Sir: According to Wikipedia, the world information search engine, from 23 to 25 December 2023, a series of armed attacks occurred in Plateau State, Nigeria. They targeted 20 rural communities in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas, resulting in 160 deaths, 300 injuries, and significant property damage.
Also painful but relevant to the discourse, in the opinion of this piece is the awareness that this is neither the first nor the second that this style of man’s inhumanity to man is occurring in the once peaceful Plateau State. Further exacerbating the confusion is the fact that each time it occurs, it leaves in its trail tears, sorrows and blood.
Essentially, even though condemnation have, as the usual ‘tradition’ greeted the coordinated attacks on 23 villages, the emotional and psychological burden of these occurrences on our republic have not only contributed to a legacy of unresolved trauma, pain, and injustice for the affected communities, but increasingly postured Nigeria as a nation reputed for having neither value nor respect for human lives.
Aside from the litany of thoughtless human massacres across the country and tribes by state and non-state actors in the past which has made imperatives redress, healing and reconciliation for such heinous acts indispensable to achieving a true national rebirth as no nation enjoys durable peace without justice and stability, fairness and equity. Also standing as impediment to true national healing and rebirth is the argument by some commentators that the only remedy for this problem is simply to encourage the affected community to accept their fate and move on with their lives as there are more important matters confronting the nation coupled with the fact that, across the world, such incidents forms part of human existential voyage and therefore unavoidable.
While this slanted reasoning may be allowed to fly on the faces of the people, this piece believed and still believes that there are reasons as to why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government must not allow the present killing in Plateau State go without bringing those responsible to account for their misdeeds.
First and very fundamental, in the words of Thomas Paine in his pamphlet ‘Common Sense,’’ he states and I quote “the law is king”. Vigilant adherence to the Law strengthens the nation.
It ensures that those who govern us as well as the governed must operate within our constitutional structure, which means that our democratic institutions play their indispensable role in shaping policy and determining the direction of our nation. It means that the people of this nation ultimately determine its course and not executive officials operating in secret without constraint.
Viewed broadly, enforcement of the rule of law in situations such as this, makes us stronger by ensuring that decisions will be tested, studied, reviewed and examined through the processes of government that are designed to improve policy. And the knowledge that they will be reviewed prevents overreaching and checks the accretion of power. By the same token, whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable, it almost inevitably leads to mistakes and abuses. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes, dishonesty and lawlessness are encouraged and rewarded.
To therefore change the narrative and catalyse the process of building the Nigeria of our dreams, it is important that we first recognise as a nation that ‘the destiny of the ship is not in the harbour but in sailing the high sea’’ and so shall our collective responsibility be, not to destroy this great nation but join hands to nurture and sustain it. If we are able to develop a culture that seeks real victory via dialogue and not through conquest, it will again announce the arrival of a brand new great nation where peace and love shall reign supreme.
God bless Nigeria!
Utomi Jerome-Mario is the programme coordinator (Media and Policy) at Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos.
