Please it doesn’t matter where you belong in the political divide. Whether you support or oppose government the signs are troubling. The last time we had a civil war the divides were clear. Today the divides are more fluid and present in all regions, communities and homes. Anyone with a voice to lend do so because the path we are towing is destructive.
The clergymen fanning the embers of the crisis, government functionaries beating the drums of war and community leaders adopting Siddon look should all know that when the tsunami comes it will visit every home and like Covid 19 showed us running away to other countries may not be an option. An angry response is the wrong approach. Anger and violence only beget more anger and violence. It’s hard for some of us to rationalize the position of those supporting countermeasures or more brutal action on this crisis. The youth are angry and rightfully so.
At 32 Gowon was Head of State, at 28 Alfred Diette Spiff was Governor, today’s youth still stretch on the sofa in their Father’s houses waiting for mum to provide food at 40. Nothing works for all of us. We who had free education, free health care, and even free food at school have closed all avenue for such to our kids. We who had jobs waiting for us after school have provided joblessness to our youth. In 1960 we were on the same pedestal with the Asian tigers. Today we are miles behind them. How do we expect our youth in this age of information explosion not to know all these? We have failed our youth and the least they expect from us is sympathy, not anger.
Unfortunately, we have dragged our feet for too long and allowed criminals and conflict merchants to infiltrate both the protesters and the government itself. Mr President, you are the father of the Nation, rise to the occasion. You cannot be elected by the people and ignore public opinion. We want changes in the manner we are governed.
The security chiefs, the government operatives and even the rich and powerful have all become insensitive to the plights of the citizens. Time to effect far-reaching changes in your government. Time to effect changes in the way we relate. Time to recover our humanity. Otherwise, the next major conflict we will experience will have no boundaries. It will be region against region, religion against religion, communities against communities and indeed it will enter into our homes and make it persons against a person within the same environment.
At times like this, the voice of reason is seen as an enemy voice, but we must all speak to our condolences. Nigerians seek for your black goat in the day time, once it’s dark you will never find it.
Comrade Ahmed Sajoh
Adamawa former commissioner
of information and strategy
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