Evaristus Offor
Nigeria is on the verge of falling headlong the cliff. Confusion and a anarchy loom over the country. The country is burning and Nigerians are burnt to ashes while those in authority look dazed and enmeshed in mental adulteration, political mystification and national disintegration.
While killings of innocent citizens go unabated, the senate boils hopelessly with invasion and arrest of its symbol of authority, the mace. Still, the media is awash with bizarre stories of a senator jumping off a running police van, the ruling party shopping for chairman and presidential candidate, while a sitting governor instigates his officials to insult publicly holy men of God.
Too many evils are running us down in the midst of hunger, political and economic disservices, military and police powerlessness in the defence of our dear motherland and her innocent but hapless people. Besides, the continued murder in and outside the Cathedrals have left us hopeless and hapless and the people hanker for proper and concrete security watch. In fact, the most recent killings in Benue State by Fulani herders in the presence of military have broken the carmel’s back, if both Christians and Southern parts of the country are able to read the handwriting on the wall.
The massacre of many worshippers including two Catholic priests was a certain indication of both an ethnic and religious impulsivity and repulsivity. In short, the impulsivity of their killers interferes with their reasoning while their repulsivity influences their understanding of the feelings of those they kill. Such Fulani herders who live without shame and guilt must be checkmated since they can do anything and feel no remorse that they are doing evil against God and humanity.
That was why they slaughtered innocent priests and worshippers praying in their Church and could not see it as satanic and outrageous. Those herders numbering about thirty according to the Benue State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, are nothing but jihadists acting out written agenda. They are only acting out a tribal and religious script since their religious and political leaders see nothing wrong in their demonic dealings. Considering the reports of The Sun of Wednesday, April 25, 2018 of how one of the murdered priests, Rev Fr Gor had raised the alarm about Fulani herders in a facebook posting on January 3, lamenting on how ‘’we are living in fear, the Fulanis are still around us here in Mbalom.
They still graze along. No weapon to defend ourselves.’’ Yet our military and the police posted in the troubled areas left these poor priests and their adherents murdered in cold blood. However, some questions are now begging for answers regarding the death of the priest after the Facebook posting. Who informed the ignorant herders of such information? This is not the first time such a consequence of networking information has caused the killing of another priest who posted such a thing. Were they killed just because he mentioned herders or because they called Fulani herders?
Again, if such killings are not meditated upon on clannish or religious considerations, why did the Hausa indigenes living in the area relocated to the Wadata area for fear of reprisal? What does this tell the world about the continued merciless killings in Nigeria? Why are hoodlums burning down houses belonging to certain religious and ethnic indigenes and those in political authorities do nothing? According to the spokesperson of the Catholic Diocese of Markudi, Rev Fr Moses Iorapuu ,while regretting that the herdsmen in their classic style,’’ burnt down houses, destroyed food items and killed at will yet the police seemed to know nothing of the attacks which have been ongoing in other villages within the state since the Anti-open Grazing Law came into effect last year.’’
All right thinking and God fearing Nigerian weep and cry to the high heavens for the safety of all Nigerians in spite of ethnic or religious cleavages. Is the National Assembly sleeping? Where are the Christian leaders when their own are dying like fowls.? Think of when a single American is murdered, how the whole of Americans cry foul and want heads to roll no matter whose ox is gored. Think of the killing of mere children in western world and how everybody and organization would rise against such killers and call for government pro-activism.
Ours must not be different. This is the time to sack the headships of the military and police for their inability to save our lives. If the federal government does not do this, let the National Assembly do something urgent for the blood of the Catholic priests will turn around to inspire revolution in this country. It is not enough for the president to call such brutality ‘’satanic,” he should have called for an emergency of security and legislative forces or even have thrown in the towel, for too much blood in the country must not go unanswered by his government action.
Those who kill our people have refused to acknowledge that life comes from God and nobody has right over life. Our religious teachers of some religious beliefs have failed to teach their students the essence and the worth, the sacredness and value of human life and that has caused us a lot of streams and rivers of wasted blood. It is only incumbent on religious and school teachers to teach our students that human life is supreme and important which must be defended by all.
Life must stop to be cheapened, wasted and cannibalized because of religious, ethnic or cultural reasons since we cannot create it.
It is the duty of our security apparatuses to secure human life and not the life of cattles which some people hold to high esteem in our country. They have failed the country woefully and should throw in the towel. Why has the president Buhari refused to pronounce heavily armed Fulani herders terrorists but quickly ascribed the armless Igbo youths-the IPOB a terror group. What a complexity and illogical stance?
The present invitation to the president by the senate should not stop there; he must sack the military and police heads with immediate effect. The complexity of security agencies beats us hollow.
Anything short of the dismissal of the security chiefs or the president’s resignation will not be acceptable to Nigerians. They know what they are doing and do not want to arrest their own. It is a very sad thing seeing twenty governors endorsing the President when all of us should be mourning our brothers and sisters murdered in cold blood. Finally, let us all cry out to God to expose the off-the-camera engineers of the bloodbath and the Holy Spirit arrest future murders in this country.
When we all fought for change in our political landscape, we never dreamt of a federal government that will allow Fulani herdsman to kill us and destroy our livelihood. Let the Churches declare months of prayer and fasting while the National Assembly do the needful by creating enabling laws that will protect every Nigerian. May God save us and give eternal rest to our innocent martyrs, as the unfeeling death, cruelly pull asunder those who are joined together, and parting those who are united in friendship.
Rev Fr. (Dr.) Offor writes from Enugu