(TuesdayRapRound) Nigeria: One Death Too Many

In all sincerity, do we have government in Nigeria? A government that’s truly alive to its responsibilities?

When world leaders are called, should Nigeria truly be listed among them? What truly flows in the veins of the so-called accidental leaders such that they never exhibit genuine concern about the plight of the people – the very and most important element at the centre of a typical democratic system?

The very people they claim to serve or represent, they really cannot feel their pulse. There is wide ‘niha-gap’ between the ruled and the rulers. They simply cannot connect with the reality on ground. There is no two way about this. The present leadership in the country is clearly out of touch with reality. And the more this obvious ignorance is displayed in the public domain, the more damages the government of President Buhari will incur.

Our beloved nation, Nigeria, has gradually but steadily become another theatre of bloodshed – a replica of war-torn nations such as Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. It has become a land flowing with tears and human blood; a land where people are no longer feeling secured; a place where people cannot boldly sleep with their two eyes closed.

IDPs (Internally Displaced People) have practically crept into Nigeria’s dictionary. It is now a common word being uttered here and there. The question again is – is Nigeria in a war? Why are IDPs growing in numbers every day?

In the midst of this, the accidental leaders we have all around us still exude uncourteous, arrogance of power. This they do without remorse, and pretending to be on top of the situation when it is both intrinsically and extrinsically obvious they’ve lost it. They forget that power is transient, ephemeral.

One wonders why the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, attempted to turn logic on its head when he said many people were killed why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power – that’s before the coming of Buhari.

Following this, among eye-popping questions any sane and right-thinking individual would have asked Mr. Adesina, who hitherto was known for his artistry in journalism and moderate lifestyle, were: why is he always in hurry to impress his paymaster and in the process offend the sensibility of innocent Nigerians out there?

Does such statement offers any soothing balm or consolation to the very people whose loved ones have been cut in their prime by a vicious killers who have defied barrage of actions/inactions, interventions, and nay promises (promises made and those to be made) by those on the corridors of power?

To Adesina, what is the worth of life in Nigeria? Does any explanation especially like the ones he made justify why innocent blood of Nigerians should continuously, endlessly  be shed in a brazen and unacceptable manner as we have witnessed in Southern kaduna, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Taraba, Edo, Rivers, Adamawa, and of course Benue where mass burials have been conducted more than three times this year?

Is this government truly an undertaker?

Why can’t this government move away from the same government (PDP) which people felt was not capable of engendering good governance, by doing the right thing; deliver on its promises and stop the blame-game regime.

Of course, it is not out of place to submit that top nations of the world where human lives are valued are more than ready to spend fortune – all in a bid to save a soul, yes, a single soul; let alone where a vicious elements have been operating, and government officials seen being sympathetic with their evil course.

Mr Adesina cannot in his right frame of mind tell us nations like US, Russia, UK, even some African countries will sit back, allow vicious elements overrun their people, and they will now come out after the dastardly acts to say more people were killed in the past; thus, the recent unfortunate killings should not be seen as something serious. What a jaundiced, ignominious and spurious justification from a man who seems to have lost decency and his very sense of objectivity and mean posture.

Any attempt to justify these killings is worse than the killings itself. Even if we succeed in convincing the world that these deaths were caused by communal clashes, that does not justify the killings. The fact remains, innocent Nigerians were brutally slaughtered like animals and yet, the perpetrators have not been brought to book to serve as deterrent for others.

It’s been argued that there are majorly four things that motivate people towards criminality. These include – being ignorant of the consequences of their actions, knowing but not caring about the consequences, knowing but thinking they can avoid the consequences and not even believing there will be consequences at all.

Those who are engaged in senseless killings in Nigeria and by extension, around the world are apparently motivated by all four factors – something the Nigerian government and its justice system have largely failed to address over the years.

Constitutionally, the government is obligated to protect and secure the lives and properties of its people. Without doubt, the Nigerian government has failed woefully in that regard over the years. While no one expects the government to completely police and secure every house, street or region/area, it is expected to at least overhaul the system and put in place a rejuvenated security architecture befitting of contemporary challenges.

It needs not be told that a compromised security architecture can no longer guarantee security of lives and property of the people.

It is expected to constantly recruit, train and adequately remunerate security personnel, motivate them well with incentives, and stop using them for ulterior motives (deadly politicking).

The government is expected to constantly engage in reliable intelligence gathering in both periods of peace and conflict management and resolution and use same to prevent crises rather than wait for it to happen. That’s where the idea of being proactive comes in.

What we have at the moment is a reactionary government, and such job is not befitting for the media aides around the president. This is because they have for the umpteenth time, taken Nigerians for a ride with their unguarded outbursts. There’s no perfect government out there, but if at all there is need to lie, you must tell a sensible lie, and not a pedestrian one.

Where crisis inevitably occurs, governments humanitarian response to victims must be swift, comprehensive, adequate and convincing. Efforts towards preventing future occurrences must be seen to be genuine, serious and result-oriented.