My people say you do not list vulture among edible birds. The North
would not think so. It got it wrong from the beginning; anything that gave it
advantages over others was okay. No one relies solely on money to contest for a
title reserved for the strong. The ones who did in history came out losers. At
a time other regions were strengthening their children for a future of
knowledge, the North was lowering the bar for easy scaling by its pampered
team. Now, the vulture meals of that past and the consequential bad breath have
poisoned the air for the whole country. The result is the North's current daily
doses of violent deaths.
Check out John Campbell's Nigeria Security Tracker Weekly Update: June
6–12. The horrid details tell tales of a house that has fallen: "June 6:
Troops killed two bandits in Tsafe, Zamfara. June 6: Sectarian violence led to
four deaths in Bali LGA and two deaths in Donga LGA, Taraba. June 6: Herdsmen
killed twelve civilians and Nigerian troops killed five of the herdsmen in
Guma, Benue. June 6: ISWA fighters killed six Nigerian soldiers in Konduga,
Borno. June 6: Nigerian troops killed "scores" (estimated at forty)
of bandits in Zurmi, Zamfara. June 7: A Nigerian military airstrike killed
"several" bandits in the Kwayanbana Forest in Zamfara. June 7:
Boko Haram killed five and kidnapped nine in Konduga, Borno. June 8: Nigerian
troops killed an "unspecified" number of Boko Haram militants in
Gwoza, Borno. June 9: Boko Haram killed eighty-one and kidnapped six in Gubio,
Borno. June 9: Bandits killed fifty-seven in Faskari, Katsina. June 9: Communal
violence led to twenty-three deaths in Lamurde, Adamawa. June 10: Nigerian
troops killed "several" (estimated at ten) Boko Haram militants in
Gwoza, Borno. June 10: Boko Haram killed four in Damboa, Borno. June 11: Boko
Haram released a video of them killing one Nigerian soldier and one Nigerian
police officer. June 12: Bandits killed eight and kidnapped nine in Faskari,
Katsina."
Today is June 22. The past ten days not captured in the tracker above
have recorded even more deaths. I never knew there would come a point when
longsuffering Buharists would say enough is enough. Even Buhari himself
reportedly told his security chiefs that they had failed. I am waiting for that
day he will look in the mirror and identify the real culprit.
So, this past
week saw leaders and youths of the North calling out their governments. They
said they were tired of the killings. They were tired also of the government's
insensitivity to their plight. There were demonstrations against their beloved
Buhari and his government. The government felt it was wrong for children of the
North to protest against their hero. The leader of the protesters was arrested
and detained. Then, an old man called Bashir Tofa came out firing at the
Villa's god of thunder. The last time Tofa was in national consciousness was in
June 1993 when he contested against Moshood Abiola in that year's presidential
election.
It was this tepid man the North exhumed to issue a flaming order to
Buhari to release the arrested protester or face the consequences: “It is
unwise and unjust. Not even during military rule would citizens demonstrate
peacefully about a matter that worried the entire country and anyone be
arrested... He (Buhari) must remember that in three years, someone else will be
President..." Tofa said and went further with a direct threat of violence:
"If this collective anger is tickled...the 2011 violence, destruction and
death...will be a child’s play this time around. Nigerians are very angry!
Insecurity everywhere, poverty, joblessness and now COVID -19, disease, despair
and desperation have eaten deep into people’s patience and good sense.”
In those lines were threats of violence. The government, notorious for
hard-hearing, sat up. It heard and understood the message, panicked and
released the detained youth leader. I never knew that day would come when
Buhari's government, in its all-knowing almightiness, would eat the humble pie
and drop the ball. But that cannot be the end of this discussion. What will
wean the North's bandits of their banditry? Nothing. If the killings won't
stop, the newly found spirit of protests in the North won't either. But what
can the protests do to stop the killings? Nothing. The killers in the North are
children of the North, not outsiders. They have tasted blood, they won't stop.
Train your children so that they may give you peace of mind. That is the wisdom
that eluded the North, and today peace there is scarce from pillar to post.
The
focus of Nigeria's North has always been on political power. It thought to have the power to cheat and enslave all others was all it needed to be well forever. It
doesn't work out that way, at least not always. There is a family in Badagry
whose wealthy ancestor was Nigeria's foremost slave merchant. Struggling
descendants of that merchant today live in cells he built for his slaves. The
affluent North has produced an army of unschooled children who are today lords
of the bush, killing without a cause. The neglected are grown and are tearing
down the house of unconscionable power built by their leaders. The killings
won't stop exactly the same way flood from a collapsed dam won't abate. It is a
hopeless situation.
By Lasisi Olagunju
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