Canticles…

 

Oh My God, there were two bomb blasts in Jos last Tuesday, and the casualty figure is rising.  How long will this plague last?

 

There is no guaranty that more will not happen, perhaps in unlikely zones.

 

God forbid! I reject it IJN.

 

Awwww, it is not by lip-deep proclamation of rejecting it. You have to do far more than the social cliché of “I reject it IJN”. All the calamities that have been befalling us, were they happening because we didn’t reject them enough? We are talking of critical and strategic governance , not mere religious shibboleth.

 

So in practical terms what is there to be done that is not being done now, as away of curbing this orgy of killings tearing though the country?

 

I used the word “strategic governance”. That is what is needed, not merely parroting tired and vexatious clichés like: we are on top of it…, we willget to the root of it…, we will leave no stone unturned…”, we will bring perpetrators to book… and all such propaganda warts; whereas nothing gets done or so it seems.

 

Even you, you are sounding adumbrated. Be specific. What does this your “strategic governance” mean? Say it! Don’t just join the crowd to criticise whereas you have no workable solution. The Military have been deployed. Foreign forces are working. Surveillance planes are flying. Intelligence is being gathered. Prayers are being said by men and women of ecclesiastical anointing. International security summits are being held etc. So what is the so-called ‘‘strategic governance’’ you are professing like a creed?

 

You don’t understand. You have to apply the science of governance to curb some of these attacks.

 

What does that mean?

 

At a time like this, all must be grist in a leader’s mill. No option or measure can be discountenanced. Natural and supernatural measures must be applied.

 

But that is being done. Why has it not worked? The almighty Americans have been on ground for two weeks now, the international army have joined forces and strategies, the clergy and even the laity are bombarding the heavens with thuds of prayers. If the devices of men will not help unravel this mystery and end our collective misery, why has the Almighty God not listened to the battle cry of the saints and even sinners? Is He no more the merciful Omnipotent God? Afterall, the Chibok captives are innocent little girls.

 

You do not understand that God is a patient Being. Don’t you know that God is being patient with the Boko Haram killers, perchance they will repent and come back to Him as penitent and contrite servants?

 

F-o-u-l! Not these ones that are blood thirsty and whose souls have been sold to the devil. Why would God continue to grant them the lease of His gracious patience while they are killing and maimingthousands, every other day? Is God that gospelled to the Boko Haram killers at the expense of His loyal servants? Why won’t God release fire and brimstone to consume them and stop them on their evil tracks? Why would God keep allowing these evil messengers to be delivering death indiscriminately to innocent people?

 

Our ways are not His ways. I can assure you that the resolution of all these issues will work out for a better Nigeria ultimately. Trust me.

 

You have come with your blind optimism. Look, this scourge, when resolved, if it ever will, will reconstruct the Nigerian nation. Many things will change. The assumptions we have always had will be re-examined.

 

Look, you are not saying anything new. The ongoing National Conference is awash with such sentiment. But if you think that the so-called national reconstruction will mean that Nigeria will disintegrate, you are better perish the thought. Nigeria will not break up. Trust me. We ain’t about going our various ways. What Luggard had bound together, let no man put asunder.

 

You mean you do not understand all these violence to have political undertone? You cannot see it? It is not mere wish of saying the country will remain united. The question is at what cost? You cannot tell that the terrorists are being powered by political considerations?  If you do not know this, then you do not know anything.

 

Hmmmm, I am not often comfortable with those who input political motive to any and every thing that happens to us. I do not get it. Are you implying that the members of the Boko Haram are members of a political party or members of a political movement or ideology? Pray, areBoko Haram members supporters of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or All ProgressivesCongress (APC)? Which party doBoko Haram membersbelong?

 

And pray, has their political affiliation guided their killing pattern? In other words, have they been killing only APC supporters or PDP supporters? Which one?

 

You are asking questions that betray your naivety. You mean you do not know all of these attacks will cease after the 2015 elections, when the battle would have been fought, lost and won? The truth is that no matter how it goes, Nigeria will be far more endangered by the outcome of this Boko Haram offensives, because the unspoken verbiage is that only a section of Nigeria is supposed to perpetually rule. And that all else who dare to aim at the throne, do so in trust for the ‘bonafide’ owners of the political throne of the country. It happened in 1993, when somebody who is not from that section of the country won the presidential election of that year, the election was not only annulled, the country was thrown into a deep and prolonged political turmoil, from which we have not fully recovered. It happened again in 2011, when somebody from outside the “anointed race” won the election, the north was aflame in protest so much that innocent NYSC members were slaughtered in Bauchi and many other places. That was the beginning of all these unrest of today.

 

It is such mindset that is likely to define the  pre and post-2015 sentiments in the country. And I can tell you it will be dangerous for a cohesive Nigeria.

 

Hmmm, I can see you are manipulating the facts of history. You forget that in 1999, a man outside the so-called “anointed race” won the presidential election. And not only did he rule for eight full uninterrupted years, he actually wanted more, but for constitutional bar. So what are you talking about? Are these not facts of contemporary history?

 

Well, all I know is that except God intervenes and saves us from this coming implosion, Nigeria will be in for another trying moment.

 

Deus avertat!  Our good Lord who  saved Nigeria from the shattering effect of the  civil war and the  divisive drag of June 12 will surely save us from the Boko Haram plague and the 2015 anxieties.

 

Let me just say Amen!