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Put a gun unto his head if you dare. He would be ever forthcoming. He wouldn’t shy away from responsibility. He stuck his neck out when it mattered most. And stayed put. He would not fail to say it as he saw it. And deemed fit.
This tough character cared less. Not even a hoot. He feared not either. Neither would he cave in. He remained outright resolute. Stainless till he breathed his last breath on Sunday, September 19, 2021.
Dr. Obadiah Mailafia was it! A development Economist. Former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He was the presidential candidate, African Democratic Congress (ADC) in 2019.
Unexpectedly, he came alive again. His 2020 evergreen video clip is trending with the speed of light. He’s everywhere even in death. Raging, furious, agonising and searing. All at the same time, with equal intensity
Our enduring laxity came into the open one more time. Mailafia made it happen. He roared: “Let me make some revelations. Some of us also have our own intelligence networks. I have met with some of the bandits. We have met with some of their high commanders, one or two who have repented.
“They have sat down with us, not once, not twice. They told us that one of the northern governors is the commander of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram and bandits are one and the same thing. They have a sophisticated network.
We were sleeping and snoring. The terrorists in them didn’t: “During the lockdown (COVID-19), their planes were moving up and down as if there was no lockdown. They were moving ammunition, logistics, money. And distributing them to different parts of the country.”
Our fears fearfully confirmed. Trust Mailafia, he wouldn’t hold anything back from us: “They are already in the rain forests of the South. They are everywhere. They told us that when they finish these rural killings, they will move to phase two. They will go into urban cities. Going from house-to-house, killing prominent people.”
Then, the ultimate: “I can tell you this is the game plan. By 2022, they want to start a civil war in Nigeria. Don’t joke with what I am saying. I have a Ph.D from Oxford University (UK). At the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), we don’t talk nonsense.”
Yet, we snubbed him. We disregarded his stern warning. He repeated: “Don’t joke with what I am telling you. I have this on the highest possible authority of some of the commanders of the killers and Boko Haram. And they are not looking for money. They have more than enough money.” Toor!
He was rudely interrupted and cut off: “In fact, he told me they just came back from…”
That ends the barely two-minute video clip. And on a very sad note! He was not obliged an appropriate conclusion. It’s Mailafia’s “second coming” of some sort.
A sad reminder of what we ought to have done instantly. But failed to do even till the present moment. And nothing changes. But getting worse and worse every passing second.
We are a queer people. Comfortably given to slackness and laxness. We carelessly allowed a golden opportunity. Intentionally dropped on our laps. To deliberately slip off. As if it’s the normal thing to do.
We were sufficiently warned. For six solid years ago. We folded our arms. Shot down our minds and senses. We watched Mailafia’s predictions come true; as if we were helpless. We elected to utterly spurn the alarm he sounded so loud and clear. All to our peril.
Malafia did alert us. He shouted it to high heavens. He cried it out with all the strength in him. He was our own John the Baptist. The lone voice in the desert.
But we discarded Mailafia with disdain. The John the Baptist of our very present time. We did exactly what the Jew of John’s time did to him. They mocked him. And eventually beheaded him. We also mocked Mailafia. We vilified him.
Almost the same sordid manner. Following the same ugly pattern. Even using the same grotesque template. Eventually, he gave up the ghost in apparent pain and regrets. We lost him to our greed, carelessness and wickedness.
Up till now without any iota of remorse. We stick to our crude pride. And because we are still what we were back then in 2020. Not discerning enough. With ignominy, we paid no heed to Mailafia. And his words of wisdom.
We are paying hugely for humiliating Mailafia. We inadvertently made terror killings, abduction and the likes to continue to happen to us.
So, whatever label your fancy chooses to tag it. Oriire killing is unquestionably the epicentre of terrorism in our clime. Since it landed, uninvited, on our sapped laps. It has altered the trajectory. Making our terror narratives ugliest.
The actual dateline was a Friday morning, May 15, 2027. One of the darkest in our highly turbulent history. The gory of that fateful day can’t be quantified. It’s everlasting. Not even our short memory. And gullibility will shut it down from our sensibility.
Needless to remind ourselves. We watch ourselves going down the drains. Collapsing rapidly. It was such a spectacular display of dexterity. The invading terrorists swamped on the quiet Oriire community. And swiftly swept away varied abductees: Schoolchildren, pupils, students, teachers. All became their prey.
These abductors do know our forests more than we do. And they have a more perfect knowledge of the terrains. They’re equally strategic in operations. They cleverly packed their captives from Ahor-Esinele.
And hurriedly ferried them. Too deep inside the thick forest that has become of the Old Oyo National Parks. Once the site of the famous old Oyo Empire. It’s a very clear statement by the terrorists. A national ridicule. That is if we pretend not to know.
Some of these kids are just ages two, three, four years. Yet, they are being compelled to carry heavy yoke. Pay debts they owe not. And sins they commit not. Tortured unjustly. For the misdeeds and misrule of our rulers.
Old enough to be their grandfathers, grandmothers, great grandfathers. Many are too young, guileless and innocent. To be properly aware of their forest environment. And the dangers inherent.
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To put salt in their festering injuries. These rulers bother not. Brazenly making public shows of their wickedness. They are cocky and brash in their utterances. Their body language, actions and inactions follow the same disgusting pattern. How do you explain this insanity to these kid-abductees?
The greatest danger is here with us. It’s the starkest reality. These eerie species of leaders are still living. Agile and kicking. But they allow their future generations to waste away in our varying bushes. We are carelessly breeding our future generations in thick forests.
Left in the “care” of the evil ones. The state, the system failed them. See how we’re “nurturing” our future generations in the wilderness! Forcing them to take hard and harsh “lessons.” Under the evil watch of terrorists. This is certainly beyond what these kids can comprehend. It’s far and above them.
They have become wanderers in the forests. Wondering painfully aloud: What a strange wild and weird abode? How did we get here? How did this become our new home? They ponder unending to the thin air. Waiting in vain and in pain.
We sincerely admire the audacity of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT). Great kudos for calling out its members. And to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union of Nigeria (TUC), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and civil society organisations. For making the protests huge success. The NUT defies all odds. Scales all hurdles. And pulls the rug out of the feet of government.
We cherish the boldness that runs in the veins of these patriots. And their brave leaderships. They display responsibility scarce to find in our rulers. They can only rule, reign, ruin. But never to lead.
Let the protests go on. Let it spread, far and farthest. Let it be known and felt effectively all over the land. That we want these killings, abductions, bloodshed no more. We have reached our limit. The zenith of our tolerance. Let enough be enough. And let there be a wise return to sanity. No more stress. And stretch us no more.
Help, scramble for Nigeria!
The scramble for Nigeria is ongoing in earnest. Just as it was at the Berlin Conference, Germany. From November 15, 1884 to February 26, 1885. So, it is in today’s Nigeria, 2026. A period of 142 years. A close-up to one and a half centuries.
An ugly reincarnation of that conference has taken its roots firmly in Nigeria. It is happening. And our carelessness allowed it to blossom. Unchecked, unrestrained and undisturbed.
Africa and its rulers were in complete ignorance, in pitch darkness. As their continent was being butchered in Berlin. A foreign land. Thousands of miles away from their sight. They were not even invited.
Almost in like manner. These terrorists, bandits, insurgents, kidnappers, etc are scrambling for our forests, vegetations and lands. Uninvited, unwanted. They’re in an unholy synergy. Evil-minded beasts of no gender. They are everywhere, all over us. Choking us.
Perhaps, a quick flashback will make some sense at this critical and defining crossroads. The European “scramble” for territories in Africa actually began in 1833. The year Britain claimed it abolished slave trade. The greedy King Leopold II of Belgium started the grabbing, claiming the Congo Basin.
Portugal, France, Britain, Germany were spurred into the grabbing spree. Germany’s Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was clearly ahead of them. He opted to host the conference “to set ‘rules’ so the European powers wouldn’t go to war with one another over Africa.”
Fourteen countries came with their knives and axes. To balkanise innocent, fresh, naive Africa. They greedily lay in flat Africa on their hot, slaughter table. Gathered anxiously around it with intense ferocity. And mercilessly sliced it to pieces. To their greatest delight. The gluttonous countries included Germany, Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Spain, US and Ottoman Empire.
It was a gory operation. Africa bled profusely and helplessly. The wolfish grabbers cared less about its excruciating pains. The reason the continent bleeds endlessly till today.
AI provided gruesome, brutal, frightful details: “The continent was being divided without Africans in the room. This kicked off the violent land grabs. Congo River, Niger River and surrounding basins had to stay open for all nations.
“They officially condemned slavery. But the ‘occupation’ that followed caused massive forced labour. They drew lines on maps. Often straight lines ignoring ethnic groups, languages, kingdoms that existed for centuries.”
And the damning and damaging consequences. Devastating: “Before 1884, Europeans controlled 10 per cent of Africa, mostly coasts. By 1914, they controlled 90 per cent.
“New borders created by rulers in Berlin are still the borders of many African countries today. That’s why you see straight lines on the map of Africa. That’s why ‘colonial borders’ still cause tension today. It’s the root of many modern African border conflicts.”
By 1914, this is what became of Africa. And the insatiable beneficiaries of the “New Africa” are proudly: Britain. It looted Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana/Gold Coast, South Africa, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and Zambia. Fulfilling its despicable “Cape-to-Cairo” dream.
France carted away Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Madagascar. Germany coasted home with Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Lost all its colonies after World W War I to Britain, France and Belgium.
Belgium had Congo Free State later Belgian Congo. Portugal grabbed Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé. Italy was a late comer-grabber. Nevertheless, it stole Libya, Eritrea and Somalia. Spain secured the “smallest holdings”; Spanish Morocco, Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara.
Like the European scramblers made it happen to us in 1884. The Fulani terrorists are following their deadly footsteps. More meticulous and calculated. Forever on rampage. Ravenous and ferocious than the European land grabbers. The accompanying carnages, massacres are jumping in leaps and bounds.
Government should stop grandstanding. And halt leaving in self-denial. Blatant lies never worked. And they won’t work any time. We need to be united for our nation’s sake.
We are losing vast grounds fast. Yielding them to these Fulani terrorists speedily. If we fail to stand up to it now. Confront it squarely with all it takes. And with everything in us. It may stand against us forever.
Pray, God forbids! Government ought to be more up and doing. Be proactive even for once. The military should take the battle to their enclaves deep in the forests. Carry this war to the terrorists in their dens. And see the result. And you will be glad you did!
The Armed Forces should change tactics. Talk less. Stop public disclosure of your strategies. Or the latest war equipment acquired. Keep that dear to your hearts. We don’t need to hear that too often. It should be sacred to you all alone.
