Some treacherous Nigerians continue to plunder our collective peace.

[FMINigeria]

By Abu I. Michael.

There is no doubting the fact that Nigeria is snowed under very serious socio-cultural, economic and political problems. For the faithful Nigerians, may I say, there are no problems that are insurmountable. Please remain good Nigerians and continue to give your honest support to our collective triumph. Unfortunately, there are some amongst us that have decided not to be good Nigerians, and thus would work against our collective interest.

A major concern is the security of lives and property that has been endangered in the country by those who do not believe in one Nigeria. Peace is paramount, hence I do not need to retell how difficult it is for any meaningful advancement to take place in the absence of peace; I think many of the sworn enemies of the country have continued to carryout unwarranted activities to ruin the peace.

I quite appreciate the fact that as Nigerians just like other human beings in the world, we have the right to grieve over matters that have caused us setbacks. We also have the right to express displeasure over for instance, programmes of action and policy statements or pronouncements which we may conceive as un-progressive for our leaders to take cognizance of. But, the way and manner we express this displeasure is the bone of contention. It is fatally wrong for anyone or group of persons to engage in violent demonstration by causing either directly or indirectly injury to or death of others, and or destruction of public or private property.

In recent years, the country has witnessed the rise of rebellious groups who have decided to carry arms to show their grievances over some issues. These illegal armed groups which I believe must formally be outlawed and denied media patronage exist virtually in all the geopolitical zones of our dear country. Perhaps this piece may sound pious; it is deliberate because of our religious inclination. The two dominant religions in the country – Islam and Christianity are religions of light. Any other thing short of the principles of peace and love which they profess is indeed of darkness.

Darkness as we know is the opposite of light. The destruction of innocent lives and property is certainly the arrangements of the power of darkness, the evil one or his agents. Both Islam and Christianity and in fact any other known religion do not preach or promote violence in any form no matter what. For many Nigerians who have died as a result of unwarranted killings, may the Almighty God show them mercies, but for those who illegally carry arms to prosecute their cause and were killed, what fate lies ahead of them?

The two prevailing religions and many others have talked so much about the world beyond, the hereafter, the next world. Therefore, I sincerely believe that there must be an account for every human action. There is no creator or craftsman that would applaud anyone that destroys his works. Human beings are the beautiful and most dignified works of God who is the Almighty Creator. Will God be happy with those who killed people He Himself created for whatever reason? God is the all and most powerful, He can make and mar. He alone has the power to give life, create and to take it. No one has ever been able to prove either by action or by knowledge that God delegated power to anyone to create or take life. Therefore, anyone who does the contrary to the promotion of peaceful life is rebellious and treacherous.

One of the greatest endowments of this country is in her diversity of ethnicity. Since every ethnic group is unique, it is the judgment of common sense that Nigeria is complete in terms of skills and knowledge to aspire to whatever level of political and socio-economic conundrum. We must tolerate one another and every ethnic group must join hands to ensure the realization of the society of our dream. Plato (428/27 – 347 BC), the great Greek philosopher rationalized that every person or ethnic group by extension, is strategically placed for a purpose in the society. He did note that society is made up of various people distributed into classes of leadership or governance, soldiers or security, and artisans or the general workers all for the good of the society. It was high time we accept the fact that every ethnic group in the country needs the support and cooperation of others for our sustainability and advancement. We must together therefore, fight the evil in our midst to free ourselves and indeed Nigeria from political and socio-economic bondage. Two wrongs can never ever make a right; we must pragmatically work and insist that things are done in the right way, but never to support that which is wrong. We must condemn together any form of rebellion which is spiced with bloodletting; I am sure that by now, heaven is full of bitter tears for treacherous Nigerians hence it is never the will of God that souls should perish.

Another issue that befouls our system is the lack of disrespect for leadership. The worst of this comes from notable Nigerians who at one time or the other have been in the helm of affairs at whatever levels of government. These days, decorum is thrown to the winds when it comes to expressing opinion on national issues. Citizens, especially our elder statesmen and senior citizens are no longer cautious. They would abuse and insult the person of the President, Governors, just to mention these and would make utterances that could be seen as incisive. In my own opinion, many such comments give rise and supported the kinds of rebellion that are being experienced in our country today. We must learn to criticize issues within the confines of order, 'fight' and express our dislikes within the rules of decent and civilized people.

Nigerians must be bold to chastise every bad action that would endanger our lives. Many of our elder statesmen and senior citizens are now busy wooing Nigerians as per why they should be supported and be voted into power in 2015. How much of the initiatives have they taken to assist the Federal Government to curb the insecurity problem that is on a daily basis claiming the lives of the Nigerians they want to rule?

The operations of the media are critical to not just socio-economic and political growth but to the sustainability of the country. The media should be bold to expose evils amongst us but not to glorify them. The Press must continuously seek for fairness for all shades of opinions and within the framework of its social responsibility, avoid giving prominence to utterances that are incisive or carry comments that threaten our peace. We do not need to promote the comments of insurgents and rebellious groups or elder statesmen and senior citizens that are working against our national and strategic interest.

The Federal Government in its part, should spur a well package sensitization programmes of changing the mentality of the people of every geopolitical zone against infringing the spirit of patriotism; we should begin to profess Nigeria and Nigeria alone, while the clerics should constantly be reminded and supported in some ways to make their adherents imbibe, not just the spirit of togetherness, but that the killings of fellow Nigerians and any other human being for that matter, would earn one hell and not heaven or paradise. It is obvious that these treacherous Nigerians are prowling agents of darkness whose aim is to destroy innocent and good Nigerians.

Abu I. Michael is of the Federal Information Centre, Lafia.

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