ONE minute of national silence, ordained by the Federal Government, at an agreed time, would have been the best response to Tuesday’s attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna. The sobriety would have been an admission that something died. A conclusion about what died could wait.
Responses from all shades of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Nigeria failed to appreciate the enormity of what happened or its nothingness.
Expectedly, Buhari’s followers, the patriots, those who hail the past as too decadent that anything, yes, anything Buhari does is bold relief, would find every conceivable reason to shield Buhari from his failings most prominently manifested in the daily, wanton killing of Nigerians.
Why would the attack on NDA be a surprise? Should our surprises about the military not have ended on 19 July 2021 when bandits shot down a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet? The military gleefully announced the downing of its fighter jet as if it had won the war against terrorists that bestride the land lugging sophisticated weapons deployed to banditry and war against Nigeria.
The surprise about the NDA attack is that Nigerians expected the laxity in protecting Nigerians to escape NDA because it is a military institution. NDA is Nigerian indeed, and indeed.
Did NDA rustle the bandits’ cattle? Nobody has given that explanation for the attack. We have been lectured endlessly that bandits value their cattle so much that they can sink Nigeria over a missing cattle.
Silence would have been a better option than statements that further demystify our military. An unrepaired fence, guards who could have slept off, and failed closed circuit television cameras have been blamed and absolved for the slap on Nigeria. You would think the discussion was about an Abuja fire incident at Ebeano Supermarket.
The attack was on Nigeria, not NDA, not the military as some imply in minimising the mess. The empty anger in “one attack too man” is evident. The matter is concluded.
Do not expect the military to invade the forest in pursuit of the attackers. Imitable Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, informed us when bandits kidnapped over 200 students in Niger State that Nigeria would violate international environmental laws if it marched on its forests chasing bandits. The law will not be broken for NDA.
A government that knows too much for its own good uses every opportunity to blame everyone, except itself, for its glaring failings. The opposition, the media, ordinary Nigerians, who are supposedly so jealous of Buhari’s achievements that they deny them, are responsible for the attack on NDA.
If killings in Plateau, more killings and illegal detentions in South East, Fulani herdsmen invasions of South West, South-South, Benue, kidnapping of students in the North West, war in the North East, are minor issues in the National Assembly, why would one expect the National Assembly to abbreviate its recess because of NDA?
Even if the matter were raised, supporters of Buhari would vote it down. Most members of the National Assembly see their mandate as protecting Buhari not the safety of Nigerians.
Who would, in the week the President is relishing the successful wedding of his son, raise weak issues like safety of Nigerians, a matter that is being quickly fixed by selective harassment of the media?
Doctors are still on strike. Buhari know they are not cattle. Teachers can strike all they like. They are not worth a ranch.
Six years of Nigeria under Buhari has been about cattle, ranching, and easily explained deaths of Nigerians who refuse handing over their lands to Fulani herdsmen. The President acts above the law where cattle is involved.
He spends money on ranching as if Nigeria’s survival depends on it. Who are the owners of the cattle the Federal Government enthusiastically funds? Why should the Land Use Act be upturned to grab 256 locations for ranches, not for schools, or hospitals or housing for the poor?
Something new died on Tuesday 24 August 2021. It is a death so meaningless because no cattle was involved, no herdsmen were attacked and the location was not earmarked for ranching. Like other deaths of Nigeria by installments, it would soon be forgotten.
FINALLY…
THOSE who have refused to congratulate the President on his son’s wedding have taken their uncultured manners to new heights. They calculated the cost of the gifts, multiplied it by 700 guests and concluded that the wedding cost the national treasury billions of Naira. Just a warning to the low-quality rumour mongers, the President is a man of means. How dare you draw parallels with Obi Cubana?
EFCC operatives broke into the apartment of 2020 BBNaija star Dorothy Bachor in error. No apologies, no remorse, no offers to pay damages for the spoilt door. They justified their action with claims of arresting nine suspects in the block that housed her apartment. Just remember that they acted with “credible intelligence”.
SIRIKA Hadi, Minister of Aviation, has revealed that Nigeria will produce aircraft before Buhari leaves office. Is he saying Buhari won’t leave in 2023? I heard it takes more than two years to have an airplane production facility running.
.Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues
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