Terror! Its mass noun is extreme fear. It is the use of extreme fear to intimidate people. That is how the dictionary situates terror, and it fits.
Its cousins and other names are equally dreaded. They include horror, fright, trepidation, panic, nightmare, fiend and devil.
Brute! The dictionary says a brute could be a man or animal. But savagely violent, fierce, untamed and ferocious all rolled into one. A brute? He is cruel and insensitive. He is awkward, difficult and extremely unpleasant. He is unreasoning and animal-like.
Other labels for brute are taken as beast, monster, sadist, barbarian, devil and demon. Even the dictionary said another name for brute is yahoo! He is ogre; a man-eating giant, cruel and terrifying.
Brawn invariably flows from terror and brute. It is physical strength in contrast to intelligence. The potent weapon usually used by terror and brute.
Ordinarily, darkness is the partial or total absence of light. But the dictionary says it is deadlier. Darkness is deeper than mere absence of light. It is wickedness and evil. It is also unhappiness and gloom. Darkness is the ultimate, the end of the road.
Now, come to think of it. Terror, brute and brawn rolled into one? It’s total darkness. That is when lawful and peaceful protest attracts death sentence. It is when a government directs its wrath against its citizens.
Our tormentors-in-chief are all over us. They relax the rules on bandits, killer Fulani herdsmen, terrorists, et al. But they turn the heat on us. They tighten the noose on us. And they insist we must not raise an eyebrow. We must accept our unpleasant fate, hook, line and sinker.
To make matters messier, they play God. They turn themselves into tin gods, which they truly are. They lord over us; forcing themselves down our throats.
This bunch of deviants detests us like a plague. We have become irritations in their awful sight. The reason they are suffocating us, snuffing life out of us.
Since we became a nation, we have never witnessed anything near this government. We have never seen an administration so sectional and ethnically minded. True or true?
This government pretends to forget easily. That it was elected to protect the very citizens it stings. Opposition becomes an irritant to such a bigoted regime. Protest is seen from its military point of view as coup d’etat.
The same funny and phony characters used the same instrument of protest to get to power. They did it brazenly like a fun-fair on November 19, 2014.
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) led the pack of protesters. He was the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). They marched through the streets of Abuja unmolested.
They called theirs “Salvation Rally.” And gullible Nigerians fell sheepishly for it. They practically called out then President Goodluck Jonathan for war.
What goes around comes around. It is natural. Nature does not cheat. It is not partial either. It is just and fair. The country is in hopeless shape now under the same man. It is fast sliding terribly into a failed state.
They now detest agitations with passion. That is why they could raid the homes of agitators in the dead of the night. And they kidnapped the other in a foreign land.
It is a huge carry-over from their military background. They keep on exhibiting their zero tolerance for tolerance. And ours is supposed to be a democracy.
With brute and brawn, this government forges ahead unheeded. It is hardened and stiff-necked. It ignores all persuasions and reasoning. These do not matter to a government used to the use of raw power.
It seems we are under a spell in this eerie clime. Those who claimed we elected them are putting together the unthinkable. It is unheard of. They are not only in government but they are in power. They are gathering terror, brute and brawn to throw us into eternal darkness.
For them, we must not see the evil in them. And if we insist we see, we must not talk about the evil. Not to their hearing. They hate and abhor the truth. They dwell massively on #Loriiro. It is their singsong. We find this very absurd. We won’t keep quiet, if and when we see evil, no matter the intimidation.
Prof. Wole Soyinka remains a perfect reference point. The Nobel laureate is forever relevant. He keeps on making waves with great strides. It was his latest interview on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He was pleasantly angry. He was not given to pretension. He told government point-blank:
“My advice to the government is that they should stop pursuing this person (Igboho) as a criminal because you have begun by acting in a criminal faction against him. If and when Igboho comes to trial, I guarantee you that the government will be very embarrassed.”
Government ought to have taken the war to the bandits and killer herdsmen in the forests. Even before now: “Their leadership, the Miyetti Allah, should be have been arrested years ago, long before IPOB was declared a terrorist organisation.”
He did not mince words also on Nnamidi Kanu, leader, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB): “It is going to be a huge squawk when the truth about how Kanu was arrested comes out. You can say ‘intercepted’ as much as you want, but I think he was kidnapped.”
That is why it beats my imagination hollow. And I keep wondering aloud. Why should anybody celebrate the night invasion of Igboho’s Ibadan residence? Even with huge fanfare. Sad!
This government deliberately threw up Igboho & Co. An Igboho wouldn’t have risked entering the murky fray. But government generously gave him the leeway. He was forced to grab it.
Who would not? His uncle was brutally butchered in cold blood by killer Fulani herdsmen. This was after paying heavy ransom to the murderers in Igangan, Oyo State.
Prof. Olufemi Olufumilade put it in a very apt perspective. He claimed to be a former close associate of President Muhammadu Buhari. His exact words: “People were being slaughtered like animals. They were being gunned down on their farms as though we were in a state of war.
“Most alarming was the fact that even when Fulani killers got apprehended, they were released in no time with their guns!”
Then, where is justice? Nowhere. It is evasive and elusive.”
This is a double-faced government. You go to the forest to negotiate with bandits and herdsmen in the North. But down South, it is a different ball game. You would rather move against those who move against killer Fulani herders and bandits.
Such is our lot in this country; weird clime. Government is clearly at war with its citizens. That is our tragedy.
But, we have got a sigh of relief. These southern governors are doing something incredible. They marched to Lagos on Monday. It was their second meeting in recent times. We were not disappointed at the outcome of their meeting.
They are marching forward from the Asaba Accord. We are eternally proud of you. Keep the flag flying and the fire burning. It is a Herculean task that must be achieved. Ignore the charlatans. They least matter in this project.
They are the serial traitors. They were in the old, they are now and they will be forever. They changeth not.
Betrayal runs in their blood. They can’t go away. We must live with them to curtail, contain and frustrate them. That’s the ultimate. And we will soon get there.