JOS MASSACRE: ARE WE A NATION AT WAR?

 JOS MASSACRE: ARE WE A NATION AT WAR?

Even a Nation at war does not experience the kind of massive killings that characterise different parts of our country in past and recent times. The Jos massacre, typify a nation at war.

 Human lives have been reduced to nothingness. There is no sanctity, no substance, no seriousness, attached to human lives anymore. Now, cows are considered more important than humans. They have a place and more places are being advocated for them in the present Nigeria.  What a time to become and live as a cow in Nigeria.

Back to the Jos massacre. We were told that over 35 persons were killed. Many houses were burnt. Several other properties were destroyed. A lot of residents of the area were wounded. Many were left in disabled forms; the type that would make them become incapacitated for life. 

Who were the killers and destroyers? Where did they come from? Where did they return to after the massacre? How did they escape the security personnel & many checkpoints on our roads? Did they fly? Which air route(s) and where were the boarding and alighting points? The killings, destructions and all havocs which we sum up in a word- 'massacre' all happened last Tuesday, at Yelwan zangam village in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau state, Nigeria.

In that village, there is a head. In that Local Government Area, there is a Chairman. In that state, there is a Governor. In that country, there is a President. He is not only a President but the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the country. Who dares attack a land with a living Commander of an Army and leaves unhurt? A Ghanaian, once said that; "Nigeria, is a country, where anything can happen and nothing will happen." Can we falsify that statement?

Weeks earlier, we were told that about twenty-two Muslim faithful were killed on Rukuba road, in the outskirts of Jos, Plateau state. It has been a season of killings and kidnappings in different parts of our country. What really do the killers and kidnappers want?  There were times, abductees were reportedly, killed even after ransom were paid in millions of naira, by their families.

What wrong did we do? Where did we go wrong? To make matters worse, the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces keeps mum. A few times, his media aides release lean statements that neither condemns the killings nor console those left behind to mourn the losses of their loved ones.

The presidency seems to be preoccupied with going after those who criticise the President or speak ill about policies and programme that does not impact any good on the life of the common man. This is a democracy. Even the best leaders of countries in liberalised parts of the world are criticised. Need one think more or less than the poorly performed ones with unpopular policies and programme that count for nothing other than nepotism and undue favouritism to a certain section of the country?

Let it be told to us that this country belong to no one man but all. 

We are not a nation at war. Let there be an end to the killings in Nigeria.