The way it is now in Nigeria, anybody can carry arms and kill anybody he decides, and maybe, nothing will happen. Even if anything happens, it may be one off, not out of systematic process that guarantees that every life mattered.
There is a historical example of what is happening in Nigeria; when Hitler rose to kill the Jews and many said oh, it’s the Jews. They forgot the admonition that what affects one affects the other. One after the other, every ethnic nationality was affected.
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Now, let nobody say, oh, its Plateau State; oh, its Benue State. Even in Benue State, many sections said, oh, it is Tiv area. Now, Oturkpo and all of Idoma are under attack.
The pattern is clear and fearful. They will start with what they call in security as ‘softening’. That is by attacking some spots in a chosen area. The attacks begin to increase in frequency and intensity over time until people begin to feel, well, its just that place. Then, they will do two things at same time; they will invade the old spot for total occupation while starting ‘softening’ at the next location. It goes this way: soften, invade, occupy.
The wave is moving southwestward to Kwara and Kogi, then Oyo, Ondo, Benin, parts of Delta on one flank; and Benue, Enugu, Imo, and Abia on another. When they are done, you can see that Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom will be last and easy.
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State governments cannot fight it alone. They even try to buy federal protection by covering the danger. Everybody wants to appease the foreign powers and their local collaborators to be seen as ‘good boy’. This approach has been so since the days of Goodluck Jonathan.
Yet, there are many groups down south armed to the teeth, killing for many reasons. There also freelance killers who kill for daily bread. Some are into organ trafficking and harvesting. Yet, others are into ‘kill-and-get’.
It all began in one small spot in Maiduguri, just as the Liberia crisis began in one County where Sergeant Doe declared himself a president. At last, it took the world to save Libera, just as it took the entire world through a World War to save the world or Germany.
Time may be running out for Nigeria.
