YOUR LAND OR YOUR LIFE: GARBAGE FROM THE SEAT OF POWER
and that they need grazing areas for their herds.
Closely associated with this, is the narrative that the killings going on, are caused by anti-grazing laws passed by some State Governments.
The latest narrative, is that Politicians, to score some cheap political points, sponsor the killings. Which of these many and varied narratives, should Nigerians believe? The diverse and often conflicting reasons advanced by the Presidency, has resulted in considerable distrust, between the rulers and the governed. The problem is compounded by the fact that, none of the narrations can stand scrutiny. If for instance, the perpetrators are terrorists from Libya, do they have immunity from legal process? Why did the Government allow them to enter Nigeria? Don’t we have an immigration service any more? If they entered illegally; why have they not been arrested? Why hasn’t the Government worked with the international community, to have them labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly? The truth is that, information management by
Government in so far as this issue is concerned, is abysmally poor.
Adverse Consequences And the adverse consequences of poverty of ideas on the part of Government on how to manage the crisis, is that the citizens of
Nigeria, rightly or wrongly, are now giving their own dangerous interpretations to the crisis. Some say it is a religious war. Others say that, it is ethnic cleansing. Yet to some others, it is an ad mixture of both. If it is indeed a religious war, what of the killings in Zamfara State, which is a predominantly Muslim State? The inept administration of President Buhari, has created all sorts of divisions in the land, leaving the nation gasping for life.
Now it is the height of insensitivity, to ask the emotionally, psychologically, socially and the physically traumatised people of the affected States, to choose between their lives and their land, as the Presidency has done. In asking them to choose between a rock and a hard place, the Presidency has forgotten completely that, the primary purpose of Government, is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. At least, so says our Constitution, now being thoroughly abused by those who swore to defend and protect it.
The right to life and property, are fundamental rights guaranteed by the same Constitution, that is now being thoroughly observed in its breach, than observance by the Federal Government.
When the Government gave the victims of violence, the Hobson’s choice between their lives and their property, it was abdicating its primary constitutional role to protect the lives and property of the citizens. In any event, the Presidency in issuing the declaration, sided with the aggressors instead of protecting the victims. That really is a shame.
Finally, let us revisit the various Government narratives. If Muammar Gadhafi escapee terrorists, are the ones perpetrating the killings in our country as postulated by Government, is the government now asking the indigenous people to give up their lands for Libyan terrorists? Or if the killings are being done or sponsored by discredited Politicians, why should the Government ask the indigenous people to give up their land, so that peace may return. All the Government narratives on this issue, do not make sense. To me, they appear to be half-baked, manufactured falsehoods.
Who Owns the Land? It was the late apostle of Oziddism, the inimitable Sunny Okosun, who in his very popular song titled ‘Papa’s Land’, told the now defunct apartheid regime, that he wanted to know who owns the land of South Africa. I am sure the affected people of the different geopolitical zones in Nigeria, who are being asked to give up their land for cattle rearing or die, will ask the Presidency the same question: who owns the land? If the victims are the owners of the land, must it be taken by force? These questions are pertinent, because the Federal Government of Nigeria is not the owner of the land it is coveting. If the truth must be told, the land existed before Mungo Park and the Lander brothers, discovered the River Niger. The land was there, before Lord Lugard came to forcibly carry out the amalgamation of the Protectorates of the then Northern and Southern Nigeria. The various indigenous people that had been there even before constitutionalism was enthroned in Nigeria, own the land in Nigeria. The Government, for peace to return, must respect this fact. A peace forcibly extracted through the barrel of the gun either by terrorists or by herdsmen or by discredited Politicians or even by the Government itself, is a crisis postponed.
“NOW IT IS THE HEIGHT OF INSENSITIVITY, TO ASK THE EMOTIONALLY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY, SOCIALLY AND THE PHYSICALLY TRAUMATISED PEOPLE OF THE AFFECTED STATES, TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEIR LIVES AND THEIR LAND, AS THE PRESIDENCY HAS DONE”