Let me make a prediction. If the domesticated Amotekun of South West and its keepers will not quickly ‘borrow themselves brain,’ as the street lingo would capture their current waywardness, the “wild” animal would soon be tamed and caged with keys thrown into a sweeping sea, by those who never wanted it to roam and roar in the first place, then strong backers would be sent to deep political exile. Remember Gibbers said it when it happens.
Slow and steady, well, usually win the race, though not all the time. I would rather side with calculated and focused. The observable vacillation by the South East in joining the quasi-regional security arrangement, despite being in need of one as desperately as its Oduduwa counterpart, looks more like a combination of slow, steady, focused and calculated. It is likely that at the end of the day, Ndigbo would win the argument started by the Yoruba race. Sad!
I’m not here to advance ethnic cause or agenda. The Sokoto man matters to his Creator as much as the man in Jakarta. A one-eyed man in Ile-Ife is the same as one in Lome, suffering from same visual impairment. Humanity is one to God; that is why the Gospel of Jesus is, go ye to the world.
When President Muhammadu Buhari demanded objectivity in elitist assessment of his nearly six-year rule, he demanded fairly. He wanted the outspoken elite to calm down and give him another chance, like that boy in viral video of last year, seeking motherly forgiveness and a second chance. Well, the lad succeeded because even his plea got the ear of Lagos CEO and was rewarded for becoming an overnight sensation. Truly, whoever asks shall be given.
People hate for different reasons and atimes, for no reason beyond the hated just being the fellow he/she is. It is called negative aura. When cast on a person by the kingdom of darkness, even his silence would raise a din.
I have seen people just hating for hating sake, without empirical substance or content knowledge, to serve as the premises for their conclusion. In fact, the mere fact that billions of Naira of public fund had gone into feeding the First and Second families in the last six years and both Number One and Two, are still looking the way they look, can make many angry. Yes, ke.
In a particular part of the country, transforming a slim woman into a robust wife is a major achievement for their men. Some are even herded into the fattening room once betrothed. Somehow, things don’t usually get robust in the hand of Mr. President. Maybe his frame is same as his aura. It could be deeply spiritual. I know even council chairmen have prayer warrior-plenipotentiaries, much more a man who is both the C-in-C and Minister of Petroleum. Who knows?
Truth be told, security improved when Oga came on board. Fact also is, the improvement started before the poll he won. So the two new buddies deserve some accolades. But Mr. President made a major mistake. Instead of trying to sustain the messianic image he came in with, amid the ambition of adding the defeat of Boko Haram, to his military accomplishment resume, which currently boasts of ending the Mohammed ‘Maitatsine’ Marwa’s bloody extremism as its brightest spot, he should have got the Nigerian people to own what was left of the truly-decimated blood-suckers and the successes recorded by his administration. So doing, the battle would have simply become Nigerians’ and communities hitherto protecting these criminals across the geo-political zones would have long risen against them. By now, the story should be different.
Well, a major policy mistake had been made and flowing blood has paid for it. Mr. President, it is time, without doubt, for the Nigerian people to rid their societies of the unwanted undesirable. So, sir, it is time for community policing, regardless of nomenclature and pretences. And since Nigerians are willing to do it, they should be allowed. And since states and zones are better-placed to coordinate, they should also be allowed, within the ambit of the law, which must also not inhibit them. Instead of dwelling on constitutionality and offending sections et al, necessary adjustment should be made to the nation’s constitution to reflect the new reality of our existence as nations.
Thankfully, the same law book was written by Nigerians for Nigerians. Nigerians should also be able to re-write it as appropriate for times and seasons. In essence, I am for Amotekun and its kind, elsewhere.
But those currently tendering the “animal” in the South West are not doing a great job, domesticating something wild and they are going about it, in a way to end in its belly. Talk of badly managing, a badly-needed reprieve.
When Amotekun became a political decision to be made, majority in the South sided with the proponents in the South West, not because there were no prevalent fears the operatives would go criminal. The benefit of doubt, should have been the enforcing governors’ major priority in the execution of the project, starting with recruitment. It is almost late now, because the narrative is gradually fitting the objection of those opposed to it, especially the in-house enemies of the “animal”. The best time to fix the current mess, was at the entry point. The next best time, is now. Instead of engaging the “enemies” in a war of words, strategic attention should be paid to what should be corrected immediately.
Nothing kills faster than iku ile (enemies within). By now, the Amotekun enforcers should have identified their kith and kin working to forever silence the “hunting” animal and that is why the officers on the field, should only be that “animal” in their mind and not their head, by not behaving like one again.
The most worrying of the simmering lava over the Amotekun dialogue, is the grave possibility of becoming the defining moment for the Yoruba race, without the race, possessing the opportunity to determine the “hunting” course again and who should be the prey. Am I speaking in parables? It is the way of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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