Like a helpless mother hen that watches but makes all the noise each time a hawk carries away a chick among her brood, Nigerians, including the government, have been reduced to perpetual wailers.
Those who grew up in villages where the predator hawks ply their wicked trade would recollect how the mother hen would always make a hell of noise and grandstand each time a hawk steals away her chick, but in a matter of minutes she resumes her wandering with the remaining ones. The same circle of agonising cry and prancing resumes when next another wicked hawk comes calling again.
This has been the attitude of the Nigerian government and the helpless citizens each time news breaks that the Islamist sect, Boko Haram has slaughtered dozens of Nigerians, or that herdsmen have sacked a village, killing and raping hapless women, or whenever bandits invade a community with fury and leave a trail of blood and tears, or whenever kidnappers mindlessly waylay travellers, abduct them, demand ransom, and slaughter the victims even after collecting the ransom.
In Nigeria, it has been a circle of hisses, agonising cries, outpour of emotions and curse words on perpetrators of such dastardly acts. Unfortunately too, government has become the “chief mourner” and seems to have lost new words of consolation for the obvious traumatised and crest-fallen citizens. It now engages in rehash lines.
This apparent loss of new ideas by government to put the enemies to rout appears to have eroded the confidence citizens have in their leaders. In today’s Nigeria, it is every man to himself!
In the last few years, the media have been awash with headlines that make the heart quake in climes where life is valued.
Nowadays, the followings are some headlines that daily appear on the print and online publications in Nigeria: Boko Haram kills 30 in Borno’; ‘50 killed in Kaduna’; ‘Bandits slaughter 20…’; ‘Herdsmen sack community, kill 20’; ‘Boko Haram kills soldiers’; ’20 worshippers killed in…’; ‘Over 40 persons killed in dawn attack..’; and ‘Kidnappers abduct travellers, kill 5’.
Apart from the increasing number of citizens who are being killed on a daily basis by the various classes of elements waging war against the country, many more Nigerians are being held bondage in various camps of these dangerous elements.
Killings have become so normal in the country that no matter the number of people slaughtered in a single swoop, apart from the initial noise, government seems to bother no more. It has become business as usual for the Federal Government to issue a press release condemning the killings and reassuring the citizens of its commitment to protect their lives and property.
There is a video currently circulating on the social media, of dozens of lifeless and semi-lifeless bodies lumped together in what looks like a pit. Up till this moment, no one has heard anything from government whose bodies they were. In the days when government was for the people, inquest would have been instituted to find out where and when the gruesome murders were carried out, with the aim of bringing the perpetrators to book. In the days when government knew its onions, criminals were not so brazen as to invade villages, kill everyone and walk away without consequences. Today, it is a daily occurrence in Nigeria.
Although a lot has been said on the need to deploy intelligence in the fight against terrorists, little or no success is being recorded. This also questions the commitment of government towards finding a lasting solution to the menace.
At a recent Google training in Lagos, the resource person had explained the limitless possibilities in deploying technology in every aspect of human endeavour. He had also given instances where technology had been deployed to unravel the mysteries behind some crimes that could have gone undetected. A particular case in point was the use of mapping to trace where a crime was committed or where criminals are hiding. He emphasized that through mapping, any crime committed anywhere on the face of the earth could be tracked and perpetrators nabbed. It was the device that led to the unravelling and tracking of the soldiers who carried out the extra-judicial killing of innocent citizens in Cameroun some years back, as reported by the BBC.
The trainer was however, unable to explain why Nigeria’s situation appears to have defied all logic. Inquisitive minds at the training session wondered why Nigeria has been unable to use such technology in the fight against the insurgents whose operating base has been the Sambisa forest, as in the case of Boko Haram. They also wondered why the Chibok girls, and the likes of Leah Sharibu are still being held in the same Sambisa without being rescued by the Nigerian Armed Forces.
The way senseless killings are being trivialised, it creates an impression that the powers that be are overwhelmed by the huge population that they want it reduced by every means possible.
