Ending the year in tears

A 61-year-old man who, unfortunately, is likened to be the country called Nigeria, suddenly developed excruciating pains that had over the later years of his life affected every part of his frail body. As expected, under the overwhelming pains, the man, Nigeria, started  exhibiting facial expressions that weighed him down and he started shedding tears. The tears started rolling down his face and dropping to the floor. Indeed, the tears flowed from the north to the south.

The tears on the face of the old man signify the pains and subsequent tears that many Nigerians have experienced over the years. Political tears, economic tears, religious tears and other sorrowful and agonizing experiences.

The past year dramatically inflicted more pains to many homes, sequel to the activities of criminals of various shades across the length and breadth of the country. There were tears being shed in schools where bandits and kidnappers attacked. There were tears in religious houses where worshippers were mercilessly killed. There were tears in hospitals where bandits struck and killed innocent patients and nurses. There were tears in markets, villages and communities where innocent citizens, the young and aged, were kidnapped, raped, maimed or killed without any trace of their bodies. In fact, such agonizing and barbaric acts are still being meted out to Nigerians by unknown gunmen or known gunmen like members of the Boko Haram sect, which the Federal Government tried to make us believe had been degraded, or the ‘bandits’ whom government renamed but are still operating in the same ideological mindset as members of the Boko Haram sect. These groups operate alike and exhibit the same mannerisms, which are enveloped in the ideology of Islamization of the country, kidnapping and outright elimination of any human obstacle on their way. They do not care for the tears that drop from the eyes of orphans or widows. That is their way of life, just to make people cry and shed buckets of tears along their way of destruction.

The tears were not only in the villages and cities but also on major highways and the railroads, where passengers were killed and many others kidnapped. Besides these horrifying incidents, the royal houses were not left  out, as the palaces of traditional rulers were desecrated by armed hoodlums.

Painfully though, the tears started streaming down the face of Nigeria from the northern part of the country since 2002 when the Boko Haram sect started its carnage. Tears have the ability to break down a hardened heart, no wonder tears touch the heart and soul of viewers. Record shows that Boko Haram was formed in 2002 when Mohammed Yusuf, a well-known preacher and proselytizer of the Izala sect of Islam in the Maiduguri region of Nigeria, began to radicalize his discourse to reject all secular aspects of Nigerian society. More involved were some misguided youths of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. Their radical confrontation with the police and the state commissioner of police, Mr. Chris Dega (now late, was killed after retirement by bandits), had many rough and unpalatable encounters with the sect that had been soaked in an ideology that ran foul of the laws of the land. Many police stations and barracks were attacked, sequel to the arrest and subsequent death of Yusuf. Unfortunately, violence erupted in virtually every corner of the state, even extending to neighbouring states.

Over the years, the people of Borno State have been mourning the death of their loved ones; such tears are grevious.

So, when gunmen killed 15 Nigerian soldiers and wounded more than a dozen others during an attack on an army base in the northern state of Kaduna, the attack elicited more tears in the military circles, extending to the barracks, affecting service chiefs who also shed tears in their closets. Yes, even the tough-hearted military officers also shed tears. Don’t ask me if the President also shed tears.

Presently, the eastern part of the country, especially the five eastern states, have shed more tears in recent times and the tears are still flowing uncontrollably as armed criminals maim and kill civilians and security agents, creating a tension-soaked state of insecurity.

The situation has left activities around the East dormant and security agencies seem overwhelmed. Despite the flow of tears, easterners and the rest of the country are shedding more tears due to the evil deeds of politicians and their thugs who have suddenly gone haywire killing political opponents, leaving family members, friends and colleagues bereaved for no justification. Examples include the killing top members of the Labour Party in Kaduna and Imo states recently, thereby sending very wrong signals of an unstable political environment. 

According to news report, unidentified gunmen killed Mrs. Victoria Chintex, the women leader of the Labour Party (LP) in Kaura LGA of Kaduna State. The gunmen invaded her residence in Kaura and shot her dead Also, her husband sustained gunshot injuries during the deadly attack.

As the political tension and emotions were running high, behold the killing spree resonated in Imo, where Mr. Christopher Elehu, the 2023 Labour Party candidate for Onuimo constituency in Imo State, was murdered.

The dastardly act was on the heels of the death of another member of the Labour Party, Mr. Chukwunoneye Iruno, who was the candidate of the LP in Okigwe. He reportedly slumped and later died in hospital.

Iruno died a day to the presidential rally of the LP in Imo State.

He was allegedly attacked with cutlasses and his property set ablaze by hoodlums. They also attacked many houses and shot randomly, injuring many. This mayhem cannot but elicit the outpouring of tears from relatives, friends and fellow villagers. Each time a village is attacked and deaths are recoded,  people shed tears.

l vividly recall the bombing of Police Headquarters in Abuja, on June 16, 2011, when Boko Haram carried out a suicide bomb attack on some government institutions in Abuja, leaving a trail of tears, sorrow and devastation. As a civilian staff at Police Headquarters, members of my family, friends and colleagues bombarded my phone with calls to know if I was alive. Those who died had tears from their loved ones. I miraculously escaped the bomb but my official police jeep was wrecked beyond recognition. (See June 16, 2022, edition of this column, “FHQ Abuja bombing: eleven years after”).

Today, even as Christians celebrate the Yuletide, armed criminals are still determined to make easterners shed tears. This should be stopped, as the Chief of Defence staff hinted while decorating newly promoted naval officers, “This menace has to stop”. 

Wishing my esteemed readers a wonderful celebration.