The Sun newspaper of February 28, 2018, published how 20 people were killed and 23 injured in Adamawa by people suspected to be herdsmen.
Below that publication was a report of how herdsmen sacked over 5000 people in Makurdi. The herdsmen ‘were said to be fully armed with sophisticated weapons’. A victim said that: ‘The herdsmen came in their numbers, burnt down our houses, barns and farmlands. They did not, however, harm anyone; they only asked us to leave’. The menace of these killers is becoming a daily occurrence and should be a great concern to every true Nigerian.
We thank God that below the report above was another cheering one, detailing how the Army have arrested ten of the herdsmen, a thing that had never happened. The arrest was possible because of the determination of the ‘Army to fish out criminals and protect farmlands in Benue State and its environs’. This is comforting, and it will remove the trending bias that the apparent inaction of the security agencies all the while, was deliberate. Many people are worried how human lives are being wasted like animals almost every day in Benue and other states in Nigeria by the herdsmen and the blame is on the President, as the Chief Security Officer.
I remember, how I told my brethren during a Fellowship meeting that my family prays for the President daily. One of them nearly swallowed me. ‘Praying for him for what?’ he asked. ‘And why not?’ I defended. He forgot that the Bible enjoins us to be praying for the people in authority, the good, the bad and the ugly. It is not to fulfill any righteousness but praying with passion, praying with expectation. The current posture of the Army towards the herdsmen has proved that God answers prayers and we are encouraged to be praying more. The pain Nigerians are passing through makes them to be criticizing our leaders, whether it is at home, in the Church or in the government, more than praying for them.
Nothing, however, should justify any form of inaction by the government, especially, in Benue State. In one of his many tracts in the early seventies, Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, wrote on, ‘The value of a soul’. He made it clear that one soul is more than one billion Naira. Uncle Matthew, in his Gospel, narrated how the Lord Jesus commanded demons to leave a man they attacked massively. The demons pleaded with Him to be allowed to infest a herd of swine within. He obliged them. The man was delivered, and that was a man, who had been naked, regaining his right mind and clothed properly, while the pigs drowned in a nearby river. The people, who witnessed it, were incensed because of the loss of their pigs. Their choice was clear: pigs instead of their son. May our choice between cattle and human lives, not go this way!
In Shakespeare‘s Twelfth Night, Sir Andrew Aguecheek was told that his lost glory could only be redeemed by some laudable attempt of valour or policy. The Government also, needs this injection to sustain the recent exploits of arresting the herdsmen. It will erase the notion that the commands being issued to the Security Agencies have been, ‘I gotakwa i kwuo ugwo’ [If you buy, you pay for it]. It was reputed to be the habit of some people in a state I will not name because I have many friends there. With great excitement, your friend welcomes you, especially, if you had not met for a long time. He will send his servant in your presence to buy some bottles of drinks for you. Proving his seriousness, the type of notes he will give will be in the denomination Uncle Ray Ekpu says, ‘carries two images of Alhaji Aliyu Mai-Bornu and Dr. Clement Isong’. Then, the host will issue him another message, the real message, through body language or by whisper, ‘I gotakwa I kwuo ugwo’ [If you buy, you will pay.]
An adept in that familiar business, the boy disappears in thin air. After a long time, Uncle will be angry that he has not returned, threatening even to sack him. You will be pleading with him to forgive the boy. The blame will be on ‘children of now-a-days’. You will leave, justifying your friend’s generosity. In that case, it will be, ‘Arrest the herdsmen now’, followed by a whisper, ‘I gotakwa I kwuo ugwo’.
Its version was played by a teacher many years ago. I often remember Uncle, who was not gifted in stature but earned respect, even above the people that doubled his size. Each time I looked at his small head, he never imagined why I was doing that. And that was in 1955 at Ngbo Methodist Central School, in Abakaliki. When, our Headmaster, Mr. Ngwu died that year, we were told that Uncle was coming to replace him. I wondered if it was the person that was our Headmaster at Methodist School, Ovim, in 1948, during my first year in school. Paul was his first name. As he was teaching us, ‘Paul’s Missionary Journeys’, he would amuse us by saying, ‘We left Antioch and went to…’ That was my Standard Six teacher and our Headmaster, Mr. Paul Anya.
When he was in a certain school, it was reputed that one day, someone tapped him at the back, an unfriendly tap! He looked behind and their eyes met. It was too late to hide what he was doing. It was an Oyibo man, but certainly, not a Missionary! It was the Inspector of Education! Judging from the way these White guys snob people, one could imagine how it was 70 years ago, when they were ruling us! He caught Uncle devouring his Wolsey Halls Correspondence Tuition for G.C.E, London, instead of teaching his pupils!
To catch any erring teacher, most of the Inspectors of Education would park their Morris Minor cars a long distance from the school they were visiting. The yam and the knife, as it were, were in their hands, thus to promote or sack any teacher. The Whiteman, who caught Mr. Anya, might have caught other teachers in other places in the past and went away with it. With Mr. Anya, it was not business as usual. It was said that he told his pupils in Igbo to beat him up. As they were doing that, he spoke from the other side of his mouth in English, querying why they were doing that. ‘I say, leave him, he is our Inspector,’ he said in English, followed by, ‘Tisie ya aka ike’. [Beat him well-well.] In his report, the Oyibo guy would, for sure, exonerate him, his real assailant.
If the Army men dig deep in Benue State and other parts of Nigeria, nobody will dream that someone, who issues orders for the arrest of the herdsmen, will, with the other side of his mouth, be telling them, ‘I gotakwa i kwuo ugwo’.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471;[email protected]