PremiumTimes reported that over 30 Fulani,
especially elderly —those above 70 years who
could not run — were massacred by the
Nigerian army in Nasarawa state, according
to eye witnesses. The Punch also carried the
story, stating that the Defence spokesman,
Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade was not sure who
did what and was investigating.
There was another story in SaharaReporters,
the same day in which gunmen, the same
type of dare-devil, multi-ability, trans-state,
gunmen who ride on 50 bikes, all clad in
military uniform, massacred 20 villagers in
Zamfara state, and as they do in the multiple
states they operate in, burned all in sight,
clearing out the northern habitats.
There is little doubt that genocide of the
north is systematically being permitted and is
openly in progress in Nigeria. Whether it is
'Boko Haram,' whose sponsors this
government keeps protecting, the unknown
bike riding, camo-wearing, helicopter aided,
murdering incendiarists, or it is the
massacres of military 'excesses;' one way or
the other, the pattern is exactly the same and
so is the outcome. Towns are being razed to
the ground across the north and people are
being massacred and being displaced in
thousands.
But surprisingly, this is not the bane of my
notice this day...
The massacres in the north since 2011 are
not new. US estimates up to 20,000 deaths so
far these last 4 years; these mass violent
deaths, that are coincidentally 100% exclusive
to the north, did not start today. What
stirred me was the reactions of many, from
certain parts of Nigeria on and offline to the
recent deaths.
I scoured comments on the news sites and
facebook pages and was delivered to a state
of aggravated shock. People, mostly of a
peculiar ethnicity were celebrating all these
incidents of massacres of innocent Nigerians.
I even had a conversation with a friend on
the phone, who was likewise apathetic and
joyous.
Some called it 'payback' for 30 years ago
events. Some called it 'payback' for 'Fulani
herdsmen' bloody evil misadventures. Some
called it a welcome path to a secession of the
5 eastern states. Some recommended a
complete annihilation.
I have written about this before. It is called,
'Genocidal thinking,' when we wish or speak
words that encourage the wipe-out of any
person who belongs to a perceived race,
ethnic group or other classification from
which one, some or many are believed to
have offended us. If we attack simply any of
the group's members or instigate 'reprisal'
killings against anyone from that affiliation,
without that person being convicted of being
a part of the crime, we have committed the
greatest wickedness before God and man. We
have killed an innocent person, or supported
and rejoiced this sin. Within all groups, if not
most, if not some, there are few who not
only reject the aggression of the groups, but
even fight against their own group members
for it. Shall we kill indiscriminately? Shall we
rejoice the indiscriminate killings—which
promotes and fuels its continuity?
I have seen members within groups rejoice
911. It was pathetic. I did not witness the
pogroms of earlier Nigeria. Many of us did
not. I can imagine there was nothing to
celebrate about that and still much to be
apologized about, and bridges to be built. To
imagine that in 2014, Africans within the
same nation or even across nations would
celebrate when innocent people who may
never have hurt a fly in their lives, who may
even be advocates against war, mostly the
elderly who cannot run as PremiumTimes
narrated, are massacred, African brothers
rejoice—simply because these people are 'one
of them,' is perturbing.
There's no need for preaching here. We are
what we are and we will account for our
actions individually to our Maker. I do believe
that the current administration is highly
responsible for intentionally fertilizing and
fueling the current state of deadly intolerance
Nigeria now experiences. They use terror as a
tool for libel and political maneuver. It is the
means they used to be elected. Reuben Abati
and The Guardian, 'apologized' to Buhari,
retracted their publication and compensated
him in an out of court settlement for
accusing him of sponsoring terror, but this
was silently done and after irreversible public
damage had been done.
Reno Omokri was caught red-handed
promoting Boko Haram terror and utilizing
this terror group to attempt to tarnish the
image of another Nigerian from the north,
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Today again, this
government has been asked to pay N50
million in damages and apologize to Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi for tarnishing his name with
Boko Haram. It is the way of the
Johnathanians; everyday Olisah Metu keeps
repeating 'Janjaweed,' in reference to the
opposition party which has every single
known Nigerian name from all corners of
Nigeria, including a Rivers state governor.
Rather than be a government that promotes
tolerance and sets up inter community peace
initiatives, they use the office of the
presidency, the media and whoever else they
can buy with the billions (USD) to push
religious and ethnic suspicion and deadly
strife in Nigeria as an only means to 'victory'.
The harm has been done. Nigeria cannot sue
this government a class suit for national libel
and deadly strife provocation. Even if we did,
certain elements among us, those that are
coincidentally also the few left supporters of
this government, have already been turned
into what I call, monsters. They actually post
these words for man and God to see and keep
record of, attached to their names and
facebook profiles. They are happy to publicly
celebrate the deaths of possibly innocent
Africans. And trust me, there are these types
on all sides of the 'divide'.
To them I say — when I die, if I am killed in/
by some 'reprisal' killers looking for my type.
If I am killed by the 'excesses' of some
military, please do not celebrate my death.
Not because I do not want you to party, no, I
really do not care if you jump up and down
on my grave; rather I advise you to conserve
your time and your energy for your
repentance and your preparations for your
meeting with the Creator, because sooner or
later, with later being actually sooner than
sooner — if we only knew — we all will die
and we all will account for what we did,
No comments:
Post a Comment