For years, Nigeria has lived in criminal pretence, with the leadership making out that all was well even as things disintegrated. The leadership watched as the country’s economic and social life gradually collapsed under the weight of insecurity; insecurity whose fire was being stoked by the very government that was supposed to protect the masses.
It was former Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, who reportedly said that any insecurity not quashed within 48 hours, meant that the government had a hand in it.
The events in Nigeria, as long as the fight again terrorism is concerned, have had government’s imprimatur. While we can’t readily agree with the American President about it being a calculated genocide against Christians, we however agree and add that Christians are being killed without anything coming from the Presidency.
It started under the regime of the late General Muhammadu Buhari who allowed Islamic fundamentalists to attack and kill people in communities. In all of those deaths, Buhari never bothered to commiserate with the families, but went on as though it was chicken being killed.
Even when Nigerians cried for justice, the government told them that it was a case of farmers clashing with herders, an explanation that clearly showed the government’s intention not to solve the problem.
As a result of the sacking of communities, mostly in Northern Nigeria, the nation suffered food crisis as the herdsmen continued to annex farms and villages while the Federal Government appeared helpless.
The infuriating thing in all this has been the failure, or is it refusal, of Government to take appropriate action against the marauding herders, mainly of the Fulani stock. This led to the widely held view that the Federal Government of Nigeria was favouring the Fulani.
The situation has since become alarming, with Nigerians being killed in hundreds, in areas being populated by the insurgents or herders. They have become sacred cows who can plunder, loot and kill without being touched.
This is why the majority of the Nigerian citizenry are happy with Trump’s threat. To them, if it will take Trump’s intervention to end the years of bloodletting in the northern part of the country, so be it. Nigeria’s leadership has been living in pretence for long, while the nation slowly disintegrate. We feel that if it will take threats by America for Nigeria to put things right, then it is a welcome development.
