Isha Allah

Isha Allah, Apo Six Will Not Die in Vain

Ndubụeze Godson III

“Sympathisers and relatives of the deceased victims of the Abuja Killings yesterday wept freely as the Justice Olasumbo Goodluck Judicial Commission of Inquiry heard the account of an eye witness, Idirisu Umaru, who said Deputy Commis-sioner of Police Danjuma Ibrahim did not only order the execution of the victims but personally strangled Augustina Arebun, the only female among the deceased victims.

Umaru, an Assistant Super-intendent of Police and a Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) at the Garki Police Division said Danjuma seized the neck of the lady and twisted it fiercely when the Ambush Squad detailed to eliminate the last two victims returned to Garki Police station with the lady and reported that the male victim who ought to have been executed had escaped. He gave a detailed account of his experiences at the police station that night and said that although he did not take part in the killings he witnessed everything that happened at the station in his capacity as second in command to the then Divisional Police Officer, Abdulsallam Othman now at large...” -
From Onwuka Nzeshi in Abuja, Thursday, July 28, 2005.

A lapse in judgment could be ascribed to Chief Mathew Olusegun Obasanjo for his failure when he took office to dissolve that good-for-nothing killing squad, AKA, Nigeria Police Force (Service?) that has for all measured purpose been infiltrated by men of underworld since the colonial lords disengaged. This particular organ of their malfunctioning government has been responsible for a substantial amount of robberies, murders and other human rights abuses as such a more drastic solution is called for to ruthlessly deal with a recurring hazard. A very grave mistake it was to not have disbanded it. What real good are they anyway? Wake up in their drunken stupor, put on some dirty unfit black outfit, rob or kill a couple of citizens, walla you have a police? Moving right along, to have also retained the military was even a more inexcusable mistake. A lazy and lousy military at that! Is there not a European nation without a military and still exists? Iceland? Exactly!

Nigeria as far as this writer is responsible does not need an army what she rather needs is a well trained civil defense unit that will encompass both community policing and border watch. A path with the United Nation will secure the necessary safeguard in case of any eventuality. I will broker no delay to ask the violent supporters of the military to tell us how many external wars Nigeria have undertaken? While you brood over that, the mother of all goofs will be revealed, the encapsulation of Obasanjo by apologists who favored Abacha at the time he was tucked under somewhere not so comfy. His inherited hatchet men are recklessly leading him to a path of no return, to self destruct by throwing reason to the dogs with their dishonest cheer. How could a man who was not only on the brink of collapse few years ago, but did crumble allow himself to be easily maneuvered by people whose affection he ought to take with a grain of salt? I bet no hard lesson was learnt from that nerve wrecking experience? Lest you forget we are talking of those who employed all sorts of trickery to see the tyrant, Abacha transmute from khaki to a civilian despot are his newfound “butter and bread” friends? Did he ever pause to wonder where they were when their friendships were needed the most during his languishing days in Abacha’s gulag? Ah ha! To unlock the intrigues behind the elusiveness of common sense in most Nigerian adventures would require one with out of this world brains.

Here is a no brainer, the disunity amongst Nigerians, which has always been forgone thing. It anchors on the poor leadership qualities of those at the top, difference this time being the brazen display as testified by the upper excerpt. The credit for this new open show of hate towards a particular people this time around definitely belongs at the desk of the president of that country, Field Marshall Olsegun Obasanjo who has up till now remained aloof by not bringing this military cum police and recently naval menace under appreciable handle. Before any gets carried away, remember where the buck should terminate. Good! It is not translating for me, people. This trend to whack the Igbo out of existence without any consequence of sort has gone on for too long and is now bellowing for a U.N., U.S. strike. The radiating bad vibes around this president towards the Eastern Regioners with each emotional and physical infliction reduces his stature to a mere area-boy level. The, “care I don’t” attitude of this man to issues that call for urgent national attention should prompt every active mind to be stunned as to why things that should lean on sound governance are abandoned in pursuit of shadowy non-existent gladiators.

Is there any still without a hint that good governance is a virtue that if practiced well should trickle down to all giving a better example that hopefully would be copied by the next president who might also be tempted to follow the bad illustration of today to continue the ethnic cleansing of a tribe of his choosing? It is even more senseless to assume that the next president would develop a soft spot for this man and his folks thereby making it the more urgent for every democratic mind to join forces to repel this assault on fellow citizens or I repeat let us peacefully go our separate ways. Do not feel detached yet for it could be you next. In the not so distant years past at the peak of his money laundering and counterfeiting days as the ADC to Buhari, the now embattled emir of Gwandu, Mustapha Haruna Jokolo felt untouchable, but today he is almost like a common criminal cooling off somewhere unglamorous. That is history for you and Isha Allah, I will be here to say to the unbelievers in my gospel; I told you so! Now hear this, the time is ripe for us to apply hard nose pressure to see the right thing happen, do not wait for 2007 by that time it would be too, no, three late. You betcha!

Should this government’s carefree attitude towards the experiences of innocent citizens in the hands of vagabonds in black uniform called police continue unabated, the only respite will be for the predicted breakability of Nigeria in fifteen years by the United States National Intelligence Council to come rather soonest, what is the delay for? Before you go about proclaiming your undying love for your country, you should review the quoted excerpt about the killing of five innocent Igbo traders and a female in Apo area of Abuja to see if that is indeed your idea of democratic “One Nigeria.” Is that article supposed to make my day; make me happier for knowing that my brothers and sister were cut down in broad daylight by a gworo chewing thug in uniform? Instances as revealed by this extract abound in Nigeria and at no time will a dint of protest be heard by writers from other ethnic groups, we are always left alone in the cold to nurse our wounds yet we do not reserve the right to even complain without being called names? To them, democracy thrives as long as injustice does knock on their doors. Their idea of democracy in that fictitious nation of theirs is the constant mauling of the Igbo. To which I say, democracy my butt! The bunch of Igbo efulefus and other Nigerians may be fooled not this writer for I know a lemon when I see one and Nigeria no doubt is the unripe rotten kind.

It gives me no pleasure, no fun in knowing that there are folks out there who are eminently qualified to see the light, but for their native dislike for a particular tribe, they in fact sanction these aberrant behaviors. Sometimes when it looks as if there is no remedy, instead of feeling depressed I jump on my keyboard to let the chips fall where it finds itself. Ever since I accidentally dabbled in this time eating vocation, writing, I have cautioned for people to not let tribal divide obscure their sense of right and wrong (fairness). Every decent freedom loving fellow is hence looked upon to be pained by this inexplicable nonsense that goes on in Nigeria day in, day out without any end in the horizon. Assuming what streams in that person’s arteries can still be called blood. My feelings towards the treatment of the Igbo in Nigeria aside, the sight of emaciated children, women, men, the old and young who are “bathing in flies” (as my friend Sabella puts it) as a result of famine and are emphatically starving to death in the Republic of Niger moistened my eyes because inside this being beats a real human heart. What is happening in Niger have no place in a world where the so-called wealthy spend their stolen money on such meaningless things as customized dog house and other trifle stuffs. No one deserves to live like what I saw happening to Nigeriens on TV. Absolutely none! I particularly feel that it is possible to attain a hunger-free-state if a good number of the so-called educated men and women would let go of their selfish cupidity and stick together to condemn or protest any and every anti-people governments in Africa. It should not be about religion and I hope our northern neighbors whose majority practice Islam take note of this and not allow their religious practice to obscure the goodness in them. Here lies the majority of my beef with them, religion.

The likes of the opening extract are what in most instances reinforces my potency to crush people who blatantly sides with sheer insanity just to be associated with the boys in khaki/agbada. Indeed it is a sad shame that in the new millennium there are no shortages of willing supporters of tyranny, a somewhat embarrassing discovery. Anything that is capable of abridging their illegal activities they nervously react to it thereby giving impetus to semi-illiterate military or civilian ‘leaders’ to stay tight. Your failure to castigate the barbaric behavior of this DPO, Abdulsallam Othman, passively supports his madness that was pre-contrived and hardly seen as an aberration. It only made the news because he was caught then allowed to flee other than that it happens daily in that country during the wee hours of the night. The only strange thing this time was it happened in broad daylight in plain view for all to see. I cannot for the life of me imagine that these guys have become that audacious all due to Obasanjo allowing it to happen. Common, we are talking about stuff that never happened even during the most brutal military dictatorship yet is happening right now in a supposedly civil rule, makes my tummy tweak. After many weeks have passed I am yet to read any condemning articles by non-Igbo speaking folks. After all, how could murder of innocent citizens be a big deal when they are busy yapping about their imaginary agric shrewdness and other BS?

In spite of this however, I will against all odds show nobility in honoring my pledge to correct the wrong impression my last piece conveyed. The provocative extract up here which affected my mindset aside, I will be the man to acknowledge my error in that essay; “Not a chance, Professor S. Mustafa’s article can’t be true!” Certain stuff in it ought to have been skipped, the emotional response it drew slightly affected me. While the ones (two) that rubbed me the wrong way were quickly run over, trust. My regrets in that piece originate from the use of an article that might have offended the sensibilities of some decent people. Having stated that, there is no doubt what I did do given such opportunity again; the substance of that piece less the reference to that article would be repeated. I now realized how unfair that particular reference was to the reasonable folks from that part of the country. The private notes I received helped me to reevaluate the situation. No doubt I can be better but incidents such as snuffing the life out of an innocent young Igbo gal do not allow me that luxury in most cases.

Not even King Solomon lay claim to wisdom so who the hell am mine to be held to a higher pedestal? Some of our northern neighbors who bear offensive persona towards my people have to also help out by checking their daily provocations towards the entire south in general terms and Igbo/Biafra particularly. Seriously! Let’s use our knowledge to correct those things that are anti-people in the hopes that someday, someone (a real leader) might listen and do the right thing. Joke apart, what manner of people would on a continuous basis embark on the total destruction and killings of their fellow citizens who happened to be from the southern angle without letting? There has been times when these heinous killings were carried out against innocent folks by elements from the north who see themselves as above the law on the very lame excuse that the U.S. bombed the you know what outta Afghanistan not minding it was Afghanistan that sent such bombardment invite in the first place. If the official slogan of the state of Texas is; “Don’t Mess with Texas,” should not common sense tell us what preferable slogan the U.S. government would want, like, “Bring It On!? Afghanistan brought whatever onto themselves and the last time I checked the Igbo are nowhere near them, we have no relationship with them so what is the rationale to have killed hundreds of my people then? I am even more troubled by the carefree behavior of those who bother us with their bloated prefixes who never rise to the call to strongly condemn these atrocious acts yet they want to be respected? Someone please tell them to quit kidding already!

People have used words that are nowhere near my lexicon to qualify me at times, this I take as part of the hazards associated with public writing. Next sentence may sound like a broken record still it will be said; I DO NOT HATE MY NORTHERN NEIGHBORS I DO HOWEVER DISLIKE THEIR STYLE OF UNFAIR GOVERNANCE. Simple! Still confused? I said the capacity to hate does not exist in this writer; I do however speak out strongly against combined class of dangerous administration and people that create the type of situation we have in Niger Republic today. To further clear this misconception the readers should know this, in my hometown there is this northern chap, Abdulaihi or some like who has been happily residing there for more than ten years and now go by an Igbo name, Okechukwu/Okey. Please hold your applause this hospitable act is not unique to my hometown, it is repeated in every other Igbo hamlet so no big thing here. Still that point has to be made. Okey/Abdulaihi has acclimatized to the local ambience so much that should his folks come searching for him under his Arabic name, they might go empty handed since no one knows him by any other name around town anymore. This affable fella happens to be a part time Maiguard to one of the “boys” in town; also, he makes and sells Suya on the side. I guess it was the fondness of one of my uncles towards him that propelled me to bring a little some, some during one of my visits for him. A free Suya was not on my mind nor was it done out of fear of him, it was strictly in my character as one who feels other peoples’ pains. Therefore, no amount of hate towards me or my folks would change my benevolent side. I suppose this neutralizes those northern chaps who tell us about their close relationships with Igbo fellas.

For me to constantly remind grown folks where their pains emanate is more of a nag than anything else. Much as I have since come to the realization that to convince Nigerians to see who their real enemies are is like standing in line on Eleke Crescent to secure a U.S. visa or applying for a job at Shell BP, both are laborious, I will nevertheless continue to. The affected individuals have no clue that dishonest and greedy murdering military and civilian politicians are their problem not those who write about it. Whenever I see strangers react violently for no reason to honest review of things that happens in Nigeria, I get tickled when I am in good mood, other times, anger rides high. Unless people begin to freely call the shots as it occurs without extenuating the circumstance, that country will continue its freewheel malfunction into abyss. What gives for any to defend the most disengaged administration ever by letting tribal based sentiments overtake his/her sense of objectivity? It is of importance for me to remind those people who lob monkey wrench at those obviously not satisfied with how an otherwise great country was ruined, that if it is okeydoke to jump in defense of poor performance of someone solely on tribal relationship, they would have no moral grounds to point out an erring future leader who hails from another area, the right to denounce is forever lost. So I say to those who back people simply on geography, a big shame on you.

It cannot be tea for gander and garri for the goose. What is being said and has been said is not that awkward to figure especially if one is able to spell his/her name. Exception to this being one held hostage by wicked bias, which would make it cumbersome to know right from wrong. The common inference associated with my drive is the almighty corrupting governments in Nigeria. Good government is all every sincere writer cares for and as for me, it makes no difference who is at the helm as long as strong democratic paradigm is imbued so let those with one foot here and the other there who are clamoring for Igbo presidency know where this fella stands. Because last I checked, no Hausa or Yoruba governor is aiding and abating the murdering and arrests of members of a peaceful organ, MASSOB whose crime was following their inherent democratic rights to carryout a peaceful protest with a soccer match in the name of Biafra in Igbo territory of all places. The abuse of their civil rights was done under the auspices of so-called Igbo governors some of whom claimed to be Biafran veterans, something I find too difficult to swallow. Having known this, what difference would an Igbo president who happens to be a raw efulefu do for me and my folks?

An Adamu who happens to be a stark illiterate with good democratic values that will see all things functioning properly in that country would be worshipped by guess who, me. I think. Let no one entertain any doubts whether Nigeria has outlived or rather outgrown its wobbly ‘unity’, it has and as such we must obey the bible for once and heed, to our differential tents O’Nigerians. Our self acclaimed lettered ones are here now reminded that it is on them to let the misinformed appreciate that the aggrieved, oppressed and robbed retains the right to be; disappointed, disenchanted, disenfranchised, upset and yes angry too if he/she chooses which on itself does not mutate to hate. There is no such thing for me as hatred. Others may have their reasons for writing, maybe they are paid, for me; I partake just to reorient the misinformed then move onto other things. Every student of decency should hereon be at the vanguard of proffering ideas that could recoup the sunk elephant of a nation starting by letting our exchanges go unhindered regardless of the extremism at times. And if it takes the Igbo going their separate ways for Nigeria to stand, so damn be it! Isha Allah, that ostrich of a country will surely buckle in no time.

A little digression here please, knowledge it has been said without the direction of wisdom is like a hand grenade in the hands of a brat. There is this young man majority of whose opinion I sometimes appreciate, but on occasion he does get off handle to drop silly stuff about Biafra. My happiness though is that some brothers who read that piece have done the honors to reprimand the fellow and I think he got the message too. To him and others who rattle some juvenile noise about Biafra, I ask, if Biafra to you is a dream and unattainable why don’t you let us dream on? What is the supporting excuse to gun down dreamers as Nigerian government does? If this truth must be told again and again yet again, you know Biafra is not something to be sniffed at. Biafrans in Biafra are the key ingredients and engine that could take a rather worthless country you have at the moment to greater heights that is, if those “One Nigerianists” have enough shrewdness to see beyond their immediate surroundings. If for countless number of years Nigeria refused to move beyond the teething stage, why not try something different, like scattering? Call yours Arewa, Odua, Biafra (for me), and any other name for other groups just do something or shut up and continue to live in that Kangaroo Republic. Duh!

Now, while I ponder on the anticipated shortcomings of this essay, you will be allowed to tinker with this in the hopes that you will sleep well tonight and always; “Umaru, an Assistant Super-intendent of Police and a Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) at the Garki Police Division said Danjuma seized the neck of the lady [Augustina Arebun] and twisted it fiercely…”