NIGERIA: A COUNTRY IN GRIP OF VIOLENCE

Lord Fredrick Lugard, one-time governor general of Nigeria, didn’t get the consent of the people of Nigeria before he cobbled the northern and southern protectorates together. And, his wife, Christine Shaw, christened the geographical space Nigeria. That’s how the disparate ethnic entities came together to become Nigeria. So, owing to our country’s heterogeneous nature, we embraced and adopted the federal system of government.

However, today, not a few federal nation-states have collapsed. The USSR that was made up of 15 republics dismembered irrespective of its implementation of the policy of perestroika and glasnost. Yugoslavia broke up, too. And some countries emerged from Czechoslovakia after it had disintegrated. On the African continent, Eritrea pulled out of Ethiopia while Somaliland emerged from Somali. After suffering

years of bloody conflicts, Sudan was bifurcated with South Sudan emerging from it.

Till now, some heterogeneous countries on the African continent with are still being buffeted by bloody conflicts. In Kenya, the Lou and Kikuyu people(s) who are acutely aware of their different ethnic origins are still locked in the battle for political dominance and supremacy. In Cameroun where Paul Biya is in the saddle of power for decades, the English-speaking people there are ceaselessly agitating for state-hood .Like the afore-mentioned African countries, Nigeria has had its fair share of violence and ethnic troubles dating back to the colonial era. In 1953, the northern people threatened secession in their nine- point programme. Adaka Isaac Boro declared the Niger-Delta republic in 1963; however, it was short-lived. And, the Nigeria- Biafra war raged between 1967 and 1970 with its devastating consequences.

Since the end of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, Nigeria hasn’t known true peace, as ethno-religious and political troubles have become features of our national life. After the cancelled June 12, 1993 Presidential election, Sani Abacha shoved aside Ernest Shonekan, the interim president, and instituted a reign of terror in Nigeria.

Today, Boko Haram, a deadly insurgent group, has emerged in the north. Their hatred or distaste for western education underpins their philosophy. The crazed and murderous insurgents have seized the north-east of Nigeria by the jugular, killing people and taking female students captive. Some years ago, the Boko Haram group raided Chibok Girls’ Secondary in Borno State and took many school girls captive. It took intense negotiations between the federal government and members of the Boko Haram group before some of the girls were released from captivity.

Last year, the insurgents raided Dapchi Girls’ Technical College, Yobe and abducted school girls. While other girls who are Moslems had been released and united with their families, Leah Sharibu is still in captivity for holding fast to her Christian faith.

While the Boko Haram insurgency has remained unabated, the Fulani herdsmen are causing havoc in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The Fulani cattle herders, who have encircled proprietary hands of kinship around Aso Rock, the seat of power, are emboldened in their despicable acts of homicide because of the indifference and inaction of President Buhari. From Lafia to Taraba, and from Enugu to Anambra, the Fulani cattle herders have run amuck, killing people and destroying the farmlands of farmers in their host communities. In the past week, they raided a community in Anambra West Local Government in Anambra State and killed six people. Where are the killers?

In addition, in Zamfara State where governance is on recess for many years, the state government is conceding the state to the rampaging bandits. In Zamfara, anarchy reigns while Governor Yari, a globetrotter, is keen on satisfying and fulfilling his wanderlust desires. In other states like Kastina and Kaduna, pockets of violence do erupt there causing loss of human lives and property.

Nigeria has returned to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is short, brutish, and nasty. In today’s Nigeria, we do not place high premium on human lives. That’s why a trigger-happy policeman shot and killed Kolade Johnson, recently, for violating no laws of Nigeria. Now, teenage school boys, who are cultists relish listening to mordant tales instead of imbibing the habit of reading. Now, the entire south-east is suffering from the infestation of cultism with its attendant deaths of young people. Chiedu Uche Okoye, Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State