Written By Olufemi Sunday Afolabi

The incidents of wanton killings takings going on in the North Central and North East of Nigeria have got to a boiling point and it now calls for everyone in Nigeria to come together and fight a common enemy. This enemy is not any dreaded hydra-headed monster anywhere. It is not a vampire that sucks human bloopd from the unseen realm. This great enemy of our land is not from Jupiter nor is it from any of the great planets, the enemy of this country is within its perimeters.

When we view issues, I still have not come to the full comprehension of the reasons that forbid the citizens of this country to have holistic view of things from all vistas, in order to have a balanced vision and a good sense of judgement on matters. We often allow sentiments to becloud our sense of judgements and reasoning.

It has been confirmed that one of the reasons for backwardness and failure in the third world countries is our inability to take responsibilities. We always look for somebody to blame for our failure. You hear things like, if my parents had been educated? If  I had been born by a rich father? If only I could go to a better country? etc Nobody sits down and havea stock taking of his life and plan for a better future.

Why can't we tell ourselves the truth and nothing but the truth? Why do we want to die in this conundrum as a nation. Despite the technological advancements of this age and time, success of the scientific world in the recent days. The enlightenment of the 21st century that have brought wonders into the world, it has not been able to penetrate the fabrics of our country because of our failure to embrace the truth and face our problems headlong.

In the course of reading this article ( it will be in series), I will be explaining what I believe is the truth that we must face and how I have this conviction within me that, if embraced, shall set us free from this political quargmire that we find ourselves as a people and a nation.

Symptoms or Causes

It is worthy of note that many of our people ( the leaders and the led, governments and the governed, etc ) dont learn from past occurences and it is evident in our shallow knowledge of history in this nation. When things are viewed, they ought to be seen historically, it ought to be with statistical analysis, intilligence gathering, sufficient information, it should be from economic angle, political perspectives, spiritual eyes ( because I know every design has a designer and our existence cannot be an exception)  and from all other perspectives.

These perspectives, as mentioned above, would now be the basis for decision making. Unfortunately, more often than not, decisions are always being made with wrong motives by our leaders and such decisions become dead on arrival, if it is made at all. In fact, they often exacerbate our already bad situations and conditions as a nation, and there can be only one end-result which is LOSS and LOSS and LOSS. This can be the loss of lives, material resources, economic values, human values, etc

We tend to focus more on the symptoms of our maladies more than the root-causes of these myriad of problems. We have allowed our attentions, focus and minds to be shifted from what can help us to what cannot work.

Despite many assumptions, uncountable conspiracy theories, perspectives to issues, et cetera which, of course differ on issues, one thing that cannot change in life  is the truth. Majority want solution to their problems but they dont want to face the truth. But the Holy Bible tells me ' You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free'- John 8:32

Now, the question is why can't Nigeria solve her problems?

Why is our own problems defying solutions? Why do we find it difficult to lead ourselves? Do we still need to be colonised again as posited by Donald Trump of the United States of America? Do will lack resources both human and materials to bring succor and a modicum of joy to our people?

The question goes further to how long do we want to be suffering from this unending hermorrhage being perpetrated by few individuals but being triggered by our lack of vision? Do we want to play politics with the actual human essence? Is it until we waste all lives, properties, values, resources,etc at our disposal that we will now wake up from our deep sleeps ( this is beyond slumbering).

So, in the light of the forgoing, I will begin with the Benue Killings.

Benue Killings: The Truth

We have heard may stories like ' it is because some people want to Islamize Nigeria that is why they want to annihilate the middle belt of Nigeria'. Could this be wrong or could it be the truth. If it is the truth, why have they not achieved their aim since 1914? Nigeria has had many muslim leaders in the time past, why didnt they Islamize Nigeria?

Is it so difficult to get the agenda of Islamisation right? But if we say it is false, the question that will arise is ' why then is this killing coming repeatedly?' Why can't we have answer to such killing? Why is it not happening in Kano, Yobe, Jigawa, etc We have seen such in Plateau State, Benue State, Nassarawa State, Taraba State, etc. Is it a rocket science to protect our citizens from the onslaught of the enemies?

Now, these are the answers. They will stem from more questions and we will use a philosophical approach of logic to arrive at those answers.

Firstly, is Herdsmen/Farmer clash a global issue?

The answer is NO.

It has been discovered that herders and farmers clashes are products of poor governance, poor leadership, poor technological advancement, poor education or stark illliteracy among the farmers and herders, among the citizens, among the led in the country, etc. You cannot give what you dont have. We cannot separate effects from  their causes. So, there is cause-effect relationship.

It is like the parable of egg and the chicken, which one came first? You cannot separate all those elements- like poor governance, illiteracy, poor research, decadence in technology, etc from the issue we are going through in Nigeria of which  security challenge is a king and  zeroing down on Herdsmen Clashes in the middle belth and North East.

It is apparently an evidence of years of leadership decadence. It happened under Obasanjo with governors of some states like Plateau being removed. It became worse under Jonathan with hundreds of lives being wasted. It has started again under Buhari.

This is a testimony to how Nigeria has wasted many years doing nothing in human capacity development other than giving birth to many children that she cannot cater for. Years that the cancerworm and caterpillars have eaten. We have thousands of our able-bodied men running to Libya to do what exactly? To look for a better standard of living, jobs, etc.

Read to the end on http://newsechoes.com/2018/01/08/nigerian-security-and-the-truth-the-complexity-of-human-nature-part-1/