Land Grabbing- 'Raiding, Depopulating, Appropriating Neighbouring Lands' a lesson in Cattle Colony in Nigeria

"The subtle attacks which began over a decade ago have seen native communities in Plateau State taken over by invading herders. The natives mostly Berom by tribe watched helplessly as their homes were occupied, their people killed, and farmlands taken over and in some cases, the original names of the villages changed. They wandered if their children will ever return to their ancestral land"-Marie-Therese Nanlong ; Plateau Shocker:[ Herdsmen Rename Communities Grabbed From Indigines; Vanguard Newspaper June 30 2018]. Photo: Google Images

History is full of lessons in  Conquest and 'Totalitarian Barbarism'. Some of these sad lessons of history are evident in today's Nigeria- "Land Grabbing, Invasion, Violent Repression of civil liberties, Genocide, Colonisation, Economic Exploitation, Institutional Racism, Discrimination, Division, Nepotism, and Moral Decadence",etc. We have just seen the Amnesty International Report on terrorism- indicting the government on leadership failure to secure its own citizens.
 The government is pursuing controversial policies often using conquering tactis on ethnic minorities. Despite widespread resistance, the Federal Government of Nigeria is unreluctant in implementing a controversial cattle colony policy, using various tags even with abundant evidence of the bloody borders of the herdsmen. The government's inability to implement the Restructuring of the current political structure widely accepted as the only solution to addressing 'poverty, unemployment and insecurity' in the country puts it in bad light and tends to confirm the fears of many-'obsolete politics of domination' .This should be a cause for concern, especially in today's new world of  'individual rights, and liberty'. The 'bending of language' for political purposes can be devastating. In the words of Charles Krauthammer: "leading a country requires not just honesty but clarity. If you keep lying to the people they may seriously question whether anything you say is another self-serving lie".[Things That Matter]. Today the people are well equipped with good awareness of the the nature of evil they faced and are very willing to resist the so called cattle colony policy no matter the name given to it and other incentives. We are in  for abnormal times. Democracy in Nigeria faces a major threat from 'totalitarianism', given abundant evidence. The time has come for Committed Democrats to be in charge to drive a new society with a culture of liberty, human dignity and sovereignty. The era of ''muderous quest for dominion over all others is over''. Restructuring is the primary condition for peaceful co-existence, growth and stability. There is  urgent need for a new leadership that places premium on equity and social justice and ensures democracy for the long-run. In the 21st century country's do more with little to lift their citizens out of poverty,  not pursuing ideologies that deny their own citizens 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. Today's technology provides the opportunity to do things differently, i wonder why the government is not exploiting it. Again, it's technology that drives the future not cows, even oil wells would one day dry-up.

Uche Okeke is a Social Entrepreneur, the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation. He lives in London.

Read More: Technology Transforms The World Not Cows : http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/01/technology-transforms-world-not-cows.html?spref=fb