Just few days ago the news went viral and was even tagged as breaking news; that the Nigerian government has obtained clearance to use the much talked about tucano jets against bandits terrorizing Nigerians. How many times will the tucano story break without decimating the heart of banditry? The truth is that a lot of hype – necessary and unnecessary – has surrounded the purchase, entrance and usage of the 12 tucano firghter jets by the Nigerian government.
Sometime around July last year it was widely publicized that 6 out of the 12 tucano jets Nigeria bought from the US had landed in Nigeria, the news was highly celebrated as if the war against banditry had automatically ended with the entrance of the tucano jets on the scene, alas, it wasn’t so. killings across board continued, in fact they strayed into more states in the country.
Can the government, the leadership of the armed forces and other stakeholders honestly say that the inability to completely use the tucano jets against bandits has in any way hampered the war against insecurity? Tucano or no tucano, all that is needed to tackle insecurity in this country is political will by the leaders.
For example, General Burattai the former longest serving chief of army staff in the history of Nigeria who couldn’t bring insurgency to a halt, was highly instrumental through commendable intelligence and diligence in the capturing of Sunday Igboho in Benin republic. What he couldn’t do as the military head in years running, he was able to do in few days as a common diplomat. The power of will!
Also, the government which traced protesting youngstars to their homes in a big Nigeria suddenly cannot capture bandits in their hideouts.
At this junction there is no gainsaying that putting a lot of premium on the use of the tucano jets in the fight against banditry is mere lazy and dull propaganda. It is claimed that the terms of purchase between the US and Nigeria stipulates that the tucano jets will be used against terrorists only and so since the bandits have not hitherto being recognised as terrorists, it meant that they were safe from the wrath of the tucano.
On the issue of propaganda, videos went viral last week and till this moment, of young boys popularly known as “yahoo yahoo” slaughtering girls quite brutally in diabolic fashion. We then ask ourselves the propaganda behind releasing such videos to the public. Was is a message saying that they had become desperate and untouchable? Was it a message to young girls to be careful of the company they keep, especially those with unexplained wealth? One thing to note from those videos is that the trend has been going on for sometime, maybe the boys were just bolstered by circumstances to bring it out in the open.
The irony is that while government dealings when it comes to the welfare of its citizens should be honest barring political interests and affiliations, and murderous acts like that perpetuated by the young boys is nothing to boast about and as such should not be publicized with reckless abandon, the reverse is the case.
The Yahoo menace is almost a perfect reflection of the political conundrum of Nigeria. It started as internet fraud in an age when the internet had not even become widespread as it is today; boys impersonating beautiful girls for example to swindle unsuspecting victims in foreign lands. They also had other template stories of swindling people, like saying they inherited a fortune from a rich relative and will like to share it with people.
Today Yahoo has transformed into different forms, there is even the one called Yahoo Plus which involves metaphysical and diabolic practice as seen in the videos we talked about. It is a dark mine which might be very difficult to completely excavate or destroy, spreading into every nook and cranny of society, no one is left out, in the villages, cities, five and zero star hotels, schools, offices – everywhere. Before now, all that was needed to engage in such fraud is a laptop and maybe a mobile phone, but now it is just a will and access/connection.
As much as we must try to avoid blame games, the monumental increase in Yahoo and other related vices can be attributed to the bad handling of the Nigerian state by the elites. Nigerian youths before now are known to be hardworking, enterprising and creative, but the constant disappointment by rulers have plunged most of the youths into hopelessness so much so that if they cannot run away from the country they resort to dark mean s of survival.
But those who engage in such means must know that there are better ways to succeed in life though it is increasingly difficult, thanks to bad leadership, but there are also many examples of youths who have broken through the obstacles to make it in this same country Nigeria.
Summarily, the will is a powerful force. Whether young or old, in power or not, rich or poor, we must think on those things which are right and direct our will in action towards them for a better society.
