Saving Nigerians from the land of deaths. The signs are ominously bizzare…the realities inauspiciously threatening to rip apart the tiny fabrics holding the country together. Doting the entire space is blood.
Nigeria has been turned from a land of survivalists to a land of deaths, signposted by a government that is apparently not in touch with what obtains in the land. Who will save Nigerians from the land of blood and deaths?
The gloomy reality is that Nigeria, a country with a glorious past, is now a land of deaths, occasioned by various negativities, including a collapsed economy, mounting hunger and starvation, infrastructural collapse, unbridled public avarice, corruption and uncertainties over security of lives and property, courtesy of the unchecked and uncontrolled activities of marauding terrorists.
Rather than being an exemption, the truth is that we are now in a country where the chances of living up to the next day is at the whims of the wheeler-dealers, both elected and appointive public office holders; and at the caprices of the harbingers of death, the trigger-happy daredevils who derive so much joy in dispatching their fellow humans to the great beyond, through painful and harrowing deaths.
Thousands of Nigerians, across the land, have fallen victims of the deadly and inhuman acts of some faceless animals in human skin (apologies to the Weird One, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti). From the North to the South, across the East to the West, families have been torn apart. Before our very eyes, hundreds of others have become vagabonds and scavengers in their motherland, Nigeria.
These callous humans, called them by any name- kidnappers, armed robbers, killer herdsmen, bandits or terrorists- have taken over the entire landscape. This fact has been attested to by leaders (do they even deserve to be called leaders?) from top to bottom- in the mold of the infamous unpresidential speech of our lame-duck President Muhammadu Buhari- who have been lamenting their helplessness in the wake of the invasion of the land by the dark angels of the night.
When it started out like what looks like skirmishes in some few places here and there, Mr president implored us to see our unfriendly friends as neighbours and accommodate them. The killer-men were subtly encouraged in their murderous acts by all sorts of state policies and statements which portrayed the mindset and leaning of the powers-that-be.
It festered and, now, nowhere and nobody is safe any longer. Nigeria has become a country at a war against itself. At a rate that is alarmingly greater than what was experienced during the 1967-1970 Civil War, Nigeria is now a land soaked with the blood of, not animals, but humans!!!. And this is coming at a period of relative peace (at least, there is no conventional war going on at the moment, both internally and externally).
Emboldened by the unprecedented lackadaisical approach of our so-called leaders (with the exemption of a negligible few), the angels of death have been on the prowl. They steadily, and expectedly, took over the entire landscape, and elevated their murderous acts to a very higher pedestal, unleashing terror and sending Nigerians, irrespective of colour, creed, religion, tribe or age, to their early graves.
The blood-suckers, whenever and wherever they strike, leave in their trails, thousands of fatherless and motherless children who would be at the mercy of nature to survive; many able-bodied young men and women have been buried beneath the land surface; an increasingly aging population of men and women are being left with nobody to cater for and take care of them.
It is quite clear that the Nigerian State has failed in its duties and responsibilities to the country and its people. The leadership, over the years, and especially more recently, has failed to live up to its fundamental essence namely, ensuring security and welfare of the people.
Yes, no country is utopia; there is no part of the world where there is absolute security and total guarantee for the welfare of the people. However, never before in the chequered history of the geographical space called Nigeria has the country witnessed such a massive flow of blood; never before has Nigeria been known to be a land of deaths, occasioned by the blazing guns and matchets of pampered bandits and terrorists.
Kidnappers are on the loose in most of the northern states and elsewhere, demanding for humongous amount in exchange for the lives of their victims. Many of such victims have been killed and maimed, even when the demands of their abductors have been met or partially met.
Instead of government at all levels celebrating and commissioning monumental and developmental projects that can be of immense value to the people and the society, what we are witnessing is daily wailing and gnashing of teeth; a situation whereby state governments are organising mass burials for the victims of kidnaps and killings by terrorists; this is just as the government at the centre would rather resort to writing ‘deep-hearted’ condolence messages to victims of kidnaps and killings and their family, ending up with empty promises to unearth the perpetrators and ensure adequate security of lives and property.
The daring acts of terrorists took a notch higher, assuming a more frightening dimension when the pressumed most secured prison facility in the country, the Kuje Correctional Facility, close to the Abuja seat of power, was bombed, Tuesday night, and nearly one thousand inmates, including suspected kidnappers and terrorists, were freed.
It has been reported that several high-profiled personalities were housemates in Kuje Prison. There is also a very thick rumour of conspiracy in the prison break. This then leads to the questions: “What could have led to the daring act of the masterminds?”; “How could such a facility be left unguarded at the particular hour the evil-minded beasts struck?”
As if the Kuje Prison break is not enough, the daredevils created a more humiliating national embarrassment as they choose same day to take their act to the lion’s den. Signalling the fact that they are a no respecter of anybody, no matter how highly-placed, the devil reincarnates launched a direct assault on Buhari when they attacked the convoy of his advanced team in Katsina, the home state of the Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What a daring effrontery?
Given the lack of confidence of the people in those in position of authority to address the issue of uncertainties over safety of lives and property, occasioned by the increasing spate of insecurity, who then should Nigerians look up to? Who will save Nigerians from the land of deaths where termination of human lives is on the increase, almost on daily basis? What is the fate of Nigerians in the face of the growing uncertainties and hopelessness?
Answers to the above questions are opague. Looking up to the goverment for a guard or buffer against the rampaging angels of death is clearly not an available option yet.
Who, then, will save Nigerians from the land of deaths? Can and will the government, given its apparent helplessness, allow the people to defend themselves? Who is next? Where could be the next possible target of these unrepentant blood-sucking vampires?
Sharing same apprehension, a journalist-colleague and Ogun State Correspondent of the Nigerian Tribune, Yinka Olukoya, commented thus on my Facebook post: “Egbon e, we have been sharing the same thought. Who is the next victim? No where is safe in the country. The most sacred places have been turned into scared places.
“Let me share my experience of last Sunday in my church here: I worshipped at my home church in Ijebu. As I entered the church, I sat beside a total strange man. Virtually all the pews were empty. I was not immediately concerned about the person I was sitting next with. I was bothered about the few number of people in the church at the beginning of the service.
“As I was about to pray, one of our wardens came to me and informed me that the person I was sitting with was attending the church for the first time. I was not bothered. However, I began to entertain fear when the guy moved closer to me. I was like ‘what was this man up to’. He has a blinded eye. There and then, I thought of changing my sitting position.”
“The man asked me if I can share the hymns on my phone with him. He addressed me in pidgin English. I asked if he does not understand Yoruba Language and he replied yes. I told him the hymns were written in Yoruba Language and that the service is for a Yoruba-speaking congregation.
“He was not very comfortable and therefore I summoned courage to ask him few questions while the service was on. He informed me that he is an Hausa man from Tafawa Balewa Village: That he is a Christian and a member of ECWA Church. My pressure came down a bit. He said he would love to leave the service so that he can attend another service where they speak English.
“I alerted security personnel in our church about the development. He was invited outside the church for interrogation. I asked him to declare items in his pocket. He brought out his phone and charger. He said he was not in the church to harm anyone, but to serve God. We directed him to a nearby RCCG.
“However, while this interrogation was going on, some church members were scared because no one knows his mission. Owo attack is still on everyone’s mind. May God deliver us ooo. Let’s be vigilant.”
Another commentator, a respected egbon and a former state Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Dele Morakinyo, expressed his exasperation thus: “My brother, our own Ekiti State is now racing to become the epicenter of kidnapping in Nigeria. It is sad!”
While seeking to mask his frustration, helplessness and hopelessness with the land of death, another egbon, Taiwo Ibrahim, betrayed his emotion as he simply wrote: “It’s now all for God o, and everyone for himself.”
Yet, another brother, Abayomi Salami, wrote: “…we are leadless…They are merely filling space… PMB Govt lost every goodwill to be called a serious govt. They failed 100 per cent in security and welfare of the people…”
Another journalist-colleague, Remi Oladoye, has this to say: “We are all victims, we are all living in fear like a stranger in our domain. It is quite sad that we are where we are now as a nation. Nobody envisaged this! we are not prepared. It shows our leaders are weak.
“Everything about Nigeria is discouraging, but for how long are we going to endure pains, agony and lamentations of killings and abductions? For how long are we going to watch the government destroying public institutions with millions of youth sitting down at home waiting for ASUU to call off strike that is not sure of ending in few months?
“We have to think and act. It is time to eject bad leaders, properly scrutinize the ones coming so that we won’t move a step forward and 30 steps backward.”
Amid the state of despair, dejection and hopelessness, a lone voice in the wilderness, just like John the Baptist in the Bible, Ambassador Akinyemi Farounbi, believes that there is an oasis of life in Nigeria, the land of deaths. In a recent exclusive interview with Newscoven.ng, the revered former Nigerian Envoy to the Philippines, was optimistic that Nigerians would breathe a fresh air and eventually be liberated from their tormentors and their enablers and from the land of deaths.
The seasoned administrator and veteran broadcaster philosophically said: “Let me say this: This change that will come will not be because the mass of the people will just wake up one morning and say they want a change. It will be because there will be oasis of discontent, oasis of intellectual stimulation, oasis of intellectual activity, unrelated and they may not even be aware of themselves, but I know that, as we speak, they are there. There are oases of discontent. There are people who appear to have given up and they have given up because they have no hope, yet they see these oases.
“…There is going to be a coalition of the anti-thesis. They are scattered all over; they are fractionalised; they are disconnected. But as you continue to pauperise the people, you begin to magnify into importance these oases. And, when they begin to network, they bring leadership. Yes they will. It is an inevitable thing that will happen.”
Who will save Nigerians from the land of deaths? Given the rate of despondency, hopelessness and helplessness, occasioned by the harsh economic realities and increasing blood-letting by blood-sucking terrorists, can the hapless Nigerians garner enough strength to unburden the yoke and save themselves from Nigeria, the land of deaths?
•Falade is the Publisher/CEO, Newscoven.ng
NB: UNCERTAIN HOPE
“In the midst of uncertainties over increasing spate of insecurity, and hopelessness of the people being led by a rudderless leadership, the question on my lips this rainy Friday morning is: “Who is (are) going to be the next victim(s) and where is the next target of these daredevils?” (My Facebook post earlier today).
