When Jesus Christ preached the sermon on Mount Olives, explaining to his disciplines signs that would precede the end time, he never had Nigeria in mind. He was talking about things to come in future. Today, however, that prophecy appears to have caught up with Nigeria. What Jesus Christ said many years ago now relates to Nigeria currently. Perilous times are here and the country is steadily heading for the precipice.
Giving an account of what transpired between Jesus Christ and his disciples, Matthew 24:6-12 reported Jesus Christ as saying: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
“All these are the beginning of sorrows.
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
While Jesus Christ talked about what would happen before the end-time, Prophet Timothy unveiled what would happen during the end-time. 2 Timothy 3:1-5, said: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”
When one looks at these two passages, among others in the Bible, and juxtaposes them with what is happening in Nigeria, one is left with the fear that something bad may happen in the country or that the end is near for the country. There are ominous signs everywhere. We are not just hearing about rumours of wars, but also seeing wars. In Nigeria, kingdoms are rising against kingdoms. Terror groups are rising against Nigerians. Insurgents, bandits and kidnappers have levied war against the country and its hapless citizens. People are killed in droves. Scores of property owned by government and individuals are being destroyed. Life in the country is “nasty, brutish and short.”
In Nigeria, it is becoming obvious that the love of many is “waxing cold.” People are now more of lovers of themselves and lovers of money. Kidnappers are snatching people and collecting ransom. Criminals and criminal groups are proud, arrogant and abusive, daring everybody, as they brazenly do evil and take responsibility for it. Criminals and criminal groups have become heartless and brutal, engaging in bloodletting across the country. Hundreds of innocent people, including security agents, are daily killed from sundry attacks by criminals and terrorists.
In the country, those who came to government “having the appearance of godliness” and wearing the toga of messiahs have unwittingly betrayed the trust the people have in them. Where the people expected fish, they have given them snakes. Where the people expected bread, they have given them stones. Where the people expected that the whip they complained was used on them previously would be done away with, the pretenders are using scorpions on them. There is no famine in Nigeria, but food security is being threatened, as farmers, from east to west, north to south, no longer go to their farms for fear of being killed by criminal herdsmen who have become terrors in the jungle and taking farmland by force.
The insecurity in the country is, indeed, an evil wind that blows the country no good. Nigeria is bleeding profusely from it. There is no day that passes without Nigerians being killed. There is no day that passes without people being abducted. Policemen, soldiers and their formations are now targets of attacks and they have become victims of government’s failure.
In the midst of all these, the government appears to be complacent, exhibiting unfounded confidence that nothing would happen. They watch while things are getting worse. They tell us that Nigeria is invincible, but do nothing to arrest the things that could lead to break-up. They tell us they have lists of sponsors of banditry, insurgency and kidnapping but fail to name them publicly and prosecute them. They have a self-confessed ex-supporter of international terrorist groups and former hate preacher as minister but refuse to show him the door and put him on watchlist. What we hear daily are orders to the military, the police and other security agencies to end the spate of killings and insecurity, without providing what is needed to ensure this. Sometimes, one wonders if the government really knows the danger insecurity poses to the nation.
The picture is bad indeed. Nigeria is hastily heading for anarchy. A situation where bandits, kidnappers and insurgents are defying security forces and making mince meat of Nigerians does not give anybody hope that all will be well. The lines of William Butler Yeats, in his poem “The Second Coming,” are, unfortunately, becoming true of Nigeria. The poet wrote: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre; The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”
At present, government, like the falcon who cannot hear the falconer, is not listening to anyone. Nigerians are talking about restructuring of the country, to make it more functional and to bring about justice, equity and fairness, with a view to giving every component unit of the country a sense of belonging, but the government would not hear of this. Many Nigerians are saying that one of the ways to arrest insecurity in the country is to decentralise the police and give approval to state police. The government is singing a different tune. The reality is that things have fallen apart. The centre can no longer hold. And anarchy is gradually being let loose upon the land.
The things happening in Nigeria paint a picture of somewhat conscious effort by some criminal elements to make Nigeria ungovernable. There appears to be a strong drive to instill fear in security agents, perhaps erode their confidence and make them vulnerable. There seems to be an attempt to prove that the government is incapable of guaranteeing security. This is the kind of setting that was created in the First Republic after the election. Those who were old enough then to know what happened would vividly remember the “wild, wild west.” We all know the end point and the consequences thereof.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) government should read the writing on the wall and know that gloom and melancholy have overwhelmed the country. Nigerians who expected salvation from previous misrule are unanimous in their position now that yesterday was better than today. They feel betrayed and disappointed with what is happening. The fault lines in Nigeria are widening. Nigerians are losing faith in the country and government. Nigerians, believing that the country has become a joke, are leaving in droves for “greener pastures” outside the shores of the country.
It is inevitable that the government has to address the fundamental issues in Nigeria. The government cannot shy away from restructuring, as the future of the country lies with it. For the avoidance of doubt, restructuring is the antidote to self-determination agitation or secession in the country. It is the solution to the general feeling of injustice in a country where the actions of some people in government have created the impression that “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
The report of the 2014 National Conference makes the task easy for the current government. Now is the time to address the imbalance in state creation. Now is the time to allow state police. Now is the time for resource control by those who harbour natural resources. Now is the time to reduce the items in the Exclusive List and increase those in the Concurrent List. These are what will save the country. The ominous signs are real. The bad situation in the country makes the belief that Nigeria is indivisible an illusion.