Today, Nigeria has become what Tony Robinson described as a 'theatre of blood'. The slogan is "we have seen too much blood". In every part of Nigeria, there is murder, mass-killing, mayhem and it has become a daily routine challenging conventional wisdom. These atrocities are committed in Nigeria by Nigerians to Nigeria citizens. It's worrisome that the perpetrators are known to us, but evade justice, a great challenge to the Executive, legislature, Judiciary, various arms of the government who swore allegiance to the protection of citizen rights , security, and freedom.
No arrest, no genuine and speedy efforts to bring offenders to justice, rather government sets up a committe headed by the Vice-President to negotiate with the people responsible for tragic loss of lives. It's also very unfortunate that the president has never bothered to visit families of the victims including those still in the hospital. Till date the herdsmen still carry AK-47 assault riffle in the public, so this is very worrying.
We are aware of mass release from detention of terrorists who have been killing people for sometime into the society when the ideology of the movement is very much alive and some of their colleagues still in the bush fighting.
Despite economic devastations and widespread hardship, ordinary people are not even sure of their lives and basic property in a country they call home. If citizens are not killed by the police, army or navy, they are massacred by armed robbers, assasins, maurading aliens, terrorists and other enemies including hunger and diseases, all man made.
The horroffic images of these barbaric acts whose victims include women and children reverberate around the world especially in the era of technology who now questions the location of this 'bloodstained landscape' on the world map. No doubt, Nigeria has become one of the most insecure black African territories in recent times, given the phenomena. We are aware of various global insecurity ratings, but this doesn't seem to be a challenge to our government. This is not a good news for the much needed foreign investment for development. Definitely the result is development in reverse.
Daily images of unstopable kidnappings, rituals, murder, hacking to death, burnings, across the country by bloodthirsty liabilities defy every reasonable belief, especially when the perpetrators are known to us. This man's cruelty to man reminds of the dark ages and questions our commitment to peaceful co-existence, self and good governance.
This tragedy is a great humiliation to a country positioned to become a world player in global governance including conflict resolution and democratic governance. We must collectively denounce these abominable atrocities and put excessive pressure on the government to step up a robust response to this fatal national plague. Enough of the blame games.
In the words of a Pan-Yoruba Group, Afenifere, "if a the government panel is meeting herdsmen who are staining the country with blood, it means the Federal Government is complicit in the murder of Nigerians. They have not brought one person to book but they are negotiating with the murderers; this is an invitation to anarchy"
The citizens look up to the government for leadership especially in difficult times, so the next election is an opportunity to tell the government that only qualified and capable people will be elected to lead a sound government that works for everyone, not just for the few.
We can learn from President Trump who organised a 'listening session' with students on mass shootings. Scott and Hockley, Co-director of the group ; Sandy Hook Promise have this to say: "This is not difficult, these deaths are preventable, and i implore you, consider your own children. Hockley said: you don't want to be me. No parent does. And you have the ability to make a difference and save lives today. Please don't waste this "- [Trump holds listening session with students on mass shootings; Halimah Abdullah, ABC News February 21, 2018]. Read More: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-holds-listening-session-students-mass-shootings/story?id=53245367
In Nigeria we are only interested in the next election. It's worst when elected president has not bothered to visit the various states and the victims, and the civil society groups in various states have not come up with one voice to protest the killings, instead the police and the independent electoral commission are busy telling whoever cares to know that they are now ready for the next election in 2019, very laughable.
Uche Okeke is a Social Entrepreneur. He's the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation.
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