by Cheta Nwanze

….it isn’t at all easy to be your brother’s keeper when you know for a fact that three weeks after you are kidnapped, the authorities will tell the world, in quite a chirpy manner, that they do not know where you are. Yes, in Naija, it is truly every man for himself, and Amadioha for all of us.

On Saturday night I was at the Zoo to pick up some family members who were just returning from yonder. I made the silly mistake of parking in the Zoo’s new park and waiting for one of those buses from France. When the bus dropped us off close to the arrivals section of the Zoo, I realised how grave my error was. You see, the Zoo has, err, new, improved security arrangements.

One of which is many soldiers and policemen scaring the living daylights out of any prospective first time visitor to Nigeria. Shouts of “I go beat u if u no move ya moto comot for hia” are fairly commonplace now. One problem was this: as the 1930 KLM flight from Amsterdam touched down, the owner of a Toyota jeep, plate number AL 891 GGE, gave one of the policemen N2000 and was allowed to park exactly where he wanted, and pick up the new arrivals. Having seen that, I’m quite convinced now, that the new, improved, security arrangements for the WEF in Abuja, will be just that. New, improved, security arrangements, but when it comes to the issue of corruption, most Nigerians, myself included, are presented with a moral dilemma.

We have security agents who are woefully underpaid, so jump at any leaf thrown their direction. We also have a citizenry, woefully ignorant of their rights and duties, and responsibilities. Thus it was that in 2014, a motley cast of “Christians” identified just the Christian members of the posse of babes taken by #BokoHaram. They will not mind if the Muslim girls in the pack are left behind. To think I was under the delusion that we were our brothers’ keepers.

But then again, it isn’t at all easy to be your brother’s keeper when you know for a fact that three weeks after you are kidnapped, the authorities will tell the world, in quite a chirpy manner, that they do not know where you are. Yes, in Naija, it is truly every man for himself, and Amadioha for all of us.

Bits and Bobs
The signs have been there, we’ve been given a lot of innuendos. Now, we have proof. The lights won’t come on soon. Samson Dibie lost an arm in 2011 because Sunday Adelebe of LASTMA, was too keen on doing his job. Adelebe and LASTMA, being unable to replace the arm, will part with N10 millions. Being an ajuwaya is something that has almost become the preserve of the less privileged. Even they are considering their options. Naturally, when the NYSC is a very reactive body. Tunde Bakare is a man after my heart. The firebrand is suggesting something I suggested in this newsletter months ago. Problem is, even that will probably be bungled.

Right of Reply

Aziza Uko wrote,

I think it is important for you activists to put things in proper perspective. The Enough is Enough rally of which I was part of was not about Jonathan becoming President. It wasn’t a pro-Jonathan rally, it was about the nation and the defense of the constitution. If a donkey had been Vice President and the President had been incapacitated as it were then and the business of government put on hold, chronic fuel queues, rumours of a military coup, etc… we would have still marched to make that donkey President… at least I would. So saying you take back the support… that means you no longer defend the constitution of Nigeria?

Moving forward to 2011, Cheta you did not vote for Goodluck Jonathan. You openly campaigned for him to lose and you cast your vote for General Buhari. So it is kind of funny to somehow make it appear as if Jonathan is President today because you supported him. You didn’t and never will. So your call for him to leave doesn’t suprise anyone who has been watching closely.

That said, I am totally appalled at the state of security in this country. The whole handling of the kidnapping of the Borno school girls, the bombings and attacks that appear to have no end in sight, lack of authoritative information, the poor communication, etc.is something that I think Nigeria should not experience. Not in this day and age.

But in channelling our anger, we must remember that some Nigerians have lend their talents (or lack of same) to the works of darkness and they are the ones who plant the bombs to kill innocent people, they are the ones who kidnapped those school girls and they are the ones who continue to hold them captive and use the kids as human shields. These criminals called Boko Haram are the ones responsible for the crimes they decide to commit. They have blood on their hands and it will never be well with them. I give them 100% of my anger. I don’t understand how some Nigerians leave the criminal and attack the someone else.

Then, I create a new thread of anger and I direct it to the police, State Secret Service, the armed forces, immigration et al. They have not done enough to address this insurgency. I simply don’t get it how a group of rag-tag criminals can appear tougher than the security apparatus of a country. Since, President Jonathan is commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces then I am angry at him.

You see, I don’t take anger meant for Boko Haram and direct it towards President Jonathan. I spread my anger around.

Then, I put things in perspective and measure my words. If the government has done nothing about the insurgecy as some political activists claim, Boko Haram would have run over the government and installed a Talibanic regime in Nigeria. That they are in the forest, in hiding and not walking around openly is sign that they have been given a fight. It is not social media activists fighting them, it is the brave men and women of our armed forces.
But they need to do more to end this ugliness in our nation’s history. They need to end, not contain, but end this insurgency. I wish them wisdom and luck because at the end of it all, the armed forces … the original Enough is Enough rally is (and was) a fight to defend the constitution of Nigeria.

Chxta responds,

I take offence at being called “activist”. Is that a job? I say things as I see them, and frankly, the President is not doing a good job. He swore to uphold our Constitution. In any event, I did not see you complaining when I criticised the opposition, which brings me to a very worrisome aspect of Nigerian behaviour. As long as the person committing a misdemeanour is his/her/my SOB, the Nigerian does not mind. That attitude has to change if we are to move forward. Even if we break Nigeria up tomorrow, the attitude will persist at a regional level, so even if we have Biafra say, the Umuleri man will be okay with the misbehaviour of an Umuleri president, but will scream blue murder if an Ohafia president does exactly the same thing.

As per the other points you made, if you managed to watch last night’s tête-a-tête dispassionately, you’d find that the Prez actually answered all your points. So I won’t duplicate effort.
Finally, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Prez, for all of his faults, is simply a reflection of Nigeria. So nothing spoil.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.