Bandits in power

Nigeria is on the brink. Everywhere is up in flames ignited by sundry calamities. If it is not banditry and terrorism, then it is economic emasculation occasioned by a careless and indifferent governant, which prefers to foist suffering on the people it purports to lead.

Well, there is another kind of banditry, which a lot of Nigerians are susceptible to. This one is sexual and quite endemic.

It is prevalent in our universities and workplaces. It is back-for-ground, marks or promotion-for-hand. Worst still, the homes are no longer safe for the female, as blood relations, even fathers, love to swim in the poison of their daughters thighs. Abomination!

Places of worship are not exempt. The clergy preach different kinds of messages, leading nowhere but hell.

So, what is sexual banditry? It is euphemistically referred to as sexual harassment but no matter what lexicon is deployed, sexual banditry is an act of sexual aggression against the opposite gender. Well, not exactly because sometimes, you hear weird stories of same gender sexual combats that leaves the decent flabbergasted.

Therefore, any forced sexual relationship is banditry. It does not know gender anymore. It does not know tribe or tongue; neither does it have respect for faith.

The much-dreaded bandits and their Boko Haram siblings are adorned in unpleasant garb because their nefarious acts are brazen. They kidnap for ransom and kill without conscience. They were suspected to have been imported into the country by invidious politicians, who wanted to use them to use them in their political banditry. Unfortunately, after using these derelicts of society, they reneged on their promises, resulting in the morphing of the thugs into this nebulous army, now hunting even the hunters that birthed them.

There is no more peace in the land because the miniscule few that brought these goons have lost control and are now crying the most, as the now unwanted guests have seized their lands and established their caliphate.

In fact, the political lords have become the laughing stock of the oppressed masses because they can no longer enjoy their loot. Their utter confusion is nemesis that has come to roost.

Indeed, it was quite pathetic listening to the presidential aide, Garba Shehu, bemoaning the helplessness of the government to address the bandits menace. The government had played the midwife to the wife of the bandits’ leader as demanded. It had footed medical bills as demanded. It has also released a few bad guys as demanded. Yet the gangster has remained recalcitrant and holding the passengers of the Abuja-Kaduna train he abducted in a vise grip.

Why would the terrorist kingpin not play god? They say the president knows their demand. So, Shehu may not be telling us the entire truth, or not privy to the entire truth. Of course, Nigerians await the president to tell them what the terrorists want.

Shehu’s lamentation does not cut ice with Nigerians. Even his principal’s declaration of eagerness to leave in May next year hasn’t moved anyone. As far as they know, this government has been on strike longer than the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and could as well resign yesterday for all they care.

What the people worry about is how bandits have come to occupy the corridors of power; no, control the levers of power. Former President Goodluck Jonathan alluded to this in his time but he was derided and bullied out of office by those who claimed they had the answers to Nigeria’s many troubles.

How come, more than seven years after, the country has collapsed irretrievably? Instead of saving Nigerian lawmakers the pain of the impeachment process by resigning, we are being bored by the talk of having done their best.

Their best is the worst Nigerians ever got from any government. They should show patriotism by resigning honourably. Enough of this embarrassment.

As 2023 knocks at our door, nobody should ever apply for a job you’re not fit or suited for. Nigerians have seen enough of prancing about and making crazy promises; it can no longer be acceptable.

Questions are being asked concerning the depletion of our excess crude account. Why has the kindergarten Boko Haram metamorphosed into this intractable hydra-headed monster of many faces? Why are the marauding and murderous Fulani herdsmen untouchable? Where on earth is this level of brash cronyism and tribal bigotry seen in any government?

The commendation of China for helping improve infrastructural development in the country is a mockery of conscience. This so-called country, does it include the South-East? One needs to take a trip to that part of the world to experience the deplorable state of infrastructure. Yet the zone is counted among those owing China huge debts and contributing to the repayment.

How justified is this travesty of fairness if the South-East is excluded from the list of beneficiaries of the loans while Nigeria can afford to build rail lines to Niger Republic?

Someone in this government said Nigeria cannot borrow to pay striking university lecturers. True talk, isn’t it? Nigeria can buy SUVs for a foreign land out of borrowed funds but cannot pay the lecturers. Great! Nigeria can afford to sell pieces of paper as presidential nomination forms for outlandish N100 million but cannot find the universities, abi?

We have bandits in government because those ruling us have failed us. It does not make sense that bandits could raid a federal correctional centre in the heart of the Federal Capital Territory without insider collaboration. Sadly, those implicated as collaborating with insurgents have nothing to fear.

There are bandits everywhere, whether sexual or political. In fact, they are all the same.

Is Nigeria’s politics not sensual? Does it appeal to any other thing but sensuality? Are they not worshippers of the flesh? Do they care about the masses but their loot? Whether they serve at sensual or sexual altars, Nigerians are the lambs for sacrifice. For how much longer would they wait for deliverance from these tormentors, masquerading as saviours?