There is a Place Called Hell: A Review of Cowries of Blood: Essays on Herdsmen, Banditry and Nigeria’s Endgame (Part 2)

The first time I read Dr. Olagunju’s “Monday Lines” column, I was immediately conscious of the captivating nature of his writing — how he draws readers in from the first sentence till the last word, barely pausing to take a breath. One would want to soak in every sentence and view the contemporary and already familiar issues from Dr. Olagunju’s fresh perspective. Thus, one can begin to conjure the deep-seated happiness felt at the thoughts of gaining access to not one but fifty-three carefully handpicked “Monday Lines” columns. This is one of the many beautiful aspects of Cowries of Blood.

In the book, some intriguing questions are raised about the effectiveness of leadership in the country, taking into account the perennial collapse of its security infrastructure. After observing how far apart the political leaders and the citizens are on the issue of nation-building, the sheer insincerity of the political class and the haplessness of the ordinary Nigerians become quite glaring. The leaders are competent pretenders, and with their helpless victims of concocted and new-fangled narratives, the wreckage of the country has continued in surprising proportions.

For instance, Nigeria was enervated by the eruption of the Boko Haram group, and because insincerity flaunts itself in the government’s policy reactions, the terrorist group became supplanted by another whose identity is unmasked like the damage that happens in the wake of their attacks. The phrase “Fulani herdsmen” is an expression that conjures different reactions based on the place you are when it is uttered in Nigeria. For people in the Northern region, no matter the remoteness of their location, the phrase could induce fear that may successfully dovetail to anxiety, which can then derail the mindset. Yet, these herdsmen work with such a level of impunity that even innocent people are profiled to be among that Fulani group.

Olagunji is right. Everyone is aware that Nigeria is circumscribed in security dysfunctionality. Recently, news of ferocious attacks by terrorist networks has been making strenuous efforts to outdo themselves with sensational headlines that spotlight the helplessness of the country in the hands of hounds. How do you react when a country is under siege by terrorist attacks, and people of goodwill offer assistance, only to have their help thwarted by the government’s reprisal attacks? Nigeria’s security architecture is infiltrated by people whose nationalist loyalty is divided by their conviction that the country does not serve their (ethnic or class) interests. Their plan to cause havoc in the country is motivated by the awareness that Nigeria’s political system is too weak to fight back.

In recent times, many people, both on the local and international scenes, have decried the deteriorating state of Nigeria’s security system, with some going as far as proffering suggestions and remedies to the government on this nagging issue that throws citizens and visitors into a panic. For an extended viewer, especially in the international community, it would appear sympathetic that a country’s leadership, despite its control over all the necessary institutions, cannot take decisive actions against terrorist groups that perpetually threaten the nation’s fragile unity. However, the underlying decadence is not something that such a distant audience would be ready to make rational logic from because, while they may be informed about the happenings in the country through the news, they likely do not understand their political underpinnings.

Similarly, many Nigerians are overwhelmed by the rapid speed at which the country is going downhill, particularly regarding the safety of their lives and property. Some even wonder, “How/When did we get here?” However, expecting the Nigerian government to provide answers to this bothersome issue is like “Waiting for Godot.” Fortunately, for those interested in the country’s predicament and who cannot vouch for the veracity of the stories surrounding the issue of insecurity, Olagunju’s book, Cowries of Blood, provides a first-hand account of the rot and disintegration in the system.

The book further interrogates the intricacies of dirty politics, as the author, like everyone in the country’s socio-political landscape with any measure of dignity left, would observe that the country’s leadership is not bugged by the fear-inducing reality that perpetual security attacks have incubated. It is like the proverbial children at the war front while their parents are ecstatic at home, oblivious to the anguish, terror, agony, and pains that the children are experiencing. There is a direct link between the succession of terrorist attacks happening every day in the country and the gradual desiccation of peace, but the political class underplays the gravity of the situation because they have not experienced the violence that citizens face in their different endeavours. There is an ongoing war, or something closely related to it, in the country, and the problem is that even those who have been dragged into the war do not know who their opponents are, making it more disastrous. Whether it is the enemies who kill innocent people, the government who nudges them on by their silence, or the people who believe that the enemies cannot be subdued, the truth remains that people are reacting, as this book illustrates.

On the surface, it seems that the book lurks around issues that constantly ravage the country, but that would be a not-too-good interpretation of the work from this gifted author. The world is confronted with fearful experiences that make death easily accessible to people, regardless of where they are. A country is either ravaged by internal contradictions that cause it to be at a quandary with itself or consumed by terrorist operations whose networks usually mastermind horrific attacks that claim lives and properties, displacing people, or necessitating their unquenchable grief. However, in some other cases, especially where they appear to have better security architecture, one would always be inundated with news of brutal killings by young people because of their delinquent habits. It appears, therefore, that the global society is entirely confronted by the challenges of wars and hostilities, which is aggravated by the silence of those who are meant to assist at helpless masses and the emotionally destabilised people.

Olagunji is concerned, and so is everyone, but he has done more than remain silent about his concerns, as this book shows that ideas need to be harnessed. His focus on the Nigerian condition cannot but be observed because he is a citizen of the country, and by that reality, he is placed in close proximity to experience the said problems, either directly or through the people he knows. His interest in unravelling the country’s security dysfunction is understandable within the context of accountability that should be the focus of anyone interested in democratic culture. For example, if one is truly interested in reporting the uncharacteristic insecurity challenges that have engulfed the nation, how does one refuse to include the experience of the mass kidnapping of school-age girls that once drew the attention of the world with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls? The incidence was so ferocious and heart-rending that it sparked nationwide agitations, especially from the female folks. Not easy to abandon from the experience was the various political dialectics that erupted from the said issue. Some people were frustrated for obvious reasons. There was then an impression that it was a political affront challenging the capacity of the then president, Goodluck Jonathan, while others were equally indicted. This book shows these layers.

It is understandable if one is overwhelmed by the different socio-security situations that plague the country in contemporary times. More importantly, one would have no difficulty identifying with the global audience that supports the call for the Nigerian government to be held accountable for the perpetration of violence to which they are an accessory by their suspicious silence. There is hardly any part of the country that can be said to record an admirable level of quality delivery of democratic dividends and its economic benefits. Nigeria commits debauchery by its conscious dehumanising of the human personnel with which it is abundantly blessed. It is the reason for the growing number of beggars in Kaduna, a state under the leadership of an assumed technocratic disposition. With the rate at which the number of beggars in the State is growing, one would have a genuine reason to doubt the ability of the political elite class to bring about the desirous change that the country awaits and needs so urgently.

Dr. Olagunju compels every reader to reconsider what Nigeria represents to them in terms of their identity and philosophical image. For instance, Kaduna, which Governor El-Rufai governs, was a model city-state in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and every single thing that made it a historical model has been reduced to nought. It has become a shadow of itself, yet, the country continues to bask in the euphoria of feigned elation where news items are either doctored to suit predetermined objectives or to deceive the helpless masses. Anyone who understands the gravity of what is happening in Nigeria today would not deny that the Northern region of the country needs the help of any organisation and multilateral corporation with good intentions. Although it cannot be underplayed that the region needs help from other regions in the country, it is equally indisputable that the international community means well for Nigeria.

Arguably, the Northern part of the country has the most hardworking, dedicated, determined, and undistracted people who are focused on their endeavours. They have built a fraternity of brotherhood through their unwavering dedication to their work, so much that they have earned for themselves the integrity of being laborious. Yet, they are the poorest, most ravaged by insecurity, and persecuted because of the actions of a fraction of them, which has given them the identity of terrorists. They need help, not because they face all these challenges, but because their experiences could force the world to create an identity for the whole country. Cowries of Blood: Essays on Herdsmen, Banditry and Nigeria’s Endgamedemonstrates how this can be done.

When a civilisation records far more instances of retrogressive events than anticipated, one would be inspired to understudy them to see if the forces of nature are conspiratorial against them or whether there are some socio-political calculations disadvantageous to them. In this regard, the case of the Northern region of Nigeria comes to mind again. Despite being rich in human and natural resources, the former because of their population density, and the latter as a product of their endowed natural gifts, the region is impoverished and suffers from the pangs of insecurity, internal colonialism, and underhanded political representatives. This is a region known for promising ideas before the ascension of imperialists. While they wallow in all these, they do not complement their success with anticipated progress. Today, they appear on popular news outlets for all reasons that are not desirable. Even when their political representatives have the power to change their fortune through good representation, they do not have the moral courage to use the power positively for the people but themselves. In this book, Lasisi Olagunju educates the readers about the North’s fixation on political gains and how to consolidate them, not necessarily concerned with how they would maximise the ones already accrued.

As a result, the orientation provides a crystal-clear picture of what philosophy of progress means to the people from that extraction of the country. Apart from fantasising about fictional benefits conferred on them because of some political coincidence, the ability to understand the future by using current events has entirely eluded the vast majority from that extraction. Frankly, some of the beautiful house infrastructures once associated with African civilisations may have their origin traced back to the North. Scholars, travellers, researchers, and migrants all came from the extraction, and their experiences have been very useful in shaping the academic image and trajectory of the people. However, the colonial turn of events installed a false sense of civilisation in them, and they went back to rest on their oars. Today, millions of innocent children roam the street of Nigeria’s North, and their bleak future is mocked by the silence of their sailors. When Northern politicians see vulnerable children begging, they seem to conjure up the image of children who are an asset to their region, forgetting that a child who is deprived of their childhood would barely have a beautiful future.

Despite the country’s acceleration in every direction opposite to greatness, success, or fulfilment, their condition is not irredeemable; however, there is a history to their perpetual sinking. There is a consensus that the operating system and the methodological structures used for running the country are traceable to its colonial ancestry. To understand this, one does not need to continue to blame the North for the woes they have either facilitated or the evils they have masterminded. Instead, it is more honourable to interrogate the imperialist intentions for orchestrating the plan they had for the country when they began their expansionist agenda.

It is to be reiterated that the colonialists are business merchants, capitalist groups whose primary interest in any relationship they invest in is provincial, and they usually keep a parasitic relationship to achieve this. The intention of the West when they handed over power to the North, or when they supported them to be at the helm of affairs, was not because they loved the region but because of what they could remotely do to the country through them. As the revealing history has shown, the imperialists were not interested in forgoing their colonies when they did. The heated global pressure culminated in them dishing out half-baked independence to their colonies. In essence, they planned how they could continue colonialism without their active presence, and handing power to the North was a very promising decision. As they always say, the rest is history and Cowries of Blood calls for a candid reflection.

One would believe that the benefits accruable to the North are confounding and that the grace they enjoy is almost second to none in the country. In resource allocation, there is a general understanding that the North must get the lion’s share, and this has nothing to do with capacity building. Instead, they receive these advantages because of power control and their population. Due to the understanding that an internal contradiction is usually unacknowledged but exists, it will be difficult to proffer a one-size-fits-all approach, and experiences have proven this. This condition has made violence thrive, insecurity expand, economic despoliation continue, and the perpetration of other evils remain.

After people have seen these in their bare essentials, they would come up with alternative methods to help them solve their existential problems, but several attempts have shown that Northern Nigeria is not mentally ready for such development. Consider, for example, that the increasing insecurity that has engulfed the country has not been given necessary policy attention because the government is not entirely sincere with its ambition to ensure the safety of the citizens. Therefore, people ravaged by violence come up with solutions to their problems, yet a sizeable number of people challenge their methods. This is the case of the Amotekun security architecture created in Western Nigeria, which Northern elites fume about for obvious reasons.

There are many unrecorded deaths in Kano. Kaduna is circumscribed in the pool of blood of innocent people. Maiduguri has its streets littered with the blood of promising youths whose future is cut short because of the perpetuation of violence that has been considered normal and natural. Kano, for example, stands out in the number of people who have lost their lives to an untimely death in recent years. Cemeteries in the city have recorded amazing scores of dead bodies that overstretch their facilities. Sadly, all these were happening when a pandemic held the world by the jugular and showed off its destructive capacity in the country. More confusingly, the government pretends that the cause of these deaths is unknown, and the unassailable fact that the government is grossly incapable of protecting the people has been a difficult pill to swallow.

The combination of COVID-19, banditry, and terrorism has submitted the lives of many Kano citizens to the cold hands of untimely death, and there have been very little efforts to correct this anomaly. Despite the government’s frantic efforts to downplay the gravity of the incidences, perhaps to alleviate the fear of the people or create a false sense of control to the public, the people who are aware of the situation are still mindful of it. They know that the rising number of death is scary, and they understand their causes. To these people, it remains difficult to calm their nerves or stem their worry, and they would become more agitated if the incidents continue unabated. There is the need for urgent reflections and redirection, and this book provides both.

Almajiri has overtaken the North, a culture of begging that has ridiculed their entire identity as human civilisation progresses. Innocent children under the tutelage and care of an Islamic cleric would be blackmailed to embark on a begging spree, and whatever money they gather would be returned to their teacher as an act of appreciation for the services rendered by the cleric. This is where the problem begins. These children are deprived of education, and the fact that they are mostly males contributes to the reality of their future problems. They are uneducated, and because of the consequences of their ignorance, they usually hold an extremely negative view of ideas that can bring about positive development. This social system technically disenfranchises them because by the time they become adolescents, their votes, for example, are not expressions of their intentions but a commitment to the creed they have sworn ignorantly. While the South is not unaware of this scourge, their silence is informed by the divisional politics that characterise the country. Even if they are disallowed from giving their voices to the problems, they cannot escape from the consequences of that condition.

Among other things, Cowries of Blood: Essays on Herdsmen, Banditry and Nigeria’s Endgame x-rays Nigeria’s multi-layered challenge, which includes the prevalent insecurity, economic underdevelopment, dysfunctional institutions and systems, crawling academic situations, socio-political fragmentations, ethnic tensions, inter-group hostilities, and corruption. Of all these nattering problems, the last one, corruption, is why all the others above survive. Corruption has created an enabling environment for installing the wrong systems in such ways that the governance concept of patrimonialism has been belatedly entrenched in their system. Gradually, the political system is conceived as the ground where people with provincial intentions can incubate and hatch their dreams, gathering the support of their ethnically myopic sympathisers and consolidating the power with morally wounded individuals ready to sacrifice the well-being of the country and its citizens for a plate of porridge. They have continued in this unfortunate situation at breath-taking speed, with no indication that they are ready to apply their brake and turn around from the wrong direction.

Undoubtedly, there is the need for an urgent solution and revolution to address these issues. Nigerians must realise that the promulgation of wars and violence does not ensure a desirable future. Instead, it increases the possibility of misdirection, which has serious implications for both the perpetrators and the wanderers. Dr. Olagunji has done all of us a huge favor by putting the essays together in one volume. It is a gift to be cherished. We should express our gratitude by reading it, reflecting on it, and discussing the policy outcomes.

This is a review of Lasisi Olagunju, Cowries of Blood: Essays on Herdsmen, Banditry and Nigeria’s Endgame (Ibadan: Noirledge, 2021).

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