A "YUGE" CASE FOR A TRUMPET?

Is Donald Trump as POTUS really going to have the 'football' for America's nuclear warheads in his hands and press 'X' and 'O' like a game console to unleash terror on America's enemies?

Is he going to invite Putin to a White house 'orgyfest' simply because he may be a KGB operative activated to bring down the great USA?

Harry Truman was in no way like Trump except that the first four letters of their names are similar but he dumped two atomic bombs on Japan even though he was a democrat. Over 100,000 human beings got wiped out in just 2 days and plenty more left with physical disorders.

Bush senior and junior are not openly backing Trump (perhaps due to Jeb missing out on making it a Bush Hattrick at the Whitehouse) but they invaded Kuwait and Iraq/ Afghanistan respectively. George W's time as POTUS is better forgotten especially with the revelations coming from Tony Blair and the perpetually missing weapons of mass destruction yet he didn't indulge in vile and hateful speech like Trump actively does.

I understand why many folks love the outgoing POTUS Barack Obama; he has a lovely wife. Pardon? you mean he's loved for far more than that? My bad, the brother's got swag no doubt and seems able to restrain himself even in the face of severe abuse like he got when he first ran for president. He's shot hoops like no other POTUS and he's got a trainable voice for broadway. Barack knows how many drops of tears to release per school shooting and he knows how to make everyone forget that he campaigned to shut down Guatanamo bay.

Guatanamo was not his fault really, there are many things politicians rant about when on the outside but as soon as they get briefed before taking office; their 'initial gragra' gets neutralized. When it comes to security of a state, it goes beyond the charisma of a POTUS. Who says that Trump would not have his cerebral cortex fried by the establishment just in case he finds a way to win the election in November? A lot can happen between November and January.

Let us admit it; the idea of a first female POTUS sounds very brilliant and reasonable considering the times we live in and the number of female actors who have played POTUS in various television series. Those presidents on TV did not do badly I must say so Hillary can definitely do great. Above all these, Madam Hillary has had to wait 8 long years for her turn. At 69, she could have been preparing for a retirement with Bill 70 and her grand kids but she has to smile for the camera and do this job for the next 8 years till she turns 77 potentially. In a country where a 35year old can aspire to be president, Mama Clinton is just getting her chance and one recently converted democrat 75yrs old Bernie Sanders wanted to mix reggae with her blues. Are we shocked at the contents of the leaked emails from the Democratic party officials?

It could have been Barack at 55 taking his first plunge and making history as the democrat candidate this year but Hillary is the one to make her own history instead. Trump can also make his own history too. He has done well for himself already by upturning the carts of the Republican party and turning them into a race based group.That party is at great risk of going into orbit and never to return; many there are waiting for the Trump asteroid to crash land so they can leverage on that to make renewed bids in four years but their collective future is indeed bleak.

Trump may just be the joker in a cleverly written plot to ensure Hillary gets crowned as the Queen of America or he may be a genuine candidate determined to make America grate again by the construction of a yuge wall. There is nothing really wrong with building a wall if such a structure was built without plunging the nation into debts. Trump may just have barb wire, straw or plywood as his material of choice for building that fence.

Would I vote for Trump if I was American? Absolutely not. I think he has a big and porous oral cavity and won't be able to hurt a fly unlike how apocalyptic he is portrayed but I may just be wrong. I think I would be more offended by his foul words more than anything else. Would I vote for Hillary against Trump? Maybe, I'm not wowed by her, I just think she's eager to make history more than anything else even though she is qualified for the job. Being a president of any country means one will have to kill people; let us not kid ourselves. Hillary or Trump, people will die but we can't tell the rate.

Under ideal conditions, Trump wouldn't even run for governor but he had an opening and he took it. Those who think he cannot win should rethink and do the needful to counter him. It's not just enough to lay back and tell people how motherly and caring Hillary is.

Some folks who support somone like Ayo Fayose for his foul mouth are out telling people how foul Trump is because they like the idea of a Clinton dynasty. That is just politics.

(Some ages quoted are estimated based on what they'd be this year)

NA TODAY?!

It is quite hilarious how many Nigerians express shock at the manifestations of the issues plaguing Nigeria like they didn't know beforehand that we have serious problems. 

We have problems no doubt,  some admit we do while many others either live in denial or are genuinely naïve. The fundamental problem(s) with our union is widespread and the symptoms are more or less similar across various systems. 

We have been informed that we are technically in recession (even though some don't quite like the use of technically) and that our contingent to the Rio Olympics are out sourcing for help to live their dreams. There is not enough money to do as we like which is the truth but some do not want to accept this just as they do not accept that the looting of the past years since democracy returned has brought the nation to her knees. 

Some individuals came out claiming to be Marvel comic characters while another group claimed marginalisation and sought secession. Oil installations were set ablaze like it was Christmas season yet they demanded for more revenue; the president was blackmailed and accused of crimes despite being just a few months into his tenure. Some athletes have recently become very vocal and overtly criticised their trainers and officials like the impending failure at the Olympics has nothing to do with all that has happened for many years now. 

Many have cheered the Avengers for holding the nation to ransome and those who think secession with bring them paradise have not lost their voices. Times are hard but many want Merlin as their president.  They don't realise or won't admit that this anemic nation won't bounce back immediately after a life threatening crisis just at the snap of a finger. 

The truth is that Sports in Nigeria has been run in recent years as an appendage of government;  a sector to rehabilitate politicians and retired military folks. It was so even when we had success winning championships and Olympic medals.  We threw money at everything and those within sports administration fed fat.  They got so used to feeding that Amos Adamu found himself in FIFA and joined the bandwagon.  

The practice of 'chop clean mouth' is characteristic of Nigeria and all her ministries. One becomes endangered and vilified if one appears to be opposed to this modus operandi. $200,000 was reported to have gone missing from the safe of the Nigeria football federation a few years ago and that money remains in a gaseous state till tomorrow. That is exactly how monies have been vaporising over the years in Nigeria such that even hardware like generators got snuffed like cocaine dispensed on a phone. 

Scandals have always happened but they always threw money at such. There have always been disputes between officials and sports people over money.  Footballers complained about travel arrangements and safety; some had to wash and wear jerseys in between games while our female team was once conveyed in a truck from the airport after arriving from a successful nations cup in South Africa. 

It is not today that our athletes got upset and dumped the country for saner climes; our fastest man opted for the British navy to wade in water.  I watched one boxer one day get pummeled by a well nourished North African  during an All African games bout in 1999 and I wondered why he was starved before the games. We went from a nation blessed with great female quater milers to one searching for those who couldn't make the grade in other nations to represent us. 

All these happened but those who played the politics successfully recycled themselves and lived large covering their tracks in the process. They always appeared to get it right at the youth level but these youngsters somehow more often than not manage to fade into oblivion due to retroactive fusion of their epiphyseal plates. The football house was always broke and were perpetually cap in hand begging previously boyant governors for bail out. Money no dey again and this has embarrassingly exposed their poverty such that no foreigner is interested in their job offer. Unfortunately the man who wants the job is deemed unworthy and people who do not even have a clue of his record indulged in vilifying him on social media because of his ethnicity and religion. It is unfortunate that Nigerian coaches including the recently departed ones are still owed money. 

Nigeria is one nation where the rich, high and mighty oppress the poor.  It is one country where a 'money miss road' football club chairman went onto a football pitch after a match involving his team and slapped an opposing player. Trainers and officials must have oppressed and blackmailed their athletes forcing them down the alley of cheating and servitude.  Football administrators have been reported to literally sell players like slaves for financial reward and match fixing has not been alien to us. 

Many have thrown the word 'restructure' around but I fear they don't quite understand what it connotes.  We want to restructure Nigeria but we may not understand how greatly messed up we are.  I think it goes beyond one man issue a directive in a democratic setting;  the people also have to want restructuring. This is more than changing a roof or repairing some pillars;  it may require a new foundation altogether but it appears we don't want the time out in the sun or rain. 

We have had a dysfunctional civil service in Nigeria (I can't tell how much disorganised this it in all ministries) but we cannot just fire them all to import new ones. The last individual who shook the nation in like manner was eliminated within 7 months. In recent years,  we would not have readily gotten wind of failings in government but we get such now.  I think this is much needed transparency which allows the people to see clearly the problems and those who trouble us. 

It is not money released in the past 12 months that would have adequately prepared us for the Olympics to win medals. Serious nations have been prepping their sports men,  women and teens for at least 4 years since the London games.  We have had budgets,  grants,  sponsorship deals and all sorts of revenue sources over the past 4 years at least but only a remnant must have trickled down to those who actually needed such funds to prepare.  We ought to be glad that this is out in the open;  we would not have helped ourselves if we went the denial route and bailed out the creators of this mess. 

Another truth is that the resources available to the central government to fight financial crimes have been stretched very thin. There has been corruption in the sports ministry but the reality on ground is that the investigators can only do one step at a time.  The same way a wrapper has been tied to cover the rot in sports is the same a laboratory coat covers the decay in the health sector and the book of these ministries haven't been brought out yet for scrutiny like defence and petroleum. The politicians, other civilians and military folks under scrutiny for arms purchase are busy playing chess with the judicial process while they get protection from their aides and fan club who do not waste time to scream "Victimisation,  witch hunting or tribalism" when questions are asked of them. 

Corrupt  administrators at all levels have their fans as well but it will take other stakeholders getting sick and tired of mediocrity to wrestle our institutions from their grip and prevent them from covering up their deeds and manipulating the justice system.  We really need to take this raging bull by the horn instead of letting it roam free to destroy our fields.

To the matter of the minister of sports Solomon Dalong. I have read many criticisms about his choice of apparel but frankly;  I don't have any issues with his khaki and red beret. We have had ministers draped in expensive 'agbadas' or red caps in the past who were woeful at their jobs.  He is most likely out of his depth sportswise but this is the hazard of our federal character system of appointing government officials and ministers.  Many of those contesting his abilities now will be the most vocal if their kin or state got overlooked for an ambassadorial slot as stipulated in the constitution. 

I am not certain being from any catchment area should be the most important criterion to become a minister in an associated field. Doctors have mostly held sway in the health ministry but the disputes in that ministry are near world war proportions and never ending.  A lawyer is the attorney general but that judicial sector has been systematically rigged to ensure a phone thief got locked up for months to years while another who collapsed a bank remains relevant and without a fine.  Dalong has not covered himself in glory by meddling with football matters and claiming that Nigeria qualified for the Olympics while some other unfortunate nations didn't. He has also been making some noise for a few months about the state of his ministry's finances but I guess he wasn't taken serious enough. 

The sports ministry didn't necessarily need a minister to get us well prepared for Rio. We don't need some of the ministries we have now and we also don't need so many ministers.  The reality is that a few of those appointments were made to fulfil all righteousness and we should be weary about being overly upset that there are many redundant portfolios.  Should we not aid the current administration to develop a system that eliminates waste instead of always brandishing a seemingly sacrosanct constitution overdue for modification? 

Are we really ready to wrestle our nation from the sleeper hold of corruption and its sons? It is high time we embraced and leveraged on the information getting out to make appropriate demands of our government to truly serve the people and ensure justice is served.  I'm afraid we will suffer and experience some embarrassment from this process but this is the bitter truth we have to tell ourselves if we are indeed sincere. We need a complete culture overhaul and I want to believe we are on the right track.

Open Roofs

I have had it in my mind to write about the state of some of the schools I have seen in Lagos for more than a few months now; I shelved these thoughts until today.

I must commend the efforts of the state government over the years since the return of democracy in 1999. What existed in the few years prior to end of military rule was nothing to write to the Queen about. Many dropped out of school and either acquired technical/ creative skills or followed the wide road engaging in such vices as crime, substance abuse and diverse deeds which their parents would have been embarrassed about. Those who stayed had to practically arrange for their own education despite the proliferation of gang violence and cultism within the schools. There is no doubt that many became premature mothers who remain under the care of their parents till this day. Some pursued adventures into higher institutions either as tag along passengers without admission letters or became professional students who never graduated but pursued fraudulent student unionism for more than a decade. The stories of cult related killings are abundant and gory such that HBO could produce more than three full series from the numerous authentic tales. Many geniuses were sadly cut short before their primes by illness, cult violence or the ever persistent accidents on the mine fields we call roads in Nigeria. How politicians can know about all these and yet continue in their folly and thievery is beyond human comprehension.

Back to the current matter; I have had the privilege to travel a bit around this country and to visit quite a number of schools across the land save the SouthEast and most of the SouthSouth region. The seeds planted by the Premier of the old Western region yielded trees which still remain till this day. The works of the missionary institutions also still remain however there are still regions where pupils take lessons under palm frond sheds like my father did in the 1950s while in his home country. It is clearly that the governments of recent years have not done enough to match the foundations laid by those of the past; many of the buildings constructed in the 1940s-1970s still stand despite the many years of wear and torsion unlike those erected in the last few years. They have simply relegated education and squandered whatever ought to have been ploughed into educating Nigeria's future while they send their wards to greener pastures.

I have been to or passed by a few primary and secondary schools in Lagos and it appears the government has done well to ensure attendance. There does not appear to be discrimination in these schools as children from diverse tribes and tongues are in attendance. I have seen proper school uniforms and sport wears, organized food vendors, furniture, books and of course smiling kids. Although there are new structures present in some schools, many more have had what appears to be renovations done. Unfortunately, blown off roofs following these renovations characterize many of these schools.

I saw another primary school without proper roofs today and it was the last straw needed to prompt this. One wonders if the government deceived the stakeholders that it was committed to rebuilding schools but instead did not provide funds sufficient for the task. Could it be evidence of the poor quality of materials available to contractors or are our craft men simply incapable of doing work with dexterity like their West African counterparts who are noted for their competence and skill?

Relatively new roofs getting blown open by winds and thunderstorm have caused some headteachers to abandon entire classrooms. The relative shortage of competent teachers to tutor and monitor pupils also contributes a great deal to the suboptimal use of available facilities. Many of the teachers have been at the helm for upwards of 20-25years. Many schools cannot operate classes for toddlers adding to the dormant spaces. 

There is an emergency in the educational sector particularly at the primary level. It is unfortunate that our children have to go through this scarification process we call education. Lagos has done well but can do so much more. Some states do not even do anything while one Governor in particular wants to be worshiped because he got the Japanese to refurbish some schools in his extremely filth laden state. Those who get contracts to construct have to prove they have neural tissue in their skulls while the recruitment and proper renumetation of teachers should be taken up with urgency, seriousness and sincerity. There are too many blown roofs, it means our future is exposed to the elements and in grave danger.

RIGHT TO BEAR

The United States of America is rated as an advanced nation, the standard international unit of governance and a citadel of development. They are like the United Kingdom and other great nations characterized by relative economic stability, technological advancement and prosperity. However one issue makes the USA stand out; no nation provides more weapons to her citizens to ‘ensure’ their security.

One wonders why the US cannot simply emulate the British with respect to how they practice law enforcement. It must be because the USA is such a “yuge” country with a corresponding paranoia of how much she is detested by many nations all over the world except her closest allies. Isn’t it amazing that a greatly advanced nation can ‘controversially’ amend her laws which pertain to marriage and who is able to enlist in the military but is impotent to alter a certain Second amendment enacted in 1791? This right to keep and bear arms was borrowed from the English Bill of Rights of 1689 which has evolved since then. I am not certain the average British officer who is most likely not armed would make a traffic stop and be apprehensive that the driver of the vehicle would reach for a shotgun to blast his aorta. Why is this characteristic of America? The simple answer is that there are guns everywhere and plenty of such.

The US has experienced her own fair share of wars and internal conflicts such as the slave trade and the resultant civil war; the rise of supremacist groups and the World wars with their attendant economic downturns. Migrations to the land where dreams are fulfilled by diverse racial groups must have further complicated the already existing racism and caste system in America at such times. Many were lynched, gang violence proliferated and the black race in America was subjected to inhumane conditions that even animals do not deserve. Many black people paid the ultimate price and even those of the elite hue who dared to stand in solidarity with them were not spared as well.

There has been the odd gunman in a German theatre in June 2015, a deranged shooter in Norway who massacred 77 people in 2011, the cold blooded murder of a British female member of parliament a few weeks ago, a hostage situation in India, a shooting in Australia and the more elaborate killings in places such as France and Turkey. Nothing however tops the daily killings which occur in God’s own country due to the massive proliferation of weapons. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of the victims from gun violence in America are blacks at the hands of law enforcement. This is not to downplay the numerous shootings which have involved diverse races at elementary schools and Universities as well as in cinemas, military bases and clubs. The sloppiness of Law enforcement is simply baffling as it is clear to all that majority of such events were undoubtedly avoidable.

It is apparent that there is something wrong with law enforcement in the US; there is something defective about how they are trained and reprimanded when they err. There have been too many cases which should have ensured the trashing of the second amendment and any other law which inadvertently permits officers of the law and volunteers to assault or kill suspects especially blacks and Mexicans and practically get away with it. The names of those brutalized or killed abound and the number keeps climbing with each passing day. Malika Calhoun was 15years old when she kicked her shoe at Deputy Paul Schene (then 31) who then pulled her by the hair and slammed her head into a wall before dealing her further blows. She was in a Seattle police cell and had been arrested in November 2008 with her underage friend for taking out a car which belonged to her friend’s parent. She did not die but others like Israel Hernandez-Llach (18, Miami Florida), Corey Jones (31, Palm Beach Gardens Florida), Freddie Gray (25, Baltimore Maryland), Trayvon Martin (17, Miami Florida) and more recently Alton Sterling (37, Louisiana) and Philando Castile (32, Minnesota). The list of killings by law enforcement officers or volunteers as was the case with Zimmermann and Trayvon Martin date back many decades and the harsh reality is that many of the perpetrators hardly receive any punishment for reasons best known to the justice system. Many of the cases like that of Amadou Diallo (23) ended up with mistrials, administrative leaves with pay and benefits intact or the officers concerned where deemed to have acted appropriately and exonerated despite some of them having a positive history of heavy-handedness or fatal shootings of suspects.

Some of these victims have not been Blacks like the 18 years old Israel Hernandez who was tasered to his death for being a graffiti artist while a teenage Caucasian boy was tasered to coma by a white cop for possessing some quantity of cannabis. As much as it is convenient to highlight white cops who have been brash in carrying out their duties like Deputy Ben Fields who body slammed a Black female high school student in South Carolina last year; officers from other racial groups have also been involved in bad behavior. Jorge Mercado was the cop who killed Israel Hernandez in 2013 and Nouman Raja (possibly of Indian or Pakistani descent) shot Corey Jones despite only being on the job for 6months. He is reported to have gone around with a knife and tried to cover up his tracks after shooting Jones who was fleeing from him with a non-service weapon. Raja was not in uniform when he killed Jones and is currently facing a murder trial. Akinyemi Borishade was a cop in Florida early this year but his appointment was terminated when he beat a 26year old woman who had been handcuffed. He was on the job for just over a year. Some cops get off lightly while a few others get to face trial; that is the dilemma of the American Justice system.

America has had enough deaths to sweep the entire nation of all weaponry but why won’t they just do the needful? One excuse I see regularly is the involvement of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the discussion. It seems always easy to say the NRA promote the possession and proliferation of small arms and blame the association for the difficult in halting the proliferation of guns available in the country. The NRA was formed in 1871 and is involved in lobbying as a civil rights organization for firearm ownership and their competent and safe use. They are reported to have a membership of about 5million people and a revenue base of about $500million. If we assume that the NRA members are gun fanatics, do they control all the weapons available to over 300,000,000 people and distributed across the 50 states which make up the Union?

The yearly budget by the American government on Defence and Defence related issues is the largest in the world by a mile and the revenue made from the sale of guns for domestic use was $2,742million in 2010. There were 2,288 US based producers of civilian firearms, private security and law enforcement weapons from 1986-2010 and the 2010 pay roll of this industry was definitely over $500million. 3-5.5 million firearms are produced in America per year since 1980 for domestic and no-military use. About 98million firearms inclusive of pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns were either exported or diverted for domestic purchase from 1986-2010 while 48million firearms were imported during the same period. This therefore means that about 6million newly produced or imported firearms are available per year to meet domestic supplies. It simply cannot just be NRA members buying up the stockpile of weapons across the land; the harsh reality is that even victims like Corey Johns, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile had weapons when they were killed with most of them legitimately purchased.

Insisting on background checks as a means to curb illegal possession of weapons has not been effective. A report has it that only a small proportion of prison inmates in America who got sentenced for gun related crimes got their supply through legitimate routes. They usually got weapons to buy through the black market, from family members, pawn shops or as members of local gangs. I do not think there is any legislation that can control gun crimes as long as the guns remain available over the counter like medication for morning sickness. I do not think the American leadership is convinced that it needs to address the issue of guns; if it did it would treat it with the same urgency as they used to settle the issues of gay marriage, abortion and who could serve in the military. The number of pistol producers has more than doubled over the past 12years while the number of units produced has more than tripled. I think the weapons industry is too critical for America to undermine.

Cassius Marcellus Clay was a Republican politician and a former US ambassador to Russia. He was greatly involved with the anti-slavery movement in America and had to defend himself on two occasions with just a knife because he supported the abolition of the slave trade. He had to fight off six men on one of those occasions. There was a time when real threats were made on people’s lives and when law enforcement was primitive. These days, there are surveillance cameras everywhere and communication gadgets to ensure prompt response. I was fascinated with how the British do their policing business without having to be seen in the open or walking about with all sorts of gadgets to take down suspects. I know there was a 17years old Nigerian kid, Fola Orebiyi who was stabbed to death in the neck only a few days ago on the street in London; it is noteworthy that such events do not happen on an hourly basis like what is seen in America. America would do well to emulate their ancient ally and get as many steel and plastic gadgets out of homes and vehicles.

They do not need to have another Micah Xavier Johnson walking into a store to buy a rifle to wreak havoc simply because of the frustration associated with denied justice. He had just one tour in Afghanistan as an 18years old carpenter and mason; one wonders what another with severe complications following more abrasive experiences in Iraq and/ or Afghanistan could do if injustice persists. The sound of shots fired cannot be pleasant and Americans need to rise up to collectively deal guns a much needed death blow. The ‘Right to bear arms’ should only be taught in ancient history classes.

Israel Hernandez was hugely talented but was tasered to death longer than was required.

JUSTICE IRRESPECTIVE: Eunice Elisha

There is no way this can be said without appearing insensitive or arrogant but I will say it all the same. There is no justification whatsoever for the crime that was the murder of 42years old Eunice Elisha but a lot of commentaries I have seen following this incident are unfortunately fueled by extreme and arguably misdirected sentiments.

Many have shared the crime scene photos and the narrative generally appears to be a presumptive conclusion of police investigations. It could have been no other person(s) but Islamic fundamentalists or fanatics like I read in one Facebook post. The inevitable reaction to this spin is a lot of animosity towards people of a certain faith and some have even gone in hard against the Vice president who is a top member of the denomination the deceased belonged to.

I have read calls for the division of Nigeria because the perpetrators of this heinous crime could not have been any other but Northern (most likely Fulani) Muslims and reported remarks by the husband and child of the deceased must have reinforced this. The story had references to a Muslim cleric cautioning the deceased, a mosque behind the residence of the deceased and a mystery Imam who visited her home and asked for food to feed students at his school. She was said to have told the man that there was none after which she and her son developed an illness that almost claimed their lives. There was a suggestion that the encounter with the unknown cleric led to the illness.

It appears that Nigerians are fond of preempting law enforcement agencies and jump to conclusions based on our prejudices especially when there are no reported eyewitnesses. A Yoruba woman was killed in Abuja, Northern Nigeria so that means her killer(s) must be from the North and a muslim because they are the only ones capable of violence. Will that theory hold water if a Northern man (Nupe, Hausa, Fulani, Tiv, Birom, Kanuri, Tarok etc.) was found murdered on the streets of Enugu, Onitsha, Port-Harcourt, Ibafo or Akure? Will Northerners be right to infer that a Southern Christian committed the crime?

Going out before or at 5am regularly with a megaphone to preach in a residential neighborhood is regarded as overzealous and fanatism in some quarters. Some Nigerians have a habit of looking at the names and/ or countenance of other Nigerians to determine their religion as either Christianity or Islam. It does not always follow that a ‘Timothy’ is necessarily a Christian or a ‘Hassan’ is a Muslim; there are those who do not have any regard for religion and such are entitled to their choices. Religious or not, I do not believe that anyone who is asleep in whatever he or she has for  shelter will dance at 5am when someone with a megaphone visits his/ her area in the name of God.

People do not necessarily like loudspeakers blaring sermons at them at any time of the day so that alone can be motive enough to take a life. I am however of the opinion that many of those who commit crimes in Nigeria do so because they are almost convinced that they will get away with it and this is not because the individual in charge of presiding over Nigeria is from the same tribe and/ or religion. It baffles me that some people suggest that such crimes as this as well as the many attributed to Fulani herdsmen are occurring because President Buhari gave them license to steal, kill and destroy. One can almost assume that no crimes took place under the last administration or during 14 years of the past 17 years (since the return of democratic rule) when two ‘Christian’ presidents were at the helm. I will always refer to the gruesome murder of the four young lads in Aluu community.

Those hell bent on killing will kill provided all favorable conditions remain constant. The late Mrs. Elisha or anyone at all could have been murdered if what she did in the early mornings was to feed and care for destitute people. In certain nations, people get murdered for being environmental activists. For those of us who share in the faith that the late Deaconess had; we should not use this incident to aggravate the schism which already plagues Nigeria but should instead call for comprehensive investigations and that justice be served. Many of the remarks I have read almost sound like war cries; like a call for Christians to bear arms to mow every potential aggressor in our way just like a certain minister asked his congregation to spill the blood of anyone with looks like an Islamic jihadist.

This kind of cry cannot be right in any way we look at it. The instrument to ensure justice is the government and that is the substrate we ought to work on through advocacy. We should be seen as supporting or constructively criticizing the government in power instead of undermining it because we think that is the way our future will be assured. The time to change government based on the system we operate is not now so the earlier we started doing the aforementioned, the better for us.

There are laws we should abide by as citizens of any nation as well as reasonable ways to relate with other citizens. I am not sure there is any law that permits or prohibits early morning megaphone based preaching in residential areas but there are laws which protect freedom of speech and regulate noise pollution. The deed has been done but we should work to prevent a recurrence and this does not mean cowardice. The late evangelist could have been convinced of her calling and her method but the truth is that Nigeria permits such to happen in the first instance. I have no doubts that there are better ways to do this task with risk minimized; going out with another person for example would have been a good start. Even Christ Jesus sent out his disciples two by two.

In the face of ‘persecution’, I do not think any endorsement of animosity or violence is the way to go. There is no justification for maiming or killing anyone even if their methods are controversial or deemed too aggressive. We should continue to scream for justice because a human being and a Nigerian was killed and not necessarily because a Southerner, a Christian or a Redeemed Christian church of God deaconess was murdered. I am not sure she would have wanted images of her body proliferating all over social media as a tool to promote ethnic or religious division. If the early church reacted with animosity and violence at the persecutions and public executions many of them faced, I am sure Christianity would have been extinct even before it started.

May the soul of the departed rest in peace and I pray for grace for the family she left behind.