Davidson Iriekpen reports that the senseless killings being perpetrated across Nigeria can destroy the fabrics holding the country together if the situation is not urgently arrested
The value of human life in Nigeria has diminished so drastically that killings no longer spark outrage.
It appears that Nigerians and non-Nigerians who show no regard for the lives of others are on a killing spree and the motives of the killers vary, depending on the state and the geopolitical zone.
Every part of the country is dripping with blood.
In recent weeks, over 100 people have been killed in different parts of the country. Gunmen suspected to be on a land grabbing mission went on a rampage, killing more than 62 people in five communities in Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State.
In Kebbi, Lakurawa terrorists attacked Morai village in Augie LGA, killing at least 13 vigilante members.
In Sokoto, 12 people were killed by bandits allegedly led by the notorious wanted kingpin, Bello Turji, during an attack on Lugu town in Isa LGA as the gunmen were returning from a Sallah visit to one of the communities.
Last month, about 16 persons travelling for Eid-el-Fitr with weapons, were brutally murdered by a group of vigilante men who suspected they were the kidnappers terrorising the town.
However, unlike the several other killings in several parts of the country where culprits are allowed to go scot-free, some suspects, numbering almost 20, were swiftly arrested, giving the impression that all lives are no longer equal in the country.
While the dust raised by the Uromi incident was yet to settle, the more gruesome killings occurred in Plateau State with no suspects believed to have been arrested despite the visit of the affected areas by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede.
In fact, Governor Caleb Muftwang described the killings as genocide. Miffed by the killings, the governor linked the attacks to some unnamed terrorist groups. According to him, the assault is targeted at wiping off communities in the state.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists. The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism? We must come to the point where we know the sponsors because it is not just the work of ordinary people. This is being sponsored from somewhere,” the governor lamented.
The life of a Nigerian is no longer worth anything as violence has continued to claim innocent lives without any serious consequences to the perpetrators.
In other civilised climes, necessary measures are deployed to stop senseless killings but in Nigeria, the citizens are gradually being made to adapt to killings.
Akin to the Hobbesian example, life in this part of the world is, to say the least, brutish, coarse and horrid.
On a daily basis, someone or a large group of people meets a horrendous end in Nigeria—and almost immediately, the nation moves on, as though nothing happened.
That such relentless killings occur in a country not officially at war is both incomprehensible and deeply disturbing.
It may be argued that Boko Haram-type terrorism is a different kind of warfare – one that the entire world is grappling with. But the uniquely homegrown nature of the senseless killings by both Nigerians and invaders from the neighbouring countries who want to grab lands for permanent resettlement in Nigeria makes the country’s case more terrifying.
It is chilling to witness foreign invaders heartlessly turn against Nigerians, blowing up country men, women and children while heads of security agencies and political leaders play politics with insecurity largely due to their blood ties with these invaders.
Many political leaders in Nigeria have confessed that their first cousins are nationals of the neighbouring countries.
A governor from the North-east once said on a television programme that their agenda was to bring all herdsmen from other countries and resettle them in Nigeria.
This agenda is believed to be largely responsible for the attacks on indigenous communities by herdsmen, especially in the Middle Belt and the southern parts of the country.
Nigerians also die daily in kidnappers’ dens, sometimes even after paying the demanded ransom.
Many hotel guests are being killed in their rooms while others die under suspicious circumstances.
Clashes between communities that have lived peacefully for many years are also increasingly becoming an avenue for senseless killings.
Apart from the herders who are on a killing spree to force communities to relinquish their land, other herders are destroying the means of livelihood of farmers. Life, for these elements, means nothing.
People with such a psychotic character have continued in their primitive method of reading cattle while their backers argue that scarcity of water and vegetation due to desert encouragement is responsible for their destruction of farmlands.
Indeed, the failure of the government to live up to this expectation is largely believed to have exacerbated the increasing contempt for life, the result of which is the gory killings.
With the many lives being lost daily and the attacks on farmlands which have fuelled hunger and economic hardship, Nigeria cannot quantify the human and economic resources being lost to these crises
To change this ugly narrative, the government must be dedicated to protecting the life of every Nigerian. Prioritising the lives of foreign invaders and their cattle due to the blood relationship between these invaders and some political leaders, as well as some heads of security agencies will destroy and weaken the fabrics holding Nigeria as a nation.
Nigerian political leaders must begin to develop the political will and courage to tackle the country’s challenges. They must ensure that all lives are guarded and protected.
President Bola Tinubu has the opportunity to change the perception about Nigeria and Nigerians and the only way to do this is by placing a premium on life.
Heads of security agencies and field commanders should be held accountable to the killings in their areas of responsibility.
Recently, a statement credited to the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Ajayi, that Nigerians should protect themselves against terrorist attacks rather than wait for the security agencies, sparked outrage on social media. His comments showed how hopeless the situation has become.
Will the NSA, Mallam Ribadu; the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Oluyede, and other security chiefs now rise to the occasion and rescue Nigeria from destruction?
Speaking during his visit to the Plateau State at the headquarters of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) in charge of security in Plateau State, the NSA said enough was enough about the killings.
He pointed out that everyone has a role to play to curb insecurity. But the instances abound indicating how the affected communities played their role of giving information to security agencies on impending attacks while the security agencies refused to play their part of preventing the attacks and arresting the perpetrators.
It was heartwarming to note that Lieutenant General Oluyede assured the people of Plateau State that the perpetrators of the killings would be arrested to face the full wrath of the law.
For now, Nigerians are waiting for this to be executed exactly the same way the perpetrators of the Uromi incident were swiftly arrested.
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