Who Will Save Us From The Herdsmen?

EACH day we hear reports of man’s inhumanity to man through sheer acts of wickedness. The most recent and very gruesome occurrence, is the callous manner in which some suspected Fulani herdsmen murdered two Catholic Priests and 17 others who had come to worship their God early in the morning. They raided a Church, a sacred place of worship and killed the worshippers. On the internet, there is a trending video of herdsmen dressed in choir robe dancing and celebrating after one of such murderous attacks. Re- ports have it that over a thousand Nigerians have been murdered this year alone. Yet, we have leaders who seem helpless in bringing the situation under control. They keep on moving in circles while poor Nigerians are being hacked to death on daily basis. And when you cry out in protest they label you unpatriotic. This is unacceptable!

These days, we are used to hearing of, reading and seeing human corpses lying about, some in decomposing states. On the internet, ghastly pictures of severed human heads and butchered women and children are being circulated across the world. Gory pictures that were hitherto considered abominable are now becoming our daily visual delights, no thanks to the Fulani herdsmen and members of the Boko Haram sect. And what are we all doing about it? Rather than bring the perpetrators to book, we keep on politicising the absurd and spinning ethnic sentiments that would do no one any good. These diabolical acts of deliberate annihilation of fellow humans have now become the order of the day. And it appears the government does not have the wherewithal to end these menace that is fast becoming a genocide of sort.

Life is one of the most precious gifts that God has endowed us with. It is the physical functions of people, animal, and plants. In physical terms, life is the time between birth and death. Through this invaluable gift, which enables us to discover and explore the immeasurable creative ability lying within every one of us, we are also able to appreciate the ingenuity of God who has made all things bright and beautiful for our use. It is the responsibility of every of God’s creature, therefore, to cherish and preserve every life jealously. All those who, through acts of commission or omission cause innocent lives to be wasted, will surely be called to question by God Almighty at the last day. They may, in this physical plain, escape human judgment, not so of the divine.

But for now, how long are we going to fold our arms and watch human lives terminated at will. How long are we going to watch dumbfounded as our neighbours are slaughtered on daily basis like animals? These must stop! I want to implore the president and the security operatives to do everything possible to put an end to these callous acts of terror and unnecessary bloodshed. Enough is enough! •Veryrev.msgr.osu,director,socialcommunications,catholic Archdioceseoflagos.