Editorial

Still on the trail of blood

Published by

3 years ago

THE times are very hard and ominous. Elderly ones who have survived many seasons say that the current period is one of the most troubling and indeed about the most bloody since the Nigeria federation was mirthlessly cobbled together. To many, not even during the Nigerian civil war did Nigeria lose its citizens this unconscionably. An orgy of blood is the most apposite description of what has become Nigeria’s lot in the last few years. The land has become crimson with the blood of Nigerians, spilt almost on a weekly basis. Last week, 34 farmers were killed by Boko Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists. This occurred at Mudu village, some 45 kilometres off Rann, headquarters of Kala-Balge Local Government Area of Borno State. According to the Borno State government, six persons were injured during the attack while two escaped.

Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, lamenting the unfortunate killing, said a total of 32 youths were cut down by the terrorists. According to reports, they were “highly-enterprising young men engaged in gathering metals popularly called Kayan Ajaokuta, which are sold as raw materials for steel production.” They had gone to the deserted village in search of the materials but were ambushed and killed by the terrorists. At about the same time, 12 farmers were equally killed by bandits in Gakurdi village of Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State, while three people sustained varying degrees of injury during the attack. Gakurdi, located in Daddara ward, a few kilometres from Daddara on the highway that links Katsina to Maradi in Niger Republic, witnessed the shedding of these innocent Nigerians’ blood as they were preparing their farms for the rainy season. The bandits were said to have stormed the village on motorcycles.

IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

The southeastern part of Nigeria is not immune to the orgy of bloodletting. Recently, gunmen invaded the Orumba area of Anambra State, killing at least 12 people, a figure that included a pregnant woman and her four children. The woman was identified as Harira Jubril, and her four children as Fatima, 9; Khadijah, 7; Hadiza, 5 and Zaituna, 2. The woman and her children were on their way home on a motorcycle when the assailants suspected to be men of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ambushed and murdered them. About 24 hours earlier, gunmen were reported to have beheaded a lawmaker in the state, Okechukwu Okoye. He was the lawmaker representing Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s constituency, Aguata 2 Constituency, in the Anambra State House of Assembly. He and his aide, Cyril Chiegboka, were kidnapped along the Aguluzigbo road in Anaocha Local Government Area of the state.

Another South-East state, Imo, is literally under permanent siege as gunmen have a field day, killing people at will. The litany of killings have made Nigeria a killing field and painted it as a rudderless country. It is shocking that non-state actors have wielded more power of violence than a Federal Government that has access to funds and possesses the legitimacy to mow them down. To worsen matters, small arms and ammunition are increasingly as common on Nigerian streets as the famous sachets of “pure water”. They are smuggled into the country through the borders which, at a conservative estimate, must be the most porous in the world.

The wanton shedding of blood is linked to the proliferation of small arms in the country and the inability of the security apparatus to curtail it. The government needs to mop up small arms to bring an end to the shedding of innocent blood. Arms should not be so common that anybody who wants to kill their fellow human can do so easily. Apart from ensuring that security personnel are alive to their duties of protecting life and property, the government needs to show the badly needed political will to halt the bloodshed. Needless to say, killers must be prosecuted and punished very severely.