country, only to be rubbished by these few bad eggs from top to bottom. Until the authorities addressed this rot and purge the system of these harbingers of woe, there would always be crisis and the public would never trust the police.
The country is contending with multiple security issues, ranging from the intractable Boko Haram insurgency to its kindred spirit called killer herdsmen. The insurgents, we are told, had been defeated many times, technically (no matter what that means) but they still security threat.
The herdsmen are back in business, consciencelessly feeding people’s sweat to their cows and killing the owners if they protest. Everywhere, from the East to West, North and South, there are blood trails all over, with new entrants. Bandits are all over the place, besieging Southern Kaduna and Zamfara and even the president’s home state, Katsina. The Zamfara debacle is such that even the governor was ready to vacate power for emergency rule because of the unrelenting waste of lives mostly orchestrated by an organised syndicate of illegal miners.
The blood of innocent Nigerians are wantonly splashed on the flag, smudging it. Perhaps, it is a good that Buhari is back in power. It is very reasonable then to expect that one of the first things the president must do, as we move to the Next Level is to tackle the insecurity menace so that Nigerians can sleep with both eyes closed.
It is also good that the president has again promised to do everything to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls that the recalcitrant Boko Haram gangsters abducted five years ago as well as the Christian heroine, Leah Sharibu, who was also snitched from Dapchi, Yobe State, Two years ago by the same Frankenstein. The promise is one too many and seems to be coming from a broken tom-tom. Nigerians want the innocent girls freed, not empty promises.
The time to do that is NOW. That is what Nigerians voted for and nothing short of that is acceptable.
Is that there are far too many security operatives, who have given themselves to this job, making untold sacrifices daily to secure the country, only to be rubbished by these few bad eggs from top to bottom. Until the authorities addressed this rot and purge the system of these harbingers of woe, there would always be crisis and the public would never trust the police.
The country is contending with multiple security issues, ranging from the intractable Boko Haram insurgency to its kindred spirit called killer herdsmen. The insurgents, we are told, had been defeated many times, technically or otherwise but they still security threat.
The herdsmen are back in business, consciencelessly feeding people’s sweat to their cows and killing the owners if they protest. Everywhere, from the East to West, North and South, there are blood trails all over, with new entrants. Bandits are all over the place, besieging Southern Kaduna and Zamfara and even the president’s home state, Katsina. The Zamfara debacle is such that even the governor was ready to vacate power for emergency rule because of the unrelenting waste of lives mostly orchestrated by an organised syndicate of illegal miners.
The blood of innocent Nigerians are wantonly splashed on the flag, smudging it. Perhaps, it is a good that Buhari is back in power. It is very reasonable then to expect that one of the first things the president must do, as we move to the Next Level is to tackle the insecurity menace so that Nigerians can sleep with both eyes closed.
It is also good that the president has again promised to do everything to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls that the recalcitrant Boko Haram gangsters abducted five years ago as well as the Christian heroine, Leah Sharibu, who was also snitched from Dapchi, Yobe State, two years ago by the same Frankenstein. The promise is one too many and seems to be coming from a broken tom-tom. Nigerians want the innocent girls freed, not empty promises. The time to do that is NOW. That is what Nigerians voted for and nothing short of that is acceptable.