I posted these last year as well as other screenshots on 3 or 4
other posts. Many won't read to get informed that's why they will suddenly wake
up in 2018 and become emergency activists trying to offer solutions to violence
in Nigeria when they don't even understand the history.
I finally watched what Ben10 said on the floor of the Senate
yesterday, where he mentioned Saraki taking over to end the violence. He
sounded very funny really, like someone who just snapped out of a 35 years
coma. A newbie to Nigeria listening to that would have thought extreme violence
only started in Nigeria on the 30th of May 2015. He probably isn't aware of all
the debates on herdsmen - farmers clashes and all versions of the grazing bills
discussed in the red chamber before he got to the senate.
When you tell folks that we can't get lasting solutions by
stereotyping an entire race and exclusively blaming them for all the violence,
they accuse you of insensitivity and act like they alone are affected by the
deaths. If you need Ben10 to describe for you how pregnant women and children
get maimed or killed in Nigeria, you probably are not a bona fide citizen of
Nigeria or your education was a complete waste of time.
If we ask people to propose lasting solutions to the
herdsmen-farmers clashes, what we will likely get are emotionally driven and
impractical solutions. You claim cattle grazing is obsolete but technically
it's not. It's a method of animal husbandry and practiced to certain extents
even in civilized societies where farmers opt to feed their cattle with
strictly organic feed. One problem we have had in Nigeria is animals
encroaching into farmlands. Cattle ranches or colonies are supposed to prevent
this contact but one wonders why there's so much resistance. Is it every
available piece of land in these states that is cultivated? Then one hears
"islamization agenda of the Fulanis" and I can only shake my head.
They say cattle rearing is private business and government
shouldn't have any part in it. I am sorry that all those teachers who labored
to teach us in secondary school must feel heartbroken that they wasted their
time. Livestock is food and government should be concerned about how food gets
to the tables or plates of her citizens. When Channels TV carried a story in
2016 on how abattoirs were operated in Benue state, governor Ortom didn't say
he was unconcerned that slaughtered cows were burnt with tyres but he moved
speedily to order a revamping of all abattoirs in the state. He couldn't have
appeared not bothered about the quality of meat sold in Benue markets. Is
abattoir business government business?
Politicians have been playing politics with Nigerian lives since
forever. They will give you wheelbarrows while they set up world class ranches
for themselves. They will buy off real estate that should have provided
sensible accommodation for scores because they want to build palaces for
themselves. When they are marked for prosecution on account of corruption, they
will buy aso ebí for you to fight on their behalf claiming ethnic or religious
persecution. Many are applauding Aisha Buhari for her position, perhaps they
want a first lady who will be claiming millions of dollars in accounts opened
with the names of cronies after PMB leaves office.
Elections are around the corner, who is your candidate? Which
horse are you betting on? Are you betting on PMB not running? Let's assume PMB
opts not to run (not because of external pressures) and "anoints"
someone like Shehu Sani suggested, do you think your candidate will beat any
anointed man? The time you have left should be spent packaging your gladiator
instead of worrying about PMB. Atiku is a Fulani man, he's running with PDP and
Ben10 has anointed him as the next president. Will you a southerner vote Atiku
a Fulani man considering how you have vilified the Fulani incumbent? Will you
as a middle belt adult vote for Atiku considering how you have become paranoid
about an Islamization agenda? Will you vote for the Red card movement instead
to spite the top 2 parties or will you vote for one of the new parties with
near idealistic ideologies?
How will any of the newbies recover the Chibok girls speedily?
How will they transform the economy? Will massive industries suddenly spring
out of fallow ground within 2 years? Will they release and allow every
separatist and religious fundamentalist to thrive because they want to adhere
to the rule of law? Will they be willing to incarcerate or kill anyone who is a
threat to the nation? I remember Barack Obama's promise to close down Guantanamo
bay prison, the place is still operational till tomorrow. Talk is very cheap at
times until reality dawns.
Many have committed crimes in Nigeria, the reality is that it is
extremely difficult to get justice speedily. Till then, we should sue for peace
instead of replacing our brains with coconuts and retracting into our primitive
ethnoreligious shells. Certain parts of our country are educationally and
economically disadvantaged; shouldn't we reach out to obliterate the gaps?
Communication is how this can be achieved not hibernation. We should not let
angry people posing as religious, cultural or political leaders decide the
agenda. The best they can do is to supply weapons but it's your children not
theirs who will carry these weapons.
PS: All images are screenshots from a 2013 Human Rights Watch publication on Inter-Communal violence in Kaduna and Plateau titled "Leave Everything To God." https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/nigeria1213_ForUpload.pdf
JOA24012018
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