From all indications, a new era has dawned in Nigeria.
After somewhat ‘successful’ but chequered general elections, our nation state is once again, poised to turn its engines back on, firing on all cylinders, and seek ways to better the lives of One hundred and fifty million citizens. A country steeped in potential is once again ready to re-direct its energies towards the development and management of its resources and minions, after its citizenry have chosen and selected those it wishes to entrust with the responsibility of steering the ship of state to the “Promised Land”. Ours has been a long and arduous journey. However, with an acceptable election conducted mostly freely and fairly, the Giant of Africa may finally find its groove.
I congratulate Nigerians for the successful conduct of the 2011 general elections, even though I feel like I’m congratulating a man old enough to be a graduate on attaining his First School Leaving Certificate. Nevertheless, we must start someday and if we have started now, it is yet early. Our recently concluded election has been dubbed the freest and fairest ever in Nigeria by both local and international observers. Yet it was badly flawed in some areas, culminating in the horrendous and cowardly violence perpetrated on an innocent and unprepared electorate and citizenry in some Northern states. Women and children were murdered and annihilated, youth corp members butchered for serving their fatherland, scores of thousands of people displaced because some people had decided, even before the election was conducted, that they and they alone had the right to rule Nigeria.
The problem of butchery of Southern Nigerians in the North by Northern Nigerians and the Christian-Muslim brouhaha has been a constant phenomenon in our polity since the sixties, but this time around, these evil, demonic, blood sucking scavengers have taken it to new heights. By targeting and killing Youth Corpers, serving in various states in the north these pre-humans vented their vicious and misplaced anger on them for the role they played in conducting a successful election in which a southerner triumphed. I rightly speak for every decent Nigerian when I say that I am appalled to the pit of my stomach at the wanton destruction of human life and utter disregard, disrespect and in fact, contempt that these mobs hold human life and property. They have no inkling as to the sanctity of human life and are thus easily, manipulated and used by all manners of surreptitious and criminal minded politicians and mallams to satisfy their own personal gains, vendetta and blood lust.
These people, the so called elites, that manipulate these mirthless gangs, are a disgrace to humanity and must be brought to book to face the consequences of their iniquity. If Nigeria is to truly become the giant of Africa as we love to style ourselves, then we must grow, not only economically, but politically and socially too, and therefore, we must root out the evil that lurks in our society and gives vent to such political madness.
We surely can not continue like this. This is a carryover from the sixties and obviously will continue until the government decides that enough is enough and bring these cowardly perpetrators to justice.
Shedding the blood of our youth, particularly those in the service of our fatherland is not only a crime against our fatherland - which is grievous enough – but a crime against humanity. Those dastardly instigators should be sent to the Hague to be tried for crimes against humanity.
I am so disappointed with Buhari with his so called C.P.C. His sedulous silence alone, even for days after the rioting began speaks volumes of his attitude and the attitudes of the so called Northern elite. Not to mention the, probably, drunken vituperations of some of the clowns that call themselves governors. Why is it that barely at the drop of a pin Southerners are massacred in the north and this has been going on for decades unchecked? We all know the significance of the youth in a society – they are the leaders of the future – should we allow the brutal and organized murder of our youth by a people who believe they can kill and get away with it, because they’ve done so severally in the past and nothing happened. Yet these elites – so called – turn around and profess the oneness of Nigeria, claiming to be more patriotic than the rest of us.
Look, there is nothing sacred or divine about the oneness of Nigeria as a united political entity. Frankly, we the people DEMAND that the government put aside the banalities and superficialities of empty political rhetoric’s and profestations of patriotism and drag the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to face the wrath of the law. We cannot and should not co-exist in a country where some members are regular human targets in one particular part of the country. Needless to say, no region has a right to orchestrate the massacre of any one because of election results. I didn’t vote for Buhari, for, though I happen to respect the man for his discipline, I have always seen him as Northern hegemonist and an Islamic fundamentalist. With the behavior of his ilk, I have been proved right, but they must be brought to book and suffer the consequences of their unbridled bloodletting. Alas, even Osama Bin Laden has finally and permanently been brought to book. Thank God!
Nnamdi Nwokedi is the Director of Michelin Nigeria PLC.
