With Uche Nnadozie
I will not mention anyone’s name. But we all can see or hear it. Whatever were the conspiracies it appears the right antidotes are being applied. Hopefully I’m not excited too soon. Hopefully I will not be disappointed this morning or in the night. Suddenly the killing fields and the wailing are giving way to some introspection. What really happened. Who was killing citizens in Benue State especially. Who was killing people in Zamfara? Suddenly some quietness. We can now hear the voiceless. The quietude is deafening. But it is understandable. When you have had weeks and weeks of crying and gnashing of teeth, when it seemed like it will never end, then suddenly…
I am particularly shocked about the Zamfara massacre. For those of us who live south of Abuja, there seemed like there was no common cause. People went about their businesses with no fuss. The mainstream media didn’t cry and shout about those killings. Social media ”experts” kept mute. It became as always one of the troubles with Nigeria. When President Jonathan was president, the Christian Association of Nigeria,CAN was in-cahoots with that government during the worst times of Boko Haram. They supported the government and accused Muslim leadership up north of conspiring with Boko Haram to unleash mayhem on “Christians”. Facts to the contrary that Boko Haram was a terror group not known for discriminating against targets, fell on deaf ears.
Even the fact that more Muslims have been killed by Boko Haram has not changed that perception. In fact, these “experts” turn around to say that Boko Haram was founded to destabilise the government of Jonathan by the Fulani even when the terror group is not made up of Fulani people. Facts pointing to when the group was formed and reasons for escalation of hostilities fell on deaf ears (till date). The same thing has happened with the killings in Zamfara. The loudest people in Nigeria kept mute about Zamfara. They may not say it openly but they are of the opinion that ”it serves them right”. People down south do not mind if everyone in Zamfara dies. Don’t get it twisted, it is not because they hate Zamfarans. Not at all. It is because of politics. CAN for instance will wail and point fingers in Benue, but will say nothing against the killings in the north western state. Probably the dead are not humans. But it is simply because Jonathan, a Christian is no longer president. So the killing has no political undertone. Since it won’t resonate with the lie of politically motivated killing, it is no killing then. Since it won’t make sense to say there is an Islamic agenda to Islamise Zamfara, then it doesn’t make any political point.
On the other hand, Benue being mostly a Christian community meets the right narrative. Muslim herdsmen are on the prowl killing Christian natives to foist an Islamic agenda. That’s how sad we can go to promote a political narrative no matter how inflammatory or stupid. No matter how divided it puts the country. We call it freedom of speech. Well, that’s also what happens when it appears government is impotent. Indeed government was impotent at the onset of renewed killings in the Benue valley. It appeared as if government was aloof and didn’t care if Nigerians were being slaughtered. But as leaders CAN should not have jumped into the fray to worsen a terrible situation. They messed up and are still messing up. It is therefore, interesting that the wave of arrests recently in Benue and Taraba have shown that the killings may have been carried out by different kinds of people including Benue locals. It’s pathetic.
It is politics that can make people kill in the manner we have seen in Benue and blame it on another. The politics may not necessarily be about winning election but just an agenda to destabilise the country. This is shameful. It is in that frame I wonder why northern leaders hardly talk about the killings in Zamfara and Kaduna. Is it for the same political reasons too? That is, these leaders and the populace feel that because President Buhari is from the north as such speaking up may mean indicting the leadership style of the president and even make him unpopular. If we hide the killings, the dead knows themselves. We can’t continue to cut our noses to spite our faces. It just doesn’t make sense. Death is death. We must speak up, we must also find solutions. We are of the same humanity bound by the same rules. If we share a commonality of traits, why pretend not to be suffering when we are indeed dying.
Hiding a problem does not solve it. We can only make real progress when we accept bad as bad from all corners of the country. I am happy that it appears the Benue conundrum is being addressed. Same with the Kaduna and Zamfara. Our security architecture as I have argued in previous articles needs to be reviewed, and fast too.
The country is growing, there are all types of humans in here and there are all manner of defiant outside of here. Folks who want fame, any type of fame. They abound and ready to cause mayhem. We must be a step ahead. But more importantly, this country must have nationally acceptable minimum values, ethos and propriety. Bad behaviour must be bad behaviour no matter who is hating. And it must be punished. Nigerians must be aghast in equal measure no matter whose pot the meat was stolen from.
