‘Living in bondage’

These are not the best of times in Nigeria. There was a time in Israel of old, when it was reported that people lived in fear. “In those days, it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil” (2 Chronicles 15:5; New International version).

Events in modern day Nigeria are reminiscent of those that characterised the build up to the conspiracy and eventual tragedy that consumed the Roman king, Julius Caesar as recorded in one of William Shakespeare’s tragic plays, Julius Caesar. The events were so horrible and frightening that Shakespeare noted, “it is either there is civil strife in heaven or the earth, so saucy with the gods, where incenses insurrection.”

Happenings in the country today are clearly euphemism of  the traumatic experiences of Andy Okeke (Kenneth Okonkwo) in the popular Igbo movie, ‘Living in Bondage’, who, despite his ill-gotten wealth, lived in fear and agony as he was haunted and terrorised by his wife’s ghost until he lost everything.

Andy, in the movie produced back in early 90s, was a desperate young man who was misled into using his pretty loving wife, Merit Okeke (Nnenna Nwabueze) for money rituals.

What is happening in Nigeria today can only be likened to an insurrection of both the aggrieved gods and hungry, angry and in some cases, vicious and blood-thirsty youths who have allowed themselves to be used by the devil and invidious power brokers in the country.

As a result, the whole country is living in bondage because everybody is a victim. Everyone’s freedom is chained. As it is today, individuals have no freedom to move; speak, eat when he or she wants to, or do anything on his/her own accord. Indeed, Nigerians are in total bondage because the prowling devils are no respecters of persons or position. Not even those in political power are free.

Just a few days ago, during the Sallah celebration, the level of insecurity in Nigeria was made manifest as security agents were seen guarding the President and governors at their respective praying grounds. While the political leaders and other prominent individuals were bending down to pray, the security personnel were seen turning left and right, perhaps to prevent any eventuality.

This means that we have reached a point in Nigeria where worshipping in the church or mosque has become a mere formality because the worshippers have no faith any longer that their safety and security are guaranteed even in the house of God. But that is what times in the country demands.

Read Also: Kano releases 294 prison inmates in the spirit of Sallah celebration

Despite all the efforts of government and the security agencies; despite countless security meetings at the highest levels of government and despite several operations with intimidating code names mounted and proclaimed by the military apparatchik aimed at arresting the ugly trend, Nigerians are not free from fear.

Many Nigerians have stopped embarking on journeys outside their places of residence by road, except by air. The nation’s highways have become dangerous to travel on as kidnappers, ritual killers, armed robbers and bandits lay ambush for money and body parts. They lie in wait for motorists, snatching their vehicles and herding them into bushes, demanding huge ransom for their freedom.

The mindboggling tales of torture, rape and death by those who had passed through the ‘valley of shadow of death,” make people’s heart quake. And there is no end in sight to such blood chilling tales.

These sad narratives have become everyday affair. The disclosure that those who have no one to redeem them by paying the ransom most times end up being killed by their abductors has increased the apprehension level  in society. And to think that this is happening in a country where poverty has built it headquarters makes the whole scenario scary.

A newspaper columnist last week noted that “Nobody is immune to this madness. The rich are not safe; the poor are in panic. Security agencies seem to be helpless, but I won’t join the thinking in some circles that they are part of this game of death. No. They may not seem to be doing enough, but the conspiracy theory, plausible as it may seem, isn’t that straightforward.”

The story of a woman trending on the social media, how she, her husband and their nine-year old daughter suffered in the hands of kidnappers, makes the heart of every reader to bleed. The family has since returned to their base abroad, but the memory of their trauma in their fatherland has not left them. They still live in the bondage of the bestial treatment meted out to them in the kidnappers’ den for six days!

It is said that for every story of escape or personal account of ordeals in the hands of kidnappers or ritualists, there are, perhaps, about nine others that are never told and will never be told, either because the victims decided to suffer in silence or, by default, chose to pay the supreme sacrifice.

Most of Nigeria’s highways have become a hideout for suspected herdsmen, who perpetrate the act of banditry and kidnapping against travellers. Today, travelling to the Eastern part of the country from Lagos through the Benin-Ore Expressway, and to Ibadan or Abuja, have become a voyage of death as bandits and kidnappers have, on regular basis, brutalised and terrorised innocent Nigerians.

Alarmingly, many Nigerians, who are into the business of buying and selling but are based in the Eastern commercial cities, especially Onitsha and Nnewi, are finding it difficult to travel from their base to Lagos to do their businesses due to the horrible state of the roads.

Insecurity in Nigeria has been making life unbearable as farmers in the rural communities find it difficult to go to their farms due to fear of herders’ attack.

In the last two years, many farmers in Enugu and Benue states have lost their lives to herders’ attacks while many villagers have fled their villages and now living in internally displaced persons (IDPs’) camps due to threat to lives and property, thereby hindering the Federal Government’s diversification agenda, which was hinged on promoting growth in agriculture.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was set up with a view to promoting national unity. Today, the aim is almost defeated as many Nigerian parents find it difficult to release their children to go to far away states especially states in the north to do the one-year mandatory national programme.

Today, Nigerians are not even safe while in the “comfort of their homes.” People are being swindled, kidnapped and abused right inside their living apartments. Boarding commercial buses has become a high risk as “one chance” (criminals and armed robbers who operate in commercial vehicles) operators are on the prowl.

In more sane environments, while government is in a social contract with the people, governance is a service owed by the governor to the governed. Government anywhere in the world, especially in a democratic system, is about the people. In Nigeria, it is absolutely not. Government is about self and a privileged few.

An otherwise rich country but made poor by visionless and rudderless leadership, Nigeria seems to be a jungle where only the fittest survives. Executive and leadership arrogance, insensitivity and impunity are such that make an unborn child to revolt in the womb and the dead to tumble in their graves.

A country where citizens die in droves, where hunger has pushed many to the dustbin, where poverty and lack of social safety nets have coaxed and, in most cases, coerced the youth to take up arms, debase their womanhood and take the fall in order to make ends meet, yet government seems unperturbed, is one in dire need of redemption.

Social insecurity is anti-economic growth because it does not support investment that leads to economic growth, job creation and wealth generation for household stability, family bonding and societal cohesion.

It is trite logic when the government says it is attracting foreign direct investment when local investors with all their local knowledge and experience are scared to invest in their own country. It is also hypocritical when government and its agencies say the country is self-sufficient in the production of some agricultural products, especially rice, when hunger and poverty are the main precursors of the social insecurity in the land.

Until the impunity and insensitivity that define government and governance at every level in Nigeria give way to introspection, responsible, caring, responsive and selfless leadership, the country will continue on its long trek out of the present bondage in which the citizens are living.

CHUKA UROKO and AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE