1. Introduction
Pope St Pius X said “in our time, the chief strength of the wicked lies in the cowardice and weakness of good men.”
The killings in Riyom and elsewhere have gone unabated. The authorities both local, state and national continue to prevaricate. As usual, they have called for emergency security council meetings to instruct security agencies to rise up to their responsibilty to protect life and property of victims. They buy the coffins, if that is part of the arrangements or possible (most are buried without coffins), attend the endless mass burials, make pious speeches about the sacredness of life, the need to be security conscious and say hypocritical prayers for the happy and eternal repose of their unfortunate souls. The perpetrators as a rule are perfunctorily warned to stop or face the full wrath of the law. The victims are told to be law abiding and not take laws into their hands because Govt is on top of the situation.
This is the cycle until the next attacks and until the attacks lose their newsworthiness. As you read this, since December last year 2022 which coincides with farm harvest season leading to the election months and escalating just before and after the inauguration of new Govts, the Fulani terrorists attacks have been unrelenting. In April I did a mass burial of 3 of my young parishioners the oldest been 34yrs old in Wurung community. Yesterday 21 June, I buried another five young parishioners out of the seven that were killed by terrorists.
Meanwhile the terrorists continue to enjoy their field days, dictating whether we can sleep or not. Whether we can go to farm or not, in fact the most recent new addition to the utter impunity of the terrorists is that they attack villagers passing certain routes near their (Fulani) settlements, seize their bikes at gun point and warn them never to follow such routes again. For the avoidance of doubt, these are raods to their houses and they gave to pass to go home. We live our lives according to the terms of the terrorists. You don’t sleep untill they allow you to sleep. Under darkness and daylight, sunshine and rain, dawn to dusk there is no ease for us because there is no hour you will not expect to be attacked. We cannot even cook and eat talkless of going to farm the food for next year.
It is a terrible experience to bury anyone at all. But it is more terrible if the person was killed by violence. But still these don’t equate to burying people enmass together in an unusually large graves called ‘mass graves’. It depresses me to be in such a situation. The last one I had few days ago, we had to argue with two families of two victims who inisited on burying differently from the mass grave arrangement. It is is so bad that some people joke about their insistence that it is because they were new to the daily ritual of mass-burying loveds ones killed by terrorists.
2. The Cross As Ordained By Christ
I knew that Jesus had said to be his disciple we must carry our cross but this experience of facing wailing women in mournful communities as I go to bury victims of the vicious network of dead who are their loved ones is better left unsaid. Two weeks back, I was confused when I saw the refugee-victims of an overnight attack at the community hall premises. As we were celebrating daily Mass, loud wailings from the women and children who had ran away from the killings into Riyom punctured the silence and quite of the Mass. The first sights that met me after the Mass were these families displaced in their own homeland. They wailed and sigh as updates filtered about the death of their husbands and fathers and brothers whom they left behind to defend their precious homes and land even if they were mere huts.
No wonder Nigerian christians are making the most persecuted groups in the world.
3. Examples From Other Lands
I watched a YouTube documentary on the 1967 Six Day War that a nascent Israeli state fought against three formidable Arab Nations of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Of course those who know the story of the ‘Six Day War’ will remember that Israel was not only victorious with their very outnumbered, adhoc amateur army equipped with defunct world war II tanks and weapons, against the more formidable three-nation armies with advanced state of the art contemporary training and weapons; they even gained more territory. Israel successfully annexed the Sinai peninsula from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria to add to the small initial territory they bought from Arabs at the beginning of their effort to re-establish a Jewish state in the historic and biblical land of Israel following the aftermath of the Holocaust. This quest is to guarantee a homeland that could serve as buffer against a repeat of the Holocaust.
One of the striking remarks made by one of the commanders, a Lt Col when asked how they crushed three formidable Arab nations armies was: “to survive you have to fight”. I could not help but agree with him totally. I recently finished my reading of Nelson Mandela’s ‘Long Walk To Freedom’ a rather extraordinary autobiography that lived up to its high reviews and acclaims. I add my obscure voice to say that this Mandela autobiography should be read by any people who want to understand the mindset of an oppressor and the limited choices that an oppressed group often in the majority or minority are left with. Not many of us will know that Mandela was serving a life sentence before the oppressor got overwhelmed and released him and his colleagues. Also that his crime includes using civil instruments such as boycotts, disobedience, strikes and sabotage to press home demands for blacks who are the natives of South Africa and in overwhelming majority, to be treated simply as human beings. The only thing that blacks and whites shared together in the South Africa that Mandela rebelled against was air and rainfall which no man could legislate. Every other thing from land, water, justice and identity was legislated upon. The criteria is the respective colors of the diverse inhabitants of the country ranging from Whites, Blacks, coloured and Indian. Of course the Whites came first, then the Indians followed by those they arbitrarily called colored; last and least of course the ‘accursed’ blacks.
It was so bad that even prison food was served according to these befuddling categories. I leave the rest of the reality to your imagination. And I assure you that you could never exaggerate the height of evil in apartheid South Africa no matter how wild and filthy your imaginations might be.
I was in Owerri, Imo at the middle of June, 2023 to bury the Oluoma 1 of Amanze Amurie, Isu LGA, Chief Donatus Osakwe. A great man! The carnival that was the burial is a story for another day. Usually I enjoy traveling a lot especially within the country, untill the spate of movie-like industrial scale kidnappings across the country. As for South East Nigeria in particular, the activities of the so-called unknown gunmen on rampage and the pressure of IPOB activities made it even more foreboding. And sincerely, I was paralysed by fears in these lines once it got dark until I arrived Owerri to the most gracious welcome of my hosts and friends Charles and Emma. My first surprise was a pleasant repair of major roads leading into Owerri by the ‘Supreme Court Governor’ Hope Uzodinma. He is like the biblical stone rejected by the builders that is turning to be a corner stone. (Make Dem no stone me sha). I know how the road to Owerri from Okigwe used to be when Owelle Rochas Okorocha was Governor. Some portions of the road were not motorable we had to resort to unpaved village streets to avoid being swept away by mini rivers bestriding the roads. I learned Isu road in Orlu zone that passed just in front of the Owerri palace of the Owelle used to be that bad too. The road is done with a full compliment of street lights shining through the night.
My next surprise was that night life was alive despite the risks and the threats of insecurity. As late as 11pm there was a taxi loading to Owerri from Okigwe when I arrived. After paying double the usual sum of a thousand Naira, my guts failed me. I had to respect myself, forfeit the money because the driver will not refund once fares are paid and find where to spend the night to continue to Owerri the following morning. My co-passengers, a group of daring dashing young men about 5 in number did their best to encourage me to make the journey assuring me of the safety of the roads even at such odd hours. Val my companion joined me to the hotel after failing to convince me to complete the journey that night to Owerri.
The next day allayed my fears and distrust of the volatile security situation. I went to the vigil ceremonies of the funeral at Amanze Amurie. It was a carnival I tell you. Permit me to disgress here a bit. I joked with Aristotle who drove us, that the vigil ceremonies was more lavish and generous in food and assorted drinks than the inaugural banquet of our new Governor. They were shocked that I and my family used an overall expenditure of a total sum of a hundred and thirty three thousand Naira only to bury my grandma last year 2022.
Time flies when you are properly attended to. We left Amanze Amurie back to our Nica Retreat hotel in Owerri at about 11pm. This was when I got a hint of the seriousness of the security situation. The distance back to Owerri is about 37km and with the good road and street lights it should take about 40mins to cover. We met only three security check points. These check points are not manned like your regular check points especially in my own part of the country where you can see the security personnel and they too will see you.
The personel here did not smile nor were they eager to speak a word until they were sure perhaps of one’s mission and innocence moving by that time of the night. They were stern looking and fearsomely arrayed. They dressed in disguises and scanty security fatigues. Our driver was a military contractor who stays with soldiers in the barracks and knows his way around the city and the mannerisms of security agents which made things easier for us. At the second checkpoint we were ordered to disembark from the vehicle and under full inner car lights, street lights and touch lights. I had to introduce myself as a priest coming from a funeral to be able to convince them finally to let us pass. At the last check point before we entered Owerri municipal we had to park far away about a 200m before approaching on foot for checks. You can’t even see the security personnel until you are close enough and they have seen you are harmless.
To be honest I was dead scared throughout the short commute back to Owerri city because one could not be sure if one was dealing with actual security agents or insecurity agents. But truly when I got over my fears, I was impressed with the security arrangements. They didn’t wear regular uniforms nor do they appear friendly. If you have read the attacks on Senator Ifeanyi Uba and just last week Senator Rochas Okorocha who both escape by their hair’s breath even though police men lost their lives on both incidents then you will understand what I am saying. I don’t blame the police men at these check points because their life was also at stake.
One key aspect of my good impression is that both vigilante and conventional security agents manned the same check points. Their guns were all AK-47 for both the police and the vigilante. They were all mixed together and very professional. I suspect that this is so because they need local intelligence but also, more hands to secure themselves and their bit. This for me fills up gaps that usually come up in our security arrangements.
4. Central Nigeria Must Rise Above Lament And Do More
These analogies are not to entertain but to underscore my understanding that the minority tribes that are native to central and northern Nigeria especially those who are not Fulani or Muslims, must rise up for themselves against the obvious annihilation that breathes down their necks everyday. This is because everyone including those that call themselves our leaders both political and religious and even traditional are pretending with sugar coated tongues in pharisaic hypocrisy and irresponsible blame games that the terrorists and genocidal activities of Fulanis are mere clashes between us and Fulani herdsmen. I don’t think it is charitable to even qualify the Fulanis who play this atrocious game as herdsmen. Our people have every reason to conclude and believe that the herder Fulanis and the office Fulanis are in perfect cahoots. Indeed no less an important military General of the highest and finest experiences in the person of General TY Danjuma has said this. “They collude” he had exploded against the military back then in his frustrations when they killed our people in Taraba, Kaduna, Benue and Plateau.
I am afraid that after the last general election in Nassarawa state where Fulani collaborators lost, the system in Kaduna and elsewhere whereby predominantly Christian settlements are terrorized to submit to the whims of their oppressors will be employed against them. I pray it doesn’t come to that because these lands are inhabited by northern minority tribes who are mostly christians. From Agatu another terrorized hotspot, crossing the new and fanciful Loko-Oweto bridge over the Benue river to Keffi doesn’t give confidence in terms of security. The slight occasion by the last general election that these merchants might feel makes me suspect that they might want those christian communities to pay a price because that is where we are. God forbid!!
But we have all know that our own insecurity is fueled by the insatiable desire to totally overrun any element that does not resemble their designs; both tribal and religious. I say this with all sense of responsibility because it is what is happening in our lands. Nobody can explain the lack of interest to quell the persistent violence or even the outright support both tacit and overt that the terrorists enjoy from official quarters. My people have evidence of helicopter deliveries of resources and supplies to communities associated with the terrorists. Indeed their endless barrage of fire on our communities and people days it all. Even the official security agents envy their supplies. It is God that is keeping us.
Again I reiterate with the Israeli army Col that “to survive you have to fight”. Usually Govt and it’s security agents will threaten those who say the truth of how things stand. But if we interrogate their role in all of these, it is a story full of mixed feelings. This old Latin saying remains very true for us: “who will watch over the custodians of the law?”. If our people can secure themselves with almost nothing then security agents and Govt can tackle these atrocities in a matter of hours. Late General Sani Abacha say what you may about his corruption, is sorely missed because he epitomizes an authority that has the will and temperament to rule a diverse country like Nigeria. He was corrupt but he kept us safe. All these ones are more corrupt, opportunistic failures who use religion and tribalism or if you like divide and rule to manipulate us. You steal my future and take my life. How does that make you happy?
