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Of punished activists and pardoned terrorists

The rate with which this awful reality of clamping down on ethnic self-determination elements and whose excuse for their agitation is indeed the longstanding maladministration

Sir: The rate with which this awful reality of clamping down on ethnic self-determination elements and whose excuse for their agitation is indeed the longstanding maladministration of past and present governments is appalling.

It is made worse when, on the other hand, the horde of rogues who have wreaked havoc, kidnapped, killed, raped many women and adolescents girls, while same are patted at the back, recruited to the mainstream security bodies, or enrolled as beneficiaries of some monetary gifts, is heartbreaking and horrible. This is even happening while the hapless victims in their numbers are left in the lurch languishing and lamenting without sufficient food and medicare across the camps nationwide where they are dumped by the government agents.

From the horses’ mouth, the morass of backwardness and fantastic hypocrisy now holding Nigeria nation to the jugular is extensively encapsulated in the book titled, ‘‘Why Not: Citizenship, State Capture, Creeping Fascism and Criminal Hijack of Politics in Nigeria.’’ The author, Prof. Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, is one of the outstanding icons and eminent intellectuals. You need no further be perplexed why things are the ugly way it is in a country that has the overwhelming potentials and inherent greatness, after reading through.

Must evil excel at the detriment of good? Must integrity be punished severely and dishonesty and rascality be pampered steadily? Shall evil reign over good and for how long shall that endure? Shall the righteous forever keep silence while the perpetrators of atrocious deeds hold sway? Go to the graveyards and learn solemn lessons, thou haughty and naughty political gladiators! Can the reign of mediocrity over competence be indefinitely sustained and how?

What on this earth has proved permanence and which has no expiring date? Virtually everything on the surface of the earth comes with its demise date from the outset. Oh compatriots, relent not in your dogged fight against terror and dictatorship! Persevere and with passion and hope, repossess our fatherland. There is a level of abnormalities that can flourish unnoticeably in a country and which the ultimate leader can feign ignorance with understanding. But it will be an incredible thing or an unmarketable commodity to persuade even the simple-minded person when it becomes too glaring that the government has, not just tacit support but in fact, complicit in the monster consuming the nation. You remember the metaphor of the bird that sounds the gong in the thick bush and the next moment runs out to the middle of the road screaming, who is hitting the gong?  

The end to this unprecedented national security logjam and impasse should be the primary concern of every well-meaning Nigerian much more the nation’s leaders at both state and federal levels. They, therefore, should be seen to be committed to the pursuit of the onerous task.

Steve Obum Orajiaku is a freelance journalist and social activist.

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