A Nation Without A Soul

The Nigerian psyche has been dealt a severe blow, it has been seriously contaminated.

We lost our sense of right and wrong, the sense of humanity and the parameters of civilization.

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Some got contaminated because bad education, some due to a desperate level of survival instinct induced by poverty or greed, some due to ethnic and religious considerations, but the greatest culprit by far are those locust years of military dictatorship.

This is why it is not uncommon to hear phrases like

“we will deal decisively with them”

“they deserve what they get”

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“you can’t be messing with a government like that”

some Yoruba will even say “k’olomo kilo f’omo re” (roughly that parents should rein in their children) Government na terrorist?

When I hear phrases like these, I used to be very angry, then it graduated to a sense of pity for that level of ignorance that informs such thinking.

I see people walking around with slave mentality in their own country, I see a people who are not conscious of their rights and peoples who don’t know that power and sovereignty belong to them.

What is happening in Aba shouldn’t have happened if sense of reasoning had prevailed. But unfortunately, it has the potential to get worse if care is not taken.

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I made many enemies for myself in the early days of Kanu destructive rhetorics, mostly among my Igbo friends who called me Igbo hater because I viciously criticized him and his supporters.

I didn’t care because I am used to all that. A clear conscience fears no accusation.

He showed up in Nigeria, got arrested and charged to court. I thought everything was great. I started to have sympathy for him when several court orders to release him on bail were disobeyed. When he was eventually released, I noticed a significant shift in his approach.

First of all, he was humble enough to make some apologies then moved from making terroristic threats to sponsoring civil protests, sit-at-home, election boycotts etc. These are purely legal means of protest. Did he violate the terms of his bail by these acts, it is for the court to decide whether to take him back to jail or accelerate his hearing.

The AG did the right thing by applying for a revocation of his bail. (even though if I were to be the Judge, I won’t revoke it, I will accelerate his hearing)

The question now is why did the FG feel the need to have its Phyton dancing on his street? Why is the Phyton not dancing in the Middle Belt where thousands are being killed sporadically, why is Phyton not dancing in Ikorodu where many are being brutally killed by Badoo cult group, they should have Cobra dancing in the North East where Boko Haram is still killing us!

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Whatever rhetorics Kanu may be making to grab attention, IPOB is yet to kill anyone and therefore didn’t constitute a clear and present danger that warranted military activities in his street. That is a clear act of provocation by the government on its citizen, especially in a matter that is subjudice. The government approached equity with a bloody hand.

Those of us condemning the act are not stupid. We know the government has a responsibility to maintain law and order, but where it is selective or done outside of acceptable standard of civilized engagement, there is a problem. There is nothing Kanu is doing that cannot be handled by regular Police or DSS.

Well, I wasn’t surprised when a friend sent me a video of some Igbo folks looking for Hausa folks to kill yesterday. Any innocent person from the North could have been a victim. This is how short-sighted this administration and its supporters are. The seeds they are sowing are beginning to germinate. No Igbo was looking for Northerners to kill before that operation.

With the video of dehumanization and torture that went viral yesterday, it can only get worse if care is not taken. I don’t see the Northerners folding their arms if anything happens to their kins in Igboland.

Violence will always beget violence, this is why this government should be careful. Nigeria is not a slave camp, people have rights even if many of them are apparently walking around with slave mentality and will still gleefully display the ignorance on the internet.

It is a shame that a government who claims that they can’t even arrest Northern youths who were expelling other Nigerians from their territory for “security reasons” can have its Phyton torturing and dehumanizing people in the South for “security reasons”

Just be reminded that the country is on a delicate balance.

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