By Princewill Amaefule
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Recently, I got home from work. I went straight to my room, had my shower and went straight to the table and turned on my laptop.
I had a website upgrade deadline and I did not want any disturbance, as I must finish before going to bed. My boys were having their time in the sitting room. The first was working on his homework and the second was watching his favourite cartoon.
No sooner had I settled into my design deadline, the first son came into my room with a complaint, “Daddy, Ikem is distracting me, he is pinching me.” I raised my voice in response: “Ikem Stop doing that”. Mummy was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Richie came a second time with the same complaint; then I told him “Sorry”.
My wife walked into the room to announce dinner was ready. At that point, Rich came in again, “Daddy Ikem is still pinching me”. Without any thought, I flared “Pinch him back, are you not older than him?”
Now that was probably what Richie wanted to hear. In all ramification, he is bigger than his brother is, and so Ikem stands no chance in combat. As Richie was grinning, making his way out of my room, perhaps, thinking how to teach his brother not to distract him, and getting his fathers’ permission to engage him, my wife held his hand.
With a gentle rebuke, she dismissed my verdict. She stood up and accompanied Rich to the sitting room to caution Ikem and as she approached the door, she turned and gave me that look “Na wa for you!”
I felt a little embarrassed and later that night I had a chat with the boys before the kid’s bed time.
Recent happenings in the country has raised many questions regarding the place of Justice in our system. We awoke to the disturbing news of killings in Plateau State. For many, it is a recurring event and it is beginning to settle in our consciousness as a part of our reality. Could this be because of the population – over 180 million? Would it have mattered if we were the size of Iceland? Nevertheless, the atrocities in Plateau is an attestation to the poor handling of Fulani herder/farmer crisis across Nigeria.
I read a disturbing report from some quarters that some cattle were rustled and herders killed. In spite of the appeal for calm, the reprisal happened, leaving over 100 people dead in three local governments of Plateau (depending on who is giving the report). What next?
Irate residents of Jos took to the streets and attacked motorists who were caught unaware. A good friend and colleague of mine escaped death by the whiskers. He left Bauchi, said goodbye to his family oblivious of the crisis in Jos. He drove straight into the epicentre of the crisis. His ordeal is too gory for this post. He escaped, but not without a broken head, his car windshield all smashed, some of his personal belonging vandalized. He is neither Fulani nor of Jos dissent, but he almost paid the ultimate price for a crisis he knew nothing about. Where is the Justice?
Like my engagement with my sons, I represented the system – the justice system. There were an infraction and Richie did the right thing by coming to me to complain. However, I was too busy with my stuff to resolve the complaint, and when the infraction was unabated, my best answer was “beat him back”. How could that solve the problem? If my wife didn’t intervene, I would not have had the peace and concentration to do my stuff. In a society where justice is lacking, everybody is the looser.
In one of my recent trainings, while waiting for the session to commence, the participants engaged in conversations about the troubles in Nigeria (Late Chinua Achebe in his book, the trouble with Nigeria opined that whenever any two Nigerians meet to have a conversation, they most probably would talk about the troubles of Nigeria). So while we were giving our various opinions about the challenges of the country, the lecturer stepped in and listened for a while enjoying the engagements. Then he beckoned on us to be quiet and he added that the major problem in Nigeria is lack of justice. With that, the training session commenced. I must confess that during the training I was still in thoughts with what he said. I could relate to it in so many ways.
When a Fulani’s cow trespasses into a farmland and nothing is done, and the farmer cannot seek redress or be compensated, that is the injustice. When the farmer takes the law into his hand and kills the cow or the Fulani herder, that is the injustice. When the Fulani militia group attacks an entire community on a killing spree, for whatever reason, that is the injustice. When youths take to the streets and cause mayhem in reaction to killings, that is the injustice. Injustice leads to more injustice
In all of this, we can deduce two fundamental realities.
First, the innocent ones are always the victims of such crisis. The ones who were probably oblivious of what transpired will be caught unaware and made to pay for what they have not done. Evil begets evil, and the chain reaction continues. It becomes a “do me, I do you” society, which some call jungle justice. Are we living in a jungle? Even in jungles, there are rules of engagement.
Secondly, the government becoming very unpopular. With every killing that goes unabated, the authority loses credibility. All we have been hearing is that perpetrators will be brought to book. I am still waiting for that day. Now we don’t know who is responsible as the media reports “suspected armed herdsmen”. We hear of so many reports from authorities. However, this is a country where we have the Police, Department of State Security, National Intelligence Agency, Military Intelligence, Civil Defence, and the proper Military.
A community is invaded for hours and after the perpetrators have fled the scene; our security authorities will stroll in looking more confused than the victims. This system is not sustainable. We have a Commander in Chief of the armed forces who is the head of government and our constitution tells us that the primary role of government is to ensure the protection of life and properties. When government fails to carry out this role then the country will gradually nose dive into an anarchical society. We have a Vice President who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a professor of Law. Can he advocate for victims who have been killed or the wounded or those who have lost their means of livelihood overnight?
The recent report from World Poverty Clock postulated that Nigeria is the leading country with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty, having about 6 people entering poverty every minute. My wife read the report and tried to make sense of it, and I responded that whenever armed herdsmen sacked a community, people most likely enter poverty.
How long are we going to fold our hands and watch our dear country descend into chaos. There were mixed reactions when Oby Ezekwesili marched to Villa on a solo protest. Nevertheless, the truth remains that we cannot claim we have peace and prosperity when calamity befalls fellow citizens. This is beyond tribe, geography, and religion. The President and the Vice President must be called to order. The security heads did not win an election. Those who won the election should live up to expectations of the entire electorate.
Princewill Amaefule is a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Abuja
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