On the mindless violence from the east
There is no justification for what is happening in the Southeast. But then, there is no justification for pretty much anything in Naija. Our incapacitation in the face of our great potentials cannot be rationalized. Our leaders are our ruiners, they fail in every sphere except when it concerns their welfare where they stuff themselves until they throw up on our feet.
Where the state has failed, the army is called in to maintain internal law and order. In carrying out that assignment, they use misanthropic tactics against the citizenry, strategies prohibited in open warfare. The Biafraud army of malcontent youngsters weaned on the diet of video games see war as a pastime. Sense and logic are not necessary in make belief, but they are essential in life. Where on earth is it permitted to openly move from country to country-canvassing money to buy arms against one’s own country? If that happened even in America, the law of sedition would apply.
It is not okay for anyone on bail to flagrantly violate the conditions of their bail. Nnamdi Kanu, the Nigerian with dual citizenship has broken every rule and his father, a paramount chief is in cahoots. The natural elders in his clan including his governor would rather dialogue than caution him. There’s only one natural conjecture to all this; they don’t have the balls to do what he’s doing, but inwardly hopes it succeeds, because they believe they all stand to gain! They should listen to Chukwuma Soludo!
When the idiots calling themselves Arewa Youths issued an ultimatum to Igbos in the north, Nasir el-Rufai promised to get them arrested. El-Rufai does not make empty threats as anyone familiar with the saga of Luka Binniyat knows. But when it comes to Arewa Youths, not even el-Rufai could herd them to the law - they became agent provocateur of no fixed address. As eastern governors brokered the deal to meet with Kanu the outlaw, the GPS of northern governors and elders discovered the location of Arewa Youths. They got them to withdraw their ultimatum! To gain attention in our land, say the incredible or do the impossible and you could be on your way to notoriety and easy money ask Niger-Delta militants.
The same army who were teased in the day but went on rampage in the night with El-Zakzaki and his crew kicked off Operation Python Dance around Kanu’s fraudulent Ipob headquarters. Yet we witnessed Anambra state under Peter Obi destroy the homes of kidnappers but Kanu’s family compound became reinforced with his Biafraud secret police. None of his kinsmen in federal cabinet, legislature or elsewhere has resigned, but none has condemned his macabre dance with death. This is an implausible scenario even in a Banana Republic.
Why do we let crisis fester because we want to make millionaires of charlatans. We paved the way for a Dr Davis to fly in and make money purportedly brokering peace with Boko Haram. Where was intelligence gathering when Mohammed Yusuf was chief consultant to the ruling elites of his clan? Where were they when his sermons changed or when he started stockpiling arms? We waited until his public extra-judicial execution triggered his demented followers to unleash full-fledged war on the nation just like his uncle, Maitatsine.
Yet we have agencies like the DMI, NIA, DSS and the CIA tasked with intelligence gathering to help nip crises in the bud and keep our country safe with stupendous budgets. Apparently they’re always caught napping, never having the conscience to resign and with government not having the balls to fire them and reposition their agencies. Biafra is happening and we’re still here.
With the strong arm tactic displayed by soldiers during the week as shown in a viral video on social media, miscreants took over major highways in Aba and Port Harcourt baying for the blood of the innocent Hausa/Fulani - this nation is virtually finished while its leaders carry on - business as usual. The army kept deflecting and hushing up the story using puerile tactics. Leadership at all levels kept dubiously quiet except for plans for elections, which they rig anyway. It appears the attitude is that people should die, the nation should burn, but elections must hold to give the semblance of democracy. Nothing else matters. It is even rumoured that our president would be in New York attending a UN meeting. The miscreants looking to cleanse Igboland of the Hausa/Fulani forget that there are Igbos elsewhere whose safety and security would be jeopardized by their insane actions or perhaps they just don’t care. The Hausa/Fulani that are likely to target Igbos in their midst forget that they have kinsmen all across the country whose security would be jeopardized. This country needs a leadership that cares, not one that is perpetually AWOL.
In the age of social media, nobody gets away with blue murder anymore. Laurent Gbagbo, Charles Taylor, and the zeroes that stoked ethnic cleansing in Rwanda ran but no place could hide from the long arm of justice. Unfortunately, the land on which they perpetrated their horrendous act still suffers.
The soldiers dehumanising unarmed civilians would not always be unknown, they would find their day at The Hague and their names in the book of infamy. Vicariously, those who goad them on with their very loud silence would be called to answer along with their Internet trolls. There is no moral right for any of our leaders to speak on the Rohingya because we are all Rohingyas with the forces of mindless violence unleashed on our land. Immunity where it exists is not eternal even for those recycling themselves to keep it relevant. If earthly courts don’t condemn you, your children would carry the scars of your insouciance to their shame.