The tragedy and repercussions of war!

Sir: One of the recurring tragedies in any society is the outbreak of fatal hostilities over issues of land and property between people and communities who were once good neighbours.

Elechi Amadi in his fine novel, The Great Ponds, tells of one such war between the neighbouring villages of Chiolu and Aliakoro over the ownership of a rich fishing pond deep in the heart of the forest – the Pond of Wagaba.

“Ownership of this pond had evidently been a matter of dispute for as far back as the villagers could remember.

At the opening of the story, the owners were the villagers of Chiolu.

The pond was one of many deep waters inside the forest somewhere in Eastern Nigeria.

Amadi tells us, “Many villages shared the Great Ponds, but some villages like Chiolu had remarkably rich ponds which their neighbours coveted and ravaged when they could.”

“When the story opens, the Chief and elders of Chiolu had decided to stop this poaching on the part of the village of Aliakoro, and the first step in the subsequent war, was the sending of an ambush to catch the Aliakoro men one moonlit night as they came to fish illegally and secretly in the Pond of Wagaba.

The story continues with some good, clean fighting and the warriors of Chiolu won each battle. Then, seeing that they could not gain anything by force, the Aliakoro men turned to guile and made a night raid to capture some of the Chiolu women, among them thepregnant wife of Olumba, the Chief warrior, and the young daughter of the village Head, Eze Diali.

This was countered by a daylight raid on the other villages, a raid in which three women were carried off.

Tempers then rose and some horrible acts of mutilation took place.”
The war took a very terrible and gloomy turn as several lives were lost and there was so much anguish, pain and hunger.

At the start of the war, the men of each village respected and acclaimed the particular prowess of the other. When they met, they greeted each other loudly with their praise names or sobriquets:

“Men of Aliakoro, Growers of Big Yams, Leopard-killers, Eyes of the Night, Eight-handed Warriors, I greet you…”
“Men of Chiolu, who use fish for firewood, Terror of the Forest, Hunters with Invisible Footprints, Great sons of Great Fathers, I greet you…”

Summarily, and all in all, the repercussions and ends of wars are not always good, sweet and palatable. The sour and unsavoury tastes of wars were felt during the First World War and the Second World War.

The agonising and pandemic results of those wars are still palpable and hovering all over the world, even till today.

A powerful orator and great thinker uttered a deep and witty phrase many decades ago when he said, “It is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.”

The evil shedding of blood and mayhem going on in other parts of the world and even in our dear country comes to mind.

It is better to settle our differences on the table, with love and peace of mind, than to go on wars of destruction and attrition that fetches humanity or mankind nothing but gloom and doom, and it is not the best option.

Yorubas have a saying, “Ife ni Oluwa.” meaning, “God is love.”

Let us all fill our hearts with love. The Almighty God is love.

Think about it.

Segun Durowaiye can be reached via 08055356855.