You stood six feet tall, with a bulged biceps, and a finger on the trigger. Target straight ahead, and between heartbeats, you pulled and buried a bullet into the soft skulls of innocent villagers. You raped their women, looted their belonging, and set their villages ablaze. You disengaged your clutch and zoomed off, and into the bush you went to rejoice in what you called a victory. Woe to your victory oh bandits!
What an outrage that continues to strike at the very heart of our society. Like morning rituals, His grace condemns your actions and promise to sacrifice your heads on the altar of justice, and the nation mourns also.
As their subject’s heads continually get stockpiled, the northern leaders/elders have drowned in the flood of silence, not like before when a southerner graced our national space.
Surely, these villagers are suffering from security neglect. Are we returning to the Hobbesian state of nature, when human life was said to be brutal, nasty, poor, solitary, and short and the weak lived at the mercy of the strong?
If ever there was a time for our leaders to uphold the sanctity of human life, it is now. Protection of lives and property stands at the forefront of leadership. May our leaders be guided to tour the right path that will lead to the success of our dear Nigeria.
Adam Naziru Ahmed,Department of Agriculture, University of Jos.
