By Mai-Nasara Muawiya Uzair
According to Lin Yutang, “Once Confucius was walking on the mountains and he came across a woman weeping by a grave.
He asked the woman what her sorrow was. And she replied, we are a family of hunters. My father was eaten by a tiger. My husband was bitten by a tiger and died. And now my only son! Why don’t you move down and live in the valley? Why do you continue to live up here? asked Confucius. And the woman replied, but sir, there are no tax collectors here! Confucius added to his disciples, you see, a bad government is more to be feared than tigers.”
For any sensible compatriot and patriotic northerner who craves for the betterment of North and Northerners, the North is in a dire and perplexing scenario.
Truth be told, Northern region is the heart of the country. Regardless of where and to whom it goes, we were blessed with everything that should make life easy.
But because of mismanagement and lack of sympathy on the part of our leaders, things have been extremely going weird and odd. Our leaders hide in the veil of the so-called forum Northern Elders Forum and keep constituting nuisance and defending whatever fits their own personal gain and that of their families. We were taken for granted.
They shout and fill all the streets of social media platforms with fabricated stories that often deceive and win the hearts of the commoners, who might give a credit to their brouhaha. Very many of them, have no fear of God at heart. These elite and technocrats are working for their landlords at the top echelon of the government.
The annoying part of all these is that most of these problems only take place in the North East and the North West, the two geopolitical zones synonymous with abject poverty.
Whenever I’m perplexed and overcome by emotion, I usually ask myself why all these mundane don’t happen to our fellow compatriots on the other side.
Why is this happening, despite the fact that the percentage of all the top security personnel; Police, Army, Navy and Air-force, was in our favour? God knows, I am satisfied with some efforts to make this region safe to live. I am also aware of some bad elements among top Government officials that continue to hinder these efforts. Had it been things are well managed, all the bloodshed of innocent souls won’t come to characterize the North and Northerners.
All the esteemed and venerated ministries like Education, Communication, Finance, Aviation, Justice, Defence and National Budget and Planning, among others, were held by Northerners, but nothing big or tangible has been realized under their watches.
From 2015 to date, many soul-touching incidents and narratives have happened. Sadly, Government doesn’t show care and concerns one bit. There were no attempts to address, let alone quell or nip things in the bud to avoid recurrence. Is it because, our live do not matters in anyway? I have realised that no one is here to stay forever.
Both the lives of the government officials and that of a common citizen are by no means secure. People are frightened by bandits, kidnappers and Boko Haram militants. This is in addition to other infrastructural decay and means of livelihood. There is no any state or village that is safe in the North.
Government has abandoned us to our own devices. Our enemies are now maiming and killing us mercilessly in a geometric progression and setting ablaze our brothers and sisters’ whopping resources in their states. Nothing like relief-fund is given to the victims. The culprits are yet to face the wrath of law.
It’s no secret that some of them were caught smuggling our young kids to their areas to christianise and switch off their names from Aisha to Osynachi, Ahmad to Chidera, among other atrocities.
Unfortunately, these sorts of ragamuffin bizarre habits happen quite too often. Their people live in our areas with big shopping malls and stores enjoying their businesses in our region, particularly, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto. Their shops were there in plethora in our markets. No one ever harass them for being at loggerheads with the natives. We always forgive and forget our disagreements not because we are afraid of them, but because we subscribe to the dictum of patience, tolerance and peace-loving.
It has been a while and the government is still taciturn as if nothing happens. It increasingly looks like the decision now lies in our hands. If the government does not take a serious action over their heinous crimes, we, the commoners would. Enough is enough.
Their mischievous acts should never go unaccounted. They must be held responsible for the departing souls of late and great personality Major General Alkali, who was killed and dumped into water in Jos, Plateau on 3, Sept, 2018, as well as that of Ahmad Gulak, who was killed in Imo state recently. Their killings are worth investigating.
Had these deceased souls come from other regions, the culprits would have been fished out and prosecuted. We are neither preaching for violence nor hostility towards anyone. Rather, we are advocating for a balance of fairness and Justice to everyone, regardless of the region one belongs to.
May peace reign in the North, amin. May those behind our killings be exposed, amin.
Email: newmainasara016@gmail.com
6.6.2021
