Ordinary
people around Northern Nigeria are now living in grave fear of the
unknown following incessant targeted killings by suspected armed
Islamic religious insurgents. But even the rich also cry in the
entire North because most times when the armed attackers throw their
bombs, deadly explosives and other weapons of mass destruction in
Churches, Police and military formations, no one is discriminated on
the basis of their status and just about anybody can easily fall prey
to these targeted attacks.
Few
days back in Kano State, in a drive by shooting by suspected armed
Islamic extremists, a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police Mr.
Abubakar Sale Ningi was gruesomely killed. This incident happened few
days after a suspected suicide bomber attacked worshippers at the
harvest field Christian Church and The Living Faith Christian Church
in Yelwa Tudun in Bauchi metropolis leading to the death of scores of
peaceful and unarmed worshippers and when some of the youth in the
Churches protested the weak capability of the armed security
operatives to protect law abiding citizens, about eight of these
peaceful demonstrators were allegedly mauled down and killed
gruesomely by soldiers and armed mobile Policemen who were not in the
mood for any civilized protestation. These same armed security forces
paid with tax payers' money often fail to deploy effective
intelligence-driven measures to stop the armed insurgents in their
tracks before they strike terror into the peaceful worshippers.
On
Sunday June 10th 2012 when Christian worshippers trooped out to
exercise their Constitutionally guaranteed Freedoms of Conscience and
movement in Plateau and Borno States, they were viciously attacked by
suspected suicide bomber who detonated explosives in two near- by
Churches in Jos, Plateau State killing several worshippers while
armed attackers invaded a Christian Church in Biu, Borno State and
slaughtered several worshippers in broad day light.
In
all of these cases of violence, two questions keep echoing in my mind
and these are why some persons who claimed to know and worship the
Supreme Deity commonly addressed as Almighty God, are at the same
time engaged in these atrocious criminal acts of mass murder and
genocide and secondly why the original concept of Government seems to
have collapsed in much of Nigeria and especially in Northern Nigeria.
This is because Governors of those Northern States have no plan on
what to do to stop these killings of innocent people in their domain
of political control or sphere of influence. Annoyingly, these
so-called state Governors in the North are busy globetrotting and
embarking on meaningless foreign trips while the innocent unarmed
civilians are killed in the most gruesome of manners. In Kano state,
the Governor has decided to erect formidable fence around the
Government House whereby his family will enjoy the best of military
protection but the ordinary people including Christian worshippers
are left to die like chickens. At the Federal Government level, we
were told that it has the full list of the sponsors of the insurgency
in the North that has resulted in the killing of several thousands of
people but several months after, nobody has either been arrested,
prosecuted or punished. We will explore the scholarly works of great
minds to try to locate why Government is collapsing in Nigeria.
Bertrand
Russel [1872-1970] writing under the title of What is an Agnostic? Stated
that persons who truly believe in the existence of God the creator of
life are absolutely forbidden from eliminating or violently taking
away the same life of other human Beings who are similarly created by
the Almighty God. Formulating another interesting question in an
attempt to differentiate a believer in God and an Agnostic, Mr.
Russel, one of the finest Philosophers in contemporary times asked
whether an Agnostic do whatever he/she likes since he/she is not too
sure if God exists or not and he concluded in the negative. According
to him; "In one sense, no; in another sense, everyone does
whatever he pleases. Suppose, for example, you hate someone so much
that you would like to murder him. Why do you not do so? You may
reply: "Because Religion tells me that murder is a sin."
Now,
I ask, in Northern Nigeria, why do people go as far as to ram
explosives- ladden vehicles into Churches where Children, old men,
women and vibrant youths gather to Worship their God? Can we
attribute these killings in much of the North to just hate crime,
genocide or crimes against humanity or are these mass murderers
mistakenly believed that they are killing in the name of some persons
or supernatural Force. Certainly, killing is not in the name of God.
Now
the next question is why the original concept of Government seen as
that all powerful, larger-than-life and invincible institution that
superintends and enforces law and order and regulates the conduct of
the ordinary mortals to check such excesses like violence and mass
murder, has evaporated in Northern Nigeria? This is true if we take
into cognizance the ongoing killings in parts of Northern Nigeria and
even the rampant cases of abductions, kidnappings of human being for
ransom payments as carried out by armed hoodlums in most parts of the
South which reached an all time high with the recent kidnapping in
Warri, Delta State of the Italy-based Nigerian national Football
player Mr. Christian Obodo. Is Government dead in Nigeria?
One
of the finest thinkers that indeed wrote extensively on the concept
of Government was Aristotle[384-322 BC]. This scholar whose writings
have become profoundly immortal if I may say so did actually authored
a beautiful work he aptly titled "the natural basis of
Society". His words; "Every State is a community of some
kind, and every community is established with a view to some good;
for mankind always acts in order to obtain that which they think
good. But, if all communities aim at some good, the State or
Political Community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces
all the rest, aims and in a greater degree than any other, at the
highest good".
So
as not to delude himself with the mistaken belief that all human
beings respect the sacred law by not taking away the life of other
people, Aristotle provided a quick response to our interrogation on
why some persons who clings unto the belief in the Supreme Being could
degenerate to the animalistic level and engage in mass murder as are
the cases in Northern Nigeria.
Aristotle
stated thus; " all men by nature, and yet he who first founded
the State was the greatest of all benefactors. For man, when
perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and
justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more
dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with the arms of intelligence
and with moral qualities which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore,
if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of
animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony".
Aristotle
also recommended to Government officials in broken down societies
such as Northern Nigeria and much of Nigeria that if they wish to
retain any form of constitutional legitimacy, then those members of
the society that take the law into their hands and unleash bloody
violence on other members of the civil society must be made to face
the full weight of the law and not the heavily compromised paper
weight of contemporary time Nigeria's application of the law.
His
words; " But Justice is the bond of men in States, and the
administration of justice, which is the determination of what is
just, is the principle of order in Political society".
The
Constitution of Nigeria is very clear on what constitutes the primary
duty of Government when the drafters included section 14 [2] [b] that
the security and welfare of the people SHALL be the primary purpose
of Government". This provision is enshrined as major component
of the fundamental objectives of State policy which also constitute a
component of the oath of office sworn to by the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. After he was elected as the President of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria in April 2011, Dr, Goodluck Jonathan
on May 29th 2011 took a solemn oath of office and affirmed among
others to "...that I will strive to preserve the fundamental
objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy contained in the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria...."
President
Jonathan must rise to the occasion and look for other innovative,
technology compliant, effective ways of containing the spread of hate
crime in Nigeria. First, all offenders who are arrested must be properly
and dispassionately investigated, prosecuted in an impartial courts
of competent jurisdiction by Judges who are not compromised on the
basis of religion, ethnicism or money and these mass murderers must
be sanctioned if we truly want members of the global community of
civilized persons to take us serious. If the local Courts are
overwhelmed or too compromised to handle these sensitive cases, then
we can try these alleged mass killers in the International Criminal
Court in The Hague, Netherlands. The continuous unprofessional
handling of grave cases of genocide and targeted killings in Nigeria
is responsible for the general state of impunity whereby persons who
have illegally armed themselves are going about killing innocent
civilians and Government officials are experimenting with the idea of
dialogue. I ask, to dialogue with the killers is Government not
openly asking the victims and their relations to go to God knows
where to obtain justice?
Is
President Jonathan aware that he can use his executive power and
implement measures to equip ordinary people all across the country
for them to be able to withstand the ongoing unwarranted killings,
maiming and targeted attacks? In section 220[1] the Federation SHALL
establish and maintain adequate facilities for carrying out into
effect Any Act of the National Assembly providing for compulsory
military training or military services for citizens of Nigeria".
The
same section in sub-section two provides that just before the Act of
the National Assembly is passed for the purposes of establishing
these military training facilities for the compulsory military
training and services by Nigerians, the President can order that the
military training be commenced in any available primary schools.
I
think Nigeria is in a dangerous time whereby we can no longer fold
our hands and watch innocent Nigerians wasted by some armed
insurgents. Government of President Jonathan should explore this
constitutional provision on compulsory military training and infact
Government can go as far as liberalizing the acquisition of arms
specifically for the protection of the civil populace who are
exercising their fundamental freedoms of worship. Other measures such
as building formidable electrified international borders around
Nigeria's international borders especially in our porous border areas
linking us with Cameroon, Chad and Niger must be commenced and every
measure to keep away illegal arms shipment into Nigeria must be
activated to save Nigeria from imminent civil war. But what has happened
to all those Politicians who promised to make Nigeria ungovernable if
the North does not produce the President of Nigeria in 2011 or is the
law enforcement officials still pandering to regional loyalty as
against national loyalty?
|
No comments:
Post a Comment