Nigeria: A nation or animal farm?

Is Nigeria still a pretend nation or a pure animal farm? It used to take being Bohemian to live in this country. Recent developments are showing that being called a Nigerian is no longer so hype. Of course, the government is guilty as hell for the state of insecurity we’re in and the refusal to take responsibility for a failed state; but we, the people are constantly confirming that our leadership is a reflection of our individual core values.

Stories of the bizarre and the incredulous continue to dominate national headlines. They portray the image of a nation at war with itself under a regime elected to preserve that unenviable status quo. It is not about what our ruiners are doing to us, but what we are doing to ourselves. The types of reports we are confronted with show that the apple does not fall very far from the tree. While the government, its agents and partners flagrantly violate the rights of the citizenry; the citizens themselves are in the habit of lording it over one another.

The reports of the inhumanity of citizens to their fellow humans make the living in the jungle look benign. The jungle operates a system where, even the most virulent carnivores hunt only when they are hungry or feel threatened. This explains pictures of lions and the antelope drinking from the same fountain when the former is satiated. Every Nigerian outside government today is either a hunter or the hunted. Uniformed men go out in mufti to hunt down the innocent. They randomly pick them up, run through their phones before forcing them to empty their bank accounts. They then force them to make video recordings incriminating themselves thereby blackmailing them to eternal silence. Who would believe the innocence of a man confessing to a crime under duress?

In Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, a 10-year old boy was rescued from lockdown in his family’s stable. His father reportedly sanctioned this punishment by one of his wives after the boy’s mother died. Video’s show he could hardly stand. He looked like a victim plucked from Hitler’s gas chambers. He has lived with animals in the stable since his mother died, feeding on leftovers thrown at the animals and constantly on his own excrement.

An equally disturbing story emerged from Kano. A 32-year old man was rescued from his stepmother’s prison where he has been detained for seven years for alleged drug use. He was basically all flesh and bones. Two pictures from two cities showing family reaction to perceived mental and psychosocial disorder by parents or guardians.

People who should have their own mental health state evaluated have been allowed to dehumanise other humans who needed nothing but help and possible rehabilitation. In both cases, we see the effect of stigmatisation as a misunderstanding of mental health. AG Ahmed, a neuropsychiatrist would often imply that if these relatives were Dangote, Otedola, Elumelu or any wealthy Nigerian, we would have identified with and not been ashamed of them. Mental health is manageable. It should not be stigmatised.

One could conjecture that if either of these two individuals had died in unlawful custody where autopsies are rare, they would have been buried as victims of death from natural causes.

This is the Nigerian society in the magic year 2020. It is painful and shameful that, even after signing all the protocols on human rights and the dignity of the human person; both the government and society have yet to define who is a human person and what inalienable rights they enjoy under the law. No government at any level has reacted to any of the reports. None has given us even the lame duck assurance of what they intend to do to get justice for the victims and guard against future occurrence.

The matter has simply been dumped in the hands of the overwhelmed and poorly trained police, who are themselves serial abusers of people’s rights. As reflexive reactions go, a father and two wives of the first victim have been arrested. This leaves any other children or ward under their care to the elements since there are no social services to take up this crime.

Normal societies assess the mental health status of the victim and the abuser. They ensure that the government responds to the needs of the victims without neglecting the psychiatric psychological, and social needs of both perpetrator and victim. Agencies are supposed to ensure that while the suspects are being investigated or punished, dependants suffer no vicarious effects.

It is often said that where an outrageous story is exposed, two more are unreported. How many more children and adults are suffering the sentence of parents or guardians locked down to prevent societal embarrassment. The bigger question is what psychiatric or psychological help are there to help these victims or others whose cases would surface perhaps this week or the next?

Somewhere in southern Nigeria, some armed robbers broke into a home. Once inside, they demanded to be catered to. While their meal was being cooked, they picked on the daughters of the house and raped them in the presence of their father. When they were done, they went away with as much cash as they could lay their hands on. Reports say it was a handsome sum of money.

Don’t even imagine the posttraumatic stress of that family, especially the parents who had to witness the violation of their own daughters! How do they cope with life after that?

In Ondo State, an under-aged hawker was lured into an uncompleted building and violently raped by someone pretending to patronise her wares. This type of criminality happens every day of the week.

A video of a domestic servant violated by her master’s husband surfaced on social media. In it, another woman purporting to help her was busy victimising her with questions ranging on her virginity and why she did not report the matter when it happened! Stories of Nigerian men taking undue advantage of younger girls are rife in our society. Randy men see nothing wrong in stealing the innocence of the girl child. Their crazy supporters excuse the violation by demanding what the girl was wearing or when the crime was committed. Indeed in most parts of the globe, sexual offences have no statute of limitation.

In Bauchi, ransom-demanding killers slaughtered a legislator and abducted his two wives and son. Kidnappers randomly target mourners. They capture victims from the cemetery. In Nigeria, even the dead do not rest in peace as the story of some group of persons caught with two human heads portray. These stories show how low we have sunk as a society.

While the security of lives and property is the responsibility of government, we the citizens must learn to protect each other from our predators. The law must send strong signals to violators that it would severely punish those who abuse the humanity of others.

Our society cannot protect us if we prey on each other. It would fail to grant justice for as long as those statutorily responsible for our security keep their uniforms, ranks and perks as prices for incompetence. In 2020, Nigeria and Nigerians deserve to live like citizens in a protected world; this is what having a government and having a working system should guarantee. Until we get there, we are not members of humanity. We won’t be taken seriously as a people, or as a nation. If we place no value on ourselves among ourselves, we cannot expect to be valued anywhere else.