SHORTLY after reading through Audu Maikori’s narration of the
tragedy befalling the beautiful people of southern Kaduna, I
was left in a state of limbo as to why the Nigerian state have
consistently failed to protect its most vulnerable, why the life
of the average Nigerian isn’t worth as much as that of a cow
and why the agency of government saddled with the prime
responsibility for maintaining internal security has become the
lead cast in this ridiculous show of shenanigans? One would
have thought that the imposition of a 24 hour curfew might
give way for the dust to settle, and even if the people of
southern Kaduna were not planning a merry Christmas, a
peaceful one would surely have sufficed. Sadly, that wasn’t to
be as a group of militia herdsmen brazenly decimated a village
named Goska, leaving about a dozen people dead and
hundreds homeless.
Typical of such attacks was the fact that the militia herdsmen
met no resistance from any of our security operatives and as I
write this piece not a single arrest has been made. What is
more worrisome is that the culprits have been identified as
foreigners who have a score to settle with the people of
southern Kaduna. How low can we go as a nation? That
bandits from neighbouring countries can stroll into our country,
spit on our territorial integrity, massacre our people and then
demand monetary compensation, only to be insulted by Femi
Adesina that the President doesn’t need to speak on the
killings as the governor of Kaduna state is already on top of
things, as if when his boss sends condolence messages to
France and the United states when attacked by terrorists, their
own governments aren’t on top of the matter.
The Global terrorism index has the Fulani herdsmen ranked as
the 4th most deadliest terror group on earth today having
killed thousands of innocent Nigerians. How this constantly
fails to attract the urgent attention of Mr. President is
completely beyond me, not even a sigh of empathy or a show
of solidarity with the people. This is awfully shameful,
insensitive and irresponsible from a country that prides itself in
being the big brother of black Africa. We seem to be more
worried about a group of people going home to their families
to spend the Christmas holidays than we are about an armed
militia, sacking communities, and wrecking havoc in Kaduna,
Nassarawa, Adamawa, Benue, Zamfara, and Enugu.
The kind of thinking that places no value on the human life
simply because they don’t look like you or share in your beliefs
must find no bearing in our socio-political space. People are
tired of burying their loved ones because the state has failed
them, we have no more tears to shed neither do we have any
more space in our grave yards. Enough of this nonsense!!!
There are predictions of food shortages in this year which
could lead to a famine, as reported by several international
institutions, yet, rather than give farmers incentives to work
harder on their farms, we are compensating their killers for
maiming their families and occupying their lands. When
farmers can no longer go to farm for obvious reasons, how
then do we produce enough food? Remember that the
communities mostly attacked in Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and
Nassarawa are the biggest producers of the food we eat in
the country.
No group of people have a monopoly of violence, neither do
any group enjoy burial proceedings. It is only as Chinua
Achebe said that “in dealing with a man who thinks you are a
fool, it is good sometimes to remind him that you know what
he knows but have chosen to appear foolish for the sake of
peace”.
We must however not push people beyond their breaking point.
We must be careful not to trample upon the humanity of
others because if the state fails to protect its people, the
people will have no choice but to fight back. Mr. President,
we are no longer at ease.
source: vanguard news
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