By Abiodun Komolafe
Temitope Oladipo Fayehun must be passing through hard times. A native of Ilesa in Osun State, Fayehun’s ordeal started on March 2, 2021, when he, alongside others in his vehicle, fell into the hands of some Fulani kidnappers along Osogbo-Ibokun-Ilesa Road in the state.
*Leah Sharibu: Famous kidnap victim yet to be rescued
While some of the passengers were killed and had their corpses dumped in the forest, others were immediately hauled into a thick forest. Fayehun fell into the latter group. But then, that marked the beginning of a journey that eventually lasted 16 days in the kidnappers’ den; as expected, under hellish conditions.
Hear Fayehun, in tears: “as part of the torture, the kidnappers
used their boots to stamp on, and mess my eyes up daily. They also sealed them
with plasters. My left wrist was dislocated, with other most inhumane treatment
that had better be left unsaid in the open. After my release, following the
payment of N4 million ransom, I could neither see objects nor do anything
without being aided; and this made my life a living hell. On the almost-severed
wrist, I was advised to go for Plaster of Paris (POP) immobilization, to
re-correct the fractured bone. I have yet to do it.
“I have sold all my property to regain my health, especially my
vision. The last diagnosis suggested that I must do an urgent surgical
operation on my left eye or risk losing my sight forever, which is never an
option. In order to escape this damnation, I need urgent assistance from
public-spirited Nigerians so that I can use my two eyes to see clearly again.
The first surgical operation on the right eye was performed at the Obafemi
Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife in April 2022, at a cost of seven hundred
and twenty thousand naira only (N720,000.00). It remains the left eye. But I am
at my wits end. So, I pray Nigerians would come to my aid.”
Of a fact, Fayehun is not the only one in this unfortunate mess
that has pathetically enveloped Nigeria, our dear Native Land. On Friday,
September 29, 2023, no fewer than 25 choristers of the Christ Apostolic Church,
Oke Igan, Akure, Ondo State, were reportedly attacked and kidnapped in the Ose
Local Government Area of the state. Their abductors placed a N50 million ransom
on them before they could smell freedom. On October 4, 2023, gunmen also
kidnapped Five female students of the Federal University, Dutsinma in Katsina
State.
And the list goes on and on!
Well, like a furious cyclone, insecurity distracts. When a state fails in
manifestation in terms of its stately attributes, insecurity becomes an
addendum. It is like bread and butter: they go hand-in-hand. Take, for
instance, when a thug discovers that he is beyond the reach of the security
agents’ handcuffs, those who may wish to whip him into shape will only be
labouring in vain. When this happens, one major adverse effect is the
initiation of hitherto innocent guys. After all, in a lawless society, being a
law-abiding citizen is a taboo.
With a specific reference to Nigeria, the plight of kidnap victims
is given. Since they are always subjected to powerlessness, and are in powerless
situations, everything terrible is possible, for the victims lack absolute
control. The tragedy of our system is that society is becoming increasingly
callous. Impliedly, our world is in trouble, should we fail to reconnect with
humanity, for no matter how good or fantastic a policy or programme may be, if
humanity is missing, then, we a’int seen nothing yet!
Martin Niemoller’s famous post-war quote, which begins with “First
they came for the socialists and I did not speak out …”aptly captures the complex
nature and the uneven texture of our world. When the central issue of what to
eat has taken over 90% of the society, society won’t have any excuse again.
When everybody wakes up and the normal concern of food for the stomach takes
pre-eminence, it becomes a social problem so serious even for those in
leadership positions to comprehend. But, since they have cold drinks to sip,
they’ll simply go to their refrigerators to satisfy their thirst while the
gathering storm extends its phalanges to other untested areas; and this
continues until there are deliberate government interventions.
An assessment of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will show
clearly that, objectively, Nigerians are not one, because the issue was never
addressed. Unfortunately, we are all gathered from one corner of the country
only to live together without addressing what made us to gather. The image or
focus changed; it’s the ‘Certificate of Clearance’, that ‘you have done your
bit.’ That’s what has represented the entire scheme. Unconfirmed reports even
have it that many corps members get their certificates of participation without
physically partaking of the mandatory programme as required by the Act
establishing NYSC.
Arguably therefore, if a prospective female corps member is going
to sleep with a man to get her that certificate, she will just do it. If her
male counterpart is going to pay, using his ‘chop money’ to get it, he won’t
hesitate to do it.
Many reportedly get their certificates from the Orientation Camps
without getting to their places of primary assignment. In fact, school is the
best: without going to the Orientation Camp, and without knowing anything about
its drills, thrills and frills, one just comes at the end of the service year
to collect one’s certificate and go away. This has been the trend, year in,
year out.
In
the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “peace is not merely a distant goal that
we seek, but a means by which we arrive at the goal.” Regrettably, while the
scheme gulps billions of naira each year, nobody has come open with regard to
the measure of its achievements beyond the usual rhetoric of ‘I served’, ‘you
served’, and ‘we served’; nothing beyond the debatable socialisation and
inter-ethnic marriages.
In other words, what the Scheme has done to genuinely address the
critical issues surrounding our Nigerianness remains to be seen. For God’s
sake, who says Nkechi cannot come from Anambra and meet her destined heartthrob
in Bukkuyum without the infusion of NYSC? Surely certainly, until these issues
are addressed, the good Lord, we pray: ‘save us from a point of no return!’
Niemoller was right: things don’t just happen; they must be
addressed. To simply sit down and begin to think that all things will suddenly
become bright and beautiful can only amount to jokes taken too far. The more
reason Nigerians don’t have strong support for, or belief in government
policies. They don’t have reference points or examples of policies that work to
fall back on.
Many other instances have followed but the results have been similar: creeping
frustration and helplessness. What we are saying is that, with the situation on
ground, security is no longer seen as a responsibility of the government, not
because it is not but because it has not been objectively tackled; and people
are getting used to it. So, once you allow yourself to be kidnapped, you are on
your own. It is as simple as that!
When former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s family was attacked, it
didn’t take much time for Nigeria’s entire security apparatchik to respond with
the fierceness and the swiftness that the situation demanded. But for the
deadly attack on the then Nigeria’s First Daughter’s convoy, nobody would have
known that there was a cross-border robbery kingpin called Hamani Tidjani.
But who will do that on behalf of a poor man? So, every citizen
must come up with his or her own security measures, or anything that works. It is now that bad!
The brightness and the future of communal togetherness expressed
is given meaning and intelligibility that government policies are analysed,
vis-à-vis, the benefits of the people. Since those benefits are meant to
address the plights of the people, when one juxtaposes the benefits with the
policy content, one will know how far the government has gone to provide
governance to the people. Without doubt, the Nigerian evil, where it came from,
was the ignorant elite who foolishly pushed for modern ways of life without the
people’s local, inner and moral strengths. They are the driving force of a
stable society. For instance, once there is instability in communal living, it
spreads like a virus, limited only by the distance covered by the people or the
interactions they have all over the world.
When selfishness begins in a community, it takes over the country
in a jiffy. So, it’s no longer an Ijebuman who lost money. It’s now a general
saying for all the tribes.
*Komolafe wrote from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria. ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment