It was reality that stared us all in the face.
A group reportedly armed with machetes and guns invaded Dogo Nahawa unleashing terror and arson, leaving behind hundreds of dead bodies, majorly women and children.
A very black Sunday it was.
Whoever the armed group were and wherever they might have come from, their motive was clear----REVENGE. A revenge mission that took the lives of innocent women and children in cold blood. A gory sight to behold. This is one carnage, too many.
A cycle of carnage has littered our history as a people, as a Nation. And the institution of government have failed to prevent the next carnage in that cycle. Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, reportedly likened the latest carnage in Dogo Nahawa to the Rwandan genocide. How else can it be described?
I don't consider it expedient in this article to go through the pain of recounting the various crises we have faced as a people in history.
However, our history as a people, as a Nation, has divided us along political, religious and ethnic divides. That explains why political affiliation or supposed dominance or otherwise comes before the Nation. That is why religious affiliation and supposed dominance or otherwise comes before the Nation. And that is also why ethnic affiliation and supposed dominance or otherwise comes before the Nation. These divides have for long threatened our Nationhood. In each of the five decades of post-independence, we have seen crises along these divides, and the gospel of peace and unity relentlessly preached by the 'apostles' in government have done little or nothing to douse tensions.
The situation has never been different, be it in civilian democratic dispensation or military era. It has been a cycle of carnage rearing its ugly head in one region of the federation or the other, with the perpetrators going unpunished.
Is the government of the federation helpless? I don't know. It is difficult to analyze.
But, what I do know is that the Constitution has vested powers in the Executive and Legislative arms of government to protect lives and properties, and maintain peace and order in the entire federation.
Unfortunately, in the week following the carnage in Dogo Nahawa, the Nation was treated to blame game, buck passing, politics and show of shame amongst civil authorities, the military and the police, who constitutionally should have prevented the tragedy. I won't in this article join issues with any of them. The Nation mourns.
Way Forward....
Without sounding naive, I believe the time has come to put an end to this cycle of senseless carnage, and we should begin to address the issues that tears us apart.
Who is a native? Who is a settler? Both owe each other the responsibility to promote the common good. The inordinate thirst for dominance and/or relevance should begin to give way for TOLERANCE.
Much as the interests of the majority remains on the front burner of national discourse, we must collectively protect those classified as minorities. The collective good of all Nigerians must be foremost on the front burner at all times. Development and opportunities must spread evenly regardless of political, religious or ethnic affiliations. This is what would promote Nationhood and relegates negative sentiments.
Government and all the institutions of government, including the military and the police, should begin to behave responsibly. The supremacy of the Constitution, which protects the right of every citizen to life must be held sacrosanct.
Dogo Nahawa witnessed the latest carnage, the next one must be prevented. Our intelligence gathering capabilities as a Nation should be reviewed and strengthened. And those who sponsor acts of carnage and violence should be made to face the law. That is the least the protesting women in Jos and indeed all Nigerians could ask for.
Finally, all Nigerians should embrace the need to begin to write a new history about ourselves---- a history of tolerance, a history of unity, a history of brotherliness, a history of true Nationhood. By so doing, we would ensure that those who died in Dogo Nahawa and in all past crises didn't die in vain.
History runs on the pages of our actions and inactions, and what we do or refuse to do in order to put an end to this cycle of carnage would become our footprints on the sands of time for posterity to judge.
We all belong and we must all do our part.
Adedayo Adetoye
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