Banditry a la paradox Nigeriana

How again is that concept we know as ‘paradox’ defined? One source says it is “a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well-founded or true.” Another online source says ‘paradox’ is “a statement or proposition which, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems logically unacceptable or self-contradictory.” From these two standpoints, is paradox not in itself a paradox?

It also has a lot of synonyms – absurdity is one of them. Some other synonyms are inconsistency, irony, contradiction, and puzzle. In the family of figures of speech, paradox also has a sister called Oxymoron. They both have contradictions. Perhaps, it is not enough to just leave our children studying literature at the ordinary level to battle with the word as a figure of speech. Paradox must be brought to its most vivid relief so that as our ordinary level students can grow to become advanced level citizens who understand paradoxes. By this, they would not be left in a fix with what paradox really is.

For our children, I think the first of the numerous doubts that should be cleared is the type of paradox their country is. The Nigerian secondary school student, who is living in Nigeria and attends school in Nigeria must be made to understand how much of a paradox his or her country is because they are asking questions. Sometimes, it might be better urge them to leave the paradox which Nigeria obviously is and focus on life without the thoughts of some of the contradiction in Nigeria. But, again, why would we just watch without answering questions about how we are being governed?

Isn’t it a paradox that in one part of Nigeria, we set a table, invite bandits and terrorists, dine with them, and then beg them to stop burning villages, desist from mindless massacres and cease raiding markets? Oh, you were not informed too that these bandits will fully commit those atrocities. They do these things as often as they want because we are powerless. They even massacre worshippers in mosques; shoot traders in markets and slaughter farmers in their farms. They demand and collect taxes from farmers and are indeed the true Customs and Excise of some of the states in the North.

Governors of some states in Nigeria – yes, the chief security officers of Nigerian states, and agents of Nigeria’s security apparatuses sat with terrorists, bandits, cattle rustlers, thieves and brigands. They sat in meetings to beg these evil people to stop criminality, killing and maiming; and discontinue stealing. They even took photographs, made videos and issued statements. The bandits dictate the terms of the discussions they always bear their arms in the photos that are published.

It is not the first time. Aminu Bello Masari, before becoming the governor of Katsina State had been the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives. That is, he had been at the top of one of the arms of Nigeria’s legislature, where laws are made for good governance of the country. By that position, he was Nigeria’s Number Four Citizen. After that experience, he went to become the governor of his native Katsina State.

As the governor of Katsina State, he was fooled twice by uneducated terrorists, bandits and brigands. How could he have fallen mugu twice? He entered into agreements with them twice, and twice they went back on the agreements. The first time, Alhaji Masari said these people – with their guns in hand and bullet chains around their necks – swore with the Holy Quran to be of good behaviour. He fell for it. The second time? He was still strangely convinced to enter into deals with the killers and marauders who had earlier reneged on their oath to continue with their deadly business. Even after all of that, Masari, for the second time, was still successfully coaxed and he, again met the terrorists and he entered into yet another agreement with them.

Years after Masari, bandits and terrorists are still dictating the pace in Katsina and some other Northern Nigerian states. The governors after Masari don’t appear flustered in any way. They are not embarrassed that Governor Masari was fooled twice and that they too are travelling the same road. The current political leadership of the state has embarked on the same journey which had failed woefully in Zamfara, Sokoto and other states. Instead of the bandits getting amnesty from government, the bandits are rather toying with the brains of governors, political and religious leaders and are making more kills both literally and businesswise.

The terrorists are in no way daunted; instead of their coconut leaf to thaw, it keeps getting harder. And they are not dumb either. Their killing, stealing, pillaging, plundering and prowling continues while the governors are forced to adjust and adapt better begging strategies. While dancing for the terrorists, the political leadersdrag the Nigerian Armed Forces into the macabre dance.

The paradox however is, at the same time representatives of the Armed Forces joined the governors and other top government officials to prostrate and beg the Northern brigands, the same armed forces announced the arrest of terrorists in the South. They arrested a man called Ifeanyi Eze Okorienta also known as Gentle De Yahoo. While some authorities are meeting and pleading with a set of bandits to drop their arms, some other authorities are wielding the big stick against another set of bandits. It is different strokes for different criminals in the same country.

A situation such as this is one of those Nigerian paradoxes we must explain to our children.  There must be another meaning of paradox for us to allow complexities in our criminal justice system. We must create the right definition for a situation in which we discriminate in the handling of criminals, who throw hundreds of thousands of people into refugee camps in their states and make them become ‘internally-displaced persons’ IDPs. If Nigeria was at war, it would have been easy to explain these complexities.

The plight of the IDPs was the crux of a statement by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a statement on Thursday. The commission lamented the humanitarian crisis in the numerous internally-displaced persons’ (IDP) camps in the country. The carefully worded statement did not say anything about the expectations of the people in those camps. It merely identified and ran through the problem, but left a warning that the humanitarian crisis among IDPs highlights the urgency of the situation.

The 53,261 people which Dr. Tony Ojukwu (SAN) of the NHRC said are in this IDP mess, are also hearing that their assailants are meeting with government officials and are still dictating the terms of peace. They have children who would be wondering if this isn’t life’s paradox. Those displaced between February and July 2025 and the 8,966 dislodged from their homes between May and July this year will also be comparing notes. Meanwhile their elected officials are lounging with the terroristswho forced them the unmitigated hardship. They might also have learnt that there is no such thing as IDP Camp in the South East of Nigeria. And they are tongue-tied and cannot use their tongue to count their teeth.

The paradoxes – exemplified as inconsistencies – remain indeed a paradox. This is taking ‘paradox’ to mean a situation which, upon deeper examination, reveals some other meanings or hidden truths. There must be a way to make Nigerians and indeed the watching world understand what underlying circumstances that have remained so hidden over many decades. If there are underlying truths in sustained insecurity, unrelenting killings, intractable banditry and overwhelmed government in Katsina, Nigerians should be educated.

If allowed to define paradox in their own words, many Nigerians will simply say our country is the epitome of that word. If I am told to spell paradox in my own words, it is: N-I-G-E-R-I-A.

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