The enemies within us

Though I am not a politician, neither did my tedious job  allow me  to cast my vote during all the elections that  took place in the country over the past few weeks, despite the long boring hours I had sacrificed to register and get my curious face recorganized by the controversial DDC Machine during the equally controversial registration exercise that took place prior to the current political protest and mad slaughtering and waste of innocent Nigerians across  virtually all the northern states of the country, with the exception of few states whose inhabitants thought it wise and sensible not to burn each other’s houses, raze places of worship and set ablaze or slaughter each other like chickens and rams as a result of a mere political result.

But of all the states that participated in this carnage, perhaps Kaduna to me has been the most disappointed state, as a perceived centre of learning and the old capital of northern Nigeria. I had thought the lessons leant from the barbaric killings that took place in 2000, would have served the inhabitants of the state as a guide to future disturbance , not knowing that  we as students and teachers have really not grabbed or learnt anything, neither have the various crises and wars raging in various countries around us taught us anything. Kaduna to me became a failed learning state on that Monday, 19th April 2011, as we allowed ourselves to be beaten twice by our enemies, thus giving them the liberty to win over our so-called intellectual capacity and social freedom. A state with intellectual people that was supposed to lead by example suddenly gave way to hoodlums and killers to unleash their poisonous fangs against the populace and before you know it, the easygoing and liberal inhabitants of the heterogeneous state were forced to become prisoners and sheep in their homes, daily forced to stay indoors and observe and obey specified time set up by human beings like them in uniforms, armed with guns and whips, a shameful thing in this 21st century.

I felt so bad that while other states across the same country, mostly in the south-south, south-west and even in some part of the north were celebrating and jubilating peacefully over some vanity election results, a few unguarded and misinformed miscreants in this part of the country were busy killing each other and fighting an unnecessary political, tribal and religious supremacy. I felt so disturbed that our religious leaders both in the Muslim and Christian faith allowed themselves to become sentimentally attached politically and introduced a dangerous dimension into the fragile Nigerian political terrain. They became the unidentified enemies within us. In fact some of them had initially, before the elections, become the self-employed mouthpiece of some of our politicians and used the various mosques and churches across the country to campaign and openly canvass for votes for different candidates of their choice. Some of our religious leaders openly sold out their conscience and used the important Friday sermons at mosques and the equally important Sunday worship at churches to preach politics, instead of the teachings of the holy books in their hands.  They shamelessly instigated the people against each other and ran undercover when the fire raged across the states, leaving their poor followers to take the heat, get burnt and roasted cheaply away.

Why Kaduna in particular became a shame to me was that over the years we have seen, heard and watched as hundreds of our citizens in neighbouring states like Plateau, Bauchi and Maiduguri, were daily maimed and killed for unjust reasons, and  yet we closed our senses of reasoning and allowed ourselves to be held under siege by rampaging uninformed hoodlums already instigated by greedy politicians and myopic religious leaders. We actually became a failed people since we could not control our cities and villages from being taken over from us by few misguided elements within us; I wonder how brave we could ever be if, God forbid, some external forces from neighbouring states or country decided to take over our homes, our places of worship, places of work and even our families.

I think it is now important to delete that  ‘centre of learning’ slogan from our phrase and look for another short catchy one that rightly befits a failed state. Maybe a catchphrase like ‘Twice beaten, twice shy state’ would be appropriate.  The truth is those saddled with the responsibility of developing the state over the years actually gave room for most of the crisis in the state to happen. They have continued to neglect virtually all the slums and ghettos and the rural population across the region, thus breeding frustrated hungry people, who at the end of the day become miscreants ready and willing to unleash terror and fear to the so-called elite any day and anyhow within the shortest possible time. And fear they have been able to unleash to everyone especially the corrupt leaders, who were also deprived of showing off their ill-gotten wealth. They could no longer ride freely in their expensive toys, neither could they come to the markets and shops to oppress the hungry masses with their large purchases or send their pampered children to some of the expensive segregated private schools around us.

The fact is that the politicians and some of these greedy religious leaders who were the catalysts of the current political crisis are also feeling the pinch whether they like it or not. And I am sure someday the fire would rage towards them and consume them as well, if it has not already eaten some of them directly or indirectly, for the evil that men do, no doubt lives after them.

It is a shame that while other parts of the country are daily growing, developing and moving forward, we in the north are still exhibiting some Stone Age behaviours, up to the extent of killing young patriotic corps members in our domain, forgetting that our children, brothers and sisters are also serving in other states across the country. We claim to have various schools in the north both western and traditional institutions, yet we are the ones left far behind in virtually all aspect of social and economic development. The truth is we would always be a laughing stock to other parts of the country and indeed in the eyes of the world, as long as we continue to allow a few uneducated miscreants to daily hold us under siege and rule over our collective intelligence. This, no doubt, is a sign that leadership has failed in this part of the country and those claiming to be leaders must learn how to connect with the people in order to checkmate these enemies within us. Unless we are comfortable with the views that the north has become a butchering ground, with daily bombings and senseless killings and this for sure would never bring development or peace to the region, for the reality is, no man is an island.