The Invasion Of Letugbene Community

On Friday, 17th day of January, 2020, soldiers invaded Letugbene Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. That was not the first time such attacks on innocent citizens would be recorded in this country as we have also witnessed such cases in past administrations.

Without being economical with the truth, I fear for a society where citizens are chased away from their communities, killed and their houses burnt down because some hoodlums attacked and killed military personnel. In a sane environment, it should be the duty of security agents to forestall activities which breed insecurity and when security protocols are broken, which results to damages, chaos or lose of lives, be it from the military community or the civilian community, it is still the duty of same security agencies to go after anyone who breaches the peace of the land and make sure they are brought to book. In a situation where people who are saddled with the responsibility of protecting the territorial integrity of the country now turn around to cause havoc in the lives of innocent people of same territory they claim to protect is as worse as evil and should be condemned by every right thinking human. It is even pertinent to note that the said hoodlums might not be from Letugbene Community!

It is shocking to know that in these modern times, in fact, at this stage of existence, cases like what happened in Letugbene Community still occur in our society and the government of the day does nothing to save the situation.

There is this agreement between the state and the people, where the people surrender some of their rights to the state, and the state provides welfare, SECURITY, etc for the people in return. It is the foundation of good governance. It is what Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau called 'The Social Contract'. This same Social Contract has been breached and rubbed on the mud countless times by Nigerian governments, both past and present.

It is very surprising that when such unnecessary attacks against civilian communities by security personnel occur, the government looks the other way.

In 1988, Pieter Willem Botha (1916 - 2006), one time prime minister of South Africa, made a statement which was considered a racist one in many quarters when he said that 'Black people do not have the brain and mental capacity to govern a society...give them guns, they will kill themselves...'. In as much as Botha's assertion could be seen as racist, I strongly believe that what we witness in our society frequently are things that continue to make it difficult to prove Willem Botha wrong!

There are ways to handle crime and bring criminals to the law; committing crime in revenge cannot be one of the ways. This barbaric act needs to stop! This is a modern society and not some Amazon forest!


Cc: Seun, Mynd44, Lalasticlala, OAM4J

Fulani herdsmen kill soldiers and policemen in their numbers but we do not witness this photo Carnage on Fulani communities why this wickedness.

Nigeria is a zoo make una believe am or leave am