Years ago when I watched the movie titled – Raid On Entebbe, which recreated the rescue of Jews in Uganda who had been held hostage by Islamic terrorists, I realized what it means to have a responsive and responsible government. The recent rescue of a US citizen by the US armed forces took me back memory lane. And reminded me of the uselessness of the Nigerian army including the Nigerian president. A government’s primary responsibility is to protect lives and property. But the Buhari administration has excelled in jettisoning this holy grail. Today, the technically defeated Boko Haram is technically killing the unmotivated and ill-equipped Nigerian armed forces. Bandits are now the local government in certain places in Nigeria. Kidnappers have made many federal highways revenue generation spots to kidnap, collect ransom, rape, and kill their victims. After the #ENDSARS Lekki Shooting and Killings, state governments are now using the armed forces to terrorize citizens with the excuse of looking for stolen palliatives. Most Nigerian politicians have thugs and security operatives in retainership who are unleashed against citizens during elections or whenever the need arises. Yes, this is today’s and Buhari’s Nigeria. It has never been this bad. And it is getting worse.
Leah Sharibu, the Christian heroine forgotten by nationally influential clergymen, politicians, and the Nigerian media came to my mind when I read of the American rescue mission. I started thinking about what would have happened if Leah Sharibu was an American citizen. I also wondered if she was a citizen of Israel, what would be the fate of the terrorists. Her neglect by Nigerian leaders is also a reminder of Chinua Achebe’s book – There Was A Country. You know, there is no need to acknowledge or show allegiance to a nation that cannot protect her own. It is unpatriotic supporting leaders who cannot maintain the peace. It is unreasonable to have patience with evil and unreasonable men like Buhari, El Rufai, and Amaechi who are bent on reversing all the gains of our heroes past. I have often wondered who Leah will be now. The Urhobo girl Ese who was kidnapped from Bayelsa State and taken to Kano state, while Sanusi Ibrahim Sanusi was still emir, gives me a near picture of what she would be or look like now. It is so depressing to have irresponsible leaders which have been the undoing of Africa. Yet, we continually find ourselves fighting ourselves on and off social media in defense of these men and women who only care about themselves.
It is in the absence of government playing their constitutional duty that citizens to start agitating for a new nation. Nigeria is not working. The few who are benefiting from this endemically corrupt nation will say otherwise. The few who desire their principals to succeed Buhari with the assistance of Buhari will also say otherwise. But looking at things objectively and retrospectively, this union has brought more sorrow, tears, and blood than peace, prosperity, and progress. The ethnic division that is prevalent in our polity is pervasive. The religious animosity between us is not anonymous. We profess our religiously skewed reasoning whenever our religious bigots are involved. We identify with corrupt politicians based on ethnicity and religion even when they continue to lead lives in ways that clearly show to us, that they do not care. If you are kidnapped tomorrow, do you think they would take the necessary steps for your rescue? If you become unhealthy today, do you think they would fly you abroad for adequate attention? Yet many of us still defend them. I wonder when we will wise up. Maybe by then, Leah would have been totally obliterated from our consciousness.