The other day in an online discussion, someone made a remark of when Nigeria used to know peace. Another person in reply posed a rhetorical question asking if there has ever been peace in Nigeria. It is a difficult and easy question to answer because of the overt and covert nature of instability or say ‘war’.
Presently Nigeria has a situation at hand, a situation that touches all and sundry irrespective of status or geographical location – the issue of banditry as the media as chosen to call it. Kidnappings, indiscriminate killing of people, whether individuals or groups and attack on government institutions.
In his observation, Reno Omokri has come out to warn that banditry which has now become a very lucrative business, with ransoms summing up into billions of naira poses a danger beyond the economic and social problems it brings for the country. He fears that after amercing such wealth, bandits may then go into formal politics in the country.
In his words “With the way and manner bandits are abducting Nigerians and collecting billions of Naira in ransoms EVERY MONTH, by 2023, they will be so rich that they might just contest for President, or sponsor someone, and win by outspending every other Presidential candidate! It has got to the point that ruling party Nigerian Governors are negotiating DIRECTLY with them in the presence of the military.
A similar thing happened with Wadume (Hamisu Bala) the Kidnapper, who sponsored candidates and even contested an election himself. Go and study the history of what they did in the Central African Republic. These guys are not as dumb as we think. They are brutally barbaric. But there is a method to their madness. This is…. not banditry!” Hysterical assumptions some may say, but you never can tell.
It is clear though that since independence in 1960 Nigeria has not been without its own troubles just like other nations around the world; is it in thrilling coups that should make Hollywood blockbuster or in the civil war from 1967 to 1970 and so many other incidents.
The answer remains this; no matter the problems that a nation faces, even if it starts as a domestic family issue, once it begins to threaten the existence of the state, it is the state itself through the government in power which must tackle the situation. This means that the Buhari-led government must find the political and moral will to combat this monster.
