Tuesday 22 April 2014

OPINION | Insecurity and Political Trypanosomiasis Now Thrive in Nigeria.

It's way past midnight, and I just woke up to gunshots. Sporadic shooting in my neighborhood has suddenly become a frequent phenomenon. Mushin is where I reside and is well known as one of the most notorious places in Lagos. Well, truth is, sometimes it's filled with noise and chaos. However, looking at the big picture; no where is 50% safe in my country anymore. Insurgency seems to be on the rise in Nigeria. Tired of been greeted with news headlines that read 'Bomb blast in Abuja, 72 people feared dead' or 'Fulani herdsmen clash with farmers' and so on.

Security is paramount in any country that attract foreign investors regularly. The country's economy suffers where this is lacking. Imagine, close to 200 young female students were abducted by gun men in the Northern part of Nigeria last week. Frankly speaking, any of these girls could have been our sisters or even daughters. According to news bulletins flying around, it was recently reported that 14 more girls have escaped from the Boko Haram abductors. I wonder how true that update is. Is the media even reliable these days? Oh well, crazy times! Indeed there is an ongoing war in Northern Nigeria. And if the federal government doesn't declare a war on terrorism as soon as possible, this conflict may spread to other parts of the country, especially here in the South.

Most people in the South West still joke about terrorism, perhaps, because we haven't seen a BRT bus boarded by school children and civil servants explode in broad day light. I pray that doesn't happen. Terrorism is not amusing in any way. I get vexed when I see some abnormal people making a joke out of the whole situation on social media platforms. That's absolutely wrong. Any one involved in such absurd manner of behavior is as unserious as sleeping delegates at the national conference where serious issues are meant to be discussed.
Forget the outbreak of Ebola virus; one deadly disease eating deep into the fabrics of our government is Political Trypanosomiasis. This is a phrase I coined in the process of writing a new song where I addressed several issues affecting my dear country. Why would our leaders be sleeping when there is fire on the mountain? It's really illogical. I can't phantom it. He who thinks he is leading and has no one following him is only taking a walk. We the citizens of Nigeria won't cease to be vocal. Enough is enough!

A while back, Boko Haram leader, Shekau, dared security agencies and claimed responsibility for Abuja Nyanya park bombing. This man boldly told the Nigerian public about his whereabout by releasing a video online. By the way, this method of making a statement adopted by terrorists worldwide is rather cliché and irrelevant. Anyway, if he is actually in Abuja, then flushing him out with his squad of brainwashed rebels shouldn't be rocket science. The Federal Capital Territory is a concrete jungle and not like the Amazon forest. Who am I to tell the Nigerian Army how to do their job? Only Nigeria can save Nigeria. There was a country, but I don't wish for another civil war before we find peace. May God help us!

No comments:

Post a Comment