*AN IMPORTANT AND URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL NIGERIANS, ENDORSED AND AMPLIFIED BY THE GOOD GOVERNANCE GROUP (GGG):*
FOR GOD AND COUNTRY
ROLLING UP OUR SLEEVES, DOING THE NEEDFUL
As usual — and sadly typical of Nigeria — the cyberspace has been awash and trending with TRUMP’s tweets and his message over the past 78 hours.
We follow the trend.
*What is Trump saying that is new in context or content?*
We as a nation have a tendency to normalize abnormalities while brushing away ugly incidents so long as they do not affect us directly.
Stop to think of this: children born from 2009 have not witnessed a peaceful society, especially those in conflict.
Our fellow men, women and children live in the most deplorable conditions in IDP camps across the country — a situation we have normalized so long as our relatives or loved ones are not there.
We have created a classist system where those who can afford it fly by air to the nearest destination because the roads are not safe,and they do nothing about it.
We have come to accept insecurity as a way of life while not being at war as a nation.
Most of the 2027 election campaign promises will be hinged on securing Nigeria — the same stories we have been told since 2003.
*Now to the issue of either US invasion or intervention*.
This simple tweet has jolted us from our slumber, pushed us to engage in the difficult debate we have been avoiding for so long, and beamed a searchlight on our perception of insecurity — as citizens, security operatives, political, traditional and religious leaders.
Sadly, instead of holding those saddled with the responsibility to protect lives and properties accountable — those who stood during campaigns bellowing promises of how to secure us, those who placed their hands on holy books and our constitution swearing to protect us — we instead resort to statistical analysis and body-counting: which religion, tribe or region is higher than the other. Shame on us! This is the height of human depravity. If the killing of any human being doesn’t make you flinch in shock, then you are as morally compromised as the killer.
Yes, the USA may talk of invasion or intervention — call it what you will — because, as Nigerians, our leaders across the board place little or no value on human lives.
Americans do value their citizens’ lives; that explains why US special forces — reportedly SEAL Team 6 — came several miles away to rescue a 27-year-old, Philip Nathan Walton, from kidnappers in Nigeria without informing or seeking the knowledge of Nigeria’s security system. Come to think of it, the ugly truth that lives don’t matter to us should hit us in the face.
*In all these, the call is simple: SIT UP! We should sit up as a people and ask the government what they have been doing for almost two decades on security, with the situation getting worse by the day — to the point of us flipping the pages of our dailies when the headlines scream, “20 people killed.”
We should start asking our state governors what they are doing with the security votes. If they claim they have no control or command of the security architecture in the state, then for what are they collecting the security votes?
We should start asking questions of the service chiefs — are these killers more powerful than the rebels in Liberia and Sierra Leone that the same Nigerian military once sent into oblivion?
Too many questions to ask, too many actions to be taken — and those actions should not include reducing victims to statistics or counting how many bodies have been terminated across divides.
If we keep playing the ostrich, grandstanding about sovereignty and insisting the US cannot come, instead of putting hot pressure on our leaders to clear these killers, we will be left watching while others intervene and carry out missions we could have prevented.
*So, in order to avoid that, let us start solving our own problems, because we can*. If we had been doing this all along, there would be no basis for any threat to intervene.
It is because we have grown numb to realities and refused to tell our leaders the truth while hundreds of lives are lost and made miserable by criminal elements that should be dismantled within a proper rule-of-law framework.
*The time to act is now, and the mission is simple: root out, apprehend and bring to justice all those killing Nigerians; dismantle the criminal networks that enable them; reform and resource our security architecture; and ensure swift, fair prosecution. If you have a problem with criminals being apprehended and held to account, then reflect on whose side you are on.*
*As it stands, every single person is a potential victim of this insecurity*. Name one person — irrespective of status — who has not been affected directly or indirectly by insecurity. *Our actions today will determine whether we and the next generation will live in a safe society tomorrow or not. We cannot afford to keep quiet any longer. Let’s get to work, restore safety and hold the guilty to account — or it will be done on our behalf.*
*James Ugochukwu*
