This pervasive precarious and monstrous disaster in the eyes and minds of our political leaders is being exaggerated for propaganda sake. That is their thinking in their permanent unthinking state.
The highest that can happen when you lose a loved one is to be buried with him/her in your subconscious mind but never will the bereaved be entombed with the departed. In essence, no matter how severely pained you are about the exit, either timely or untimely, of a friend/relative, after some time, grudgingly or otherwise, it is a given that you will move on.
Apparently, we have moved on after the ill-fated Ethiopian Airline. But it is notoriously difficult for some of us to move on. The more we try to move on the more the “move - on” is rudely interrupted by another disaster or near-disaster experience as if we lived in a world full of disasters. In a way, we are stuck, as it were, on one mental state of intermittent bereavement.
It has been from sad news to sad news. It is alarming lately that between your breakfast and brunch, there will be a kind of discombobulating, melancholic breaking news in Nigeria.
Gone are the days when motorists and travellers - by - roads had only bad roads to contend with. Now they have terrorists to pray against before embarking on that road trip lest they become a commodity in the hands of terrorists.
The days of targeting only the rich for ransom are gone. Anybody and everybody is “kidnappable” in the modern criminal devilish enterprise.
It is the height of breach of good neighbourliness for aliens to kidnap natives for ransom.
This pervasive precarious and monstrous disaster in the eyes and minds of our political leaders is being exaggerated for propaganda sake. That is their thinking in their permanent unthinking state. They are playing ostrich while the people, their own people, are falling prey.
The only thing that matters to them as the events of the past few days have shown, is the enrichment of their political profile and pockets.
Ambition at the expense of the people is the worst form of ambition. I love the man. He is cerebral. But I don’t know what is newsworthy or joyous in his emergence as the Chairman of Governors' Forum when his state and region are under a coordinated ferocious attack.
He should shut my mouth by opening his mouth and cerebral arsenals, if any, to tackle the criminals terrorizing our land nay southwest.
Same goes for the one dreaming speakership. He should deploy his wealth of knowledge and influence to address this issue. There is no need banking on him if he is too subservient and complacent to rock the boat when it matters.
For the first time in a long time, I was glad but I was mentally and emotionally demobilized to express same. While Liverpool in one hand was winning the battle on the pitch, Bokoharam in another hand was dealing with our soldiers in Maiduguri. Mixed feelings!
This was the same ragtag criminals we were told has been decimated. Deception at the individual level is tolerable but when it becomes a craft in the hands of the state agents, it becomes a monumental betrayal of trust.
My kid brother, whose recruitment into the army had my blessing a few years ago, escaped death by whimsical a few weeks ago from the hands of the same Bokoharam. They were ambushed in the bush.
No matter how stone - hearted you are, seeing the pictures of the dismembered bodies of the comrades that lost their lives will not only melt your heart but certainly prevent you from moving on.
Let’s the truth be told in plain English. There is fire on the mountain and we can’t move on like this!
IDOWU AWOPEJU. Esq.
Writes from Lagos.