By Ninyo Omidiji |
But, by that singular action this woman seems to me like the sanest person remaining on this side of the Sahara.
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| Mass burial of victims of one of the violent clashes in Jos |
This country is a joke! The way we have gone numb to gruesome killings of the defenseless is amazing. It strikes me we are in the middle of an undeclared war but many are resting on their oars.
To some, once the killings are not taking place in their backyards, so long they don't affect their kith and kin, they reduce everything to political arguments. We throw opinions around more than we take positions.
The value of human lives is next nothing to an average Nigerian, in spite of their overt religiosity. We only pay lip service. We have become a bundle of pretenders. We "strain at a gnat but swallow a camel".
We cast aspersions on nations of the world that legalize abortion, but we seek to explain away grisly murder of defenseless kids and pregnant women and unarmed men in their sleep.
The experience of People get murdered in their sleep has become a recurring decimal and we are not ashamed to dismiss such, as a "Clash".
That we all are still sitting in our comfort zones in spite of the spate and pattern of the killings speaks volumes. There's something about living in this country that put a dent on your humanity. Interestingly we think we are normal. It's a Fool's Paradise.
If the killings don't get to your community today, there are sufficient signs they will get there sometime in the nearest future.
One would have thought by now, Aso Rock should have been occupied. The national assembly and State government houses and houses of assembly should be feeling the heat of our collective losses and disappointment at their abysmal failure to secure lives and properties in this country. This is supposed to be their first duty.
From people screaming at the top of their voices issuing ill-timed curses from the comfort zone of their pulpits, to those of us trying to discourage hate speeches, it seem to me we have failed in our civic duties to put the demand where it belongs. Demanding accountability from our leaders has become an odious task for us.
I sometimes kind of figured that we are more keen on condemning "hate speeches" than "hate killings". We are more scared of the possible untoward outcome of hate speeches but oblivious of the riveting and inevitable ripple effects of the grisly killings.
We cannot tolerate "fake news" but we can tolerate the fact that the government has not been able to come up with the "original news”, a clear cut position on who is killing our people across the middle belt and other parts of the country.
We are to blame for our docility.
I don't give a hoot about the ethnic or political leanings of the killers. Killers are killers no matter where they come from and there are laws against such in this country.
There's no deflecting argument that will change the experience of the victims of these attacks. No conspiracy theory and no narrative we seek to throw around that will make any sense to those who have lost loved ones in their homelands to dastardly activities of armed invaders.
The helpless stance of the federal government is the most worrisome for me. It will not do it for me. What I see is a lack of political will to stem the tides of these killings.
Every lover of this entity called Nigeria should find a way to let the President of this country, the C-in-C know we are disappointed at his inability to curb these killings. Watching our own die in various local communities while he "forms" helplessness is not a virtue we had anticipated in him when he came to office.
Few years ago, Jonathan presided over mindless killings in the northeastern part of the country. Today, Buhari is presiding over wanton massacre in the middle belt. Did I hear you say "but the killings didn't start today? Then you might be one of the problems sir!
Enough is just enough already !
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