THE Buhari Agenda; The Conspiracy of Multiple Killings and Attacks

Photo Credit: IBtimes.co.uk

The Nigerian tale in recent times has been characterised with a high level of insecurity. Insecurity is not a new problem in the socio-political scene in Nigeria just that it has assumed a dimension that is multi-faceted; coming from very many angles. Prior to the present political administration in the country, the major security challenge in the country was the insurgent group, Boko Haram Sect, but this has taken a different dimension in recent times. Though many are the success stories recorded in the fight against Boko Haram in the country, the truth remains that the country is yet to be free from the activities of the terrorist group. The insecurity condition in the country has been heightened by the incessant attacks unleashed on innocent citizens by Fulani Herdsmen and the destructive activities of the Niger-Delta Avengers. This paints a picture of the security situation Nigeria which is indeed muddled up at the moment.

A female pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and mother of seven, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, was recently killed by unknown assailants while preaching around the Gbazango-West area of Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory. The deceased who was stabbed in the stomach and she also had a cut in her neck, was found dead in a pool of her own blood with a copy of the Bible, a megaphone and a mobile phone. The 42-year-old woman was a deaconess at the Divine Touch Parish of the RCCG, Old NEPA Road, Phase 4, Kubwa.

Speaking to journalists at their residence, Eunice’s husband, Mr. Olawale Elisha, who is also a pastor at the RCCG, said his wife had gone out to preach in the neighbourhood around 5 am on the fateful day only for him to hear the report of her murder. In his words “My wife always went out early in the morning for ‘Morning Cry’ (evangelism). There was a particular day she went out and she told me that there was a mosque at the back where they commented about what she said. So I just cautioned her. This morning (on the fateful Saturday), she went out around 5 am and I was still in bed because we had a vigil which she participated in for a short while because of the ‘Morning Cry’ she planned to undertake. Two of my boys are footballers, thus, they went to the football pitch to play. And when they came back, they told me that they heard some footballers saying that some hoodlums had butchered a woman who was preaching early this morning. When I heard this, wearing only a pair of shorts, we walked towards the area my son had said the incident occurred; we didn’t see anybody but we saw blood on the ground. I asked a policeman around and he said it was true but that they had taken the body to Phase 4 Police Station. I went to the police station with my children and when we got there, I saw the lifeless body of my wife at the back of a police van. She was later taken to a mortuary. The incident happened between 5 am and 5.30 am because she usually went out at 5 am and returned by 6 am.”

The husband of the deceased went on to say “My wife was so committed to anything that is of God. She was a reckless giver to God’s work. She rarely missed any programme in the church. We have seven children,” he stated. According to him, his wife had no quarrel with anyone that could have warranted her murder. “I see her as a martyr and she died for Christ and whether the people are caught or not, they should forgive them. My prayer is that if they can accept Christ, that will be a gain to Christ,” the bereaved husband said.

Though the details of the investigation of the murder of the evangelist is yet to be made public at the time of this report, there are strong reasons to believe that is was a case of religious intolerance. This could be consolidated by the fact that the deceased had a misunderstanding with some members of a particular religious sect as affirmed by her husband before her eventual demise.

In a related report, a group of suspected Muslim youths, recently, attacked St. Philip’s Catholic Parish, Baki Iku, close to Zuma Rock in Niger State, destroying properties worth thousands of naira. This took place some days after the female Evangelist in the Redeem Christian Church of God, Mrs. Eunice Olawale, was brutally killed by suspected Muslim extremists.

According to the Vicar-General of the Parish, Rev. Fr. Gobep Luka Sylvester, about 200 Muslim youths stormed the Church premises and destroyed properties of the church. Available sources have it that some Catholics had gone to the church to pray and were attacked by the Muslims who claimed that Friday was their day of prayer and that the Church only had right to worship on Sundays.

Fr. Sylvester said “Sometime around 2 pm, some Muslim youths in numbering 200 left their Mosque after their Friday Jumat prayer and rushed to the Church premises, climbed the wall and destroyed everything in the Church: the windows, the alter, musical instruments, the chapel. The security man in the church premises was beaten to pulp. Some women who were holding a prayer meeting were chased away. The seminarian who is resident in the premises was also beaten up and chased away.”

The priest added, “Just last week, Mrs. Eunice Olawale, a mobile preacher of the Redeemed Christian Church of God was killed by some fanatical Muslims in Kubwa, FCT. How long are we going to continue like this?

“How long are we going to continue like this?” remains the question that bugs the mind of every concerned Nigerian especially in recent times when security has become merely a luxurious wish and insecurity, the order of the day. There are myriads of report on the mayhem unleashed on innocent Nigerians by the Fulani herdsmen in recent times. The height of insecurity in the present day Nigeria, bespeak of a country whose government has failed in the area of guaranteeing the security of lives and property for her citizenry. This is the sheer collaboration of the government with the individuals that have made security a day dream in Nigeria.

President Buhari is found guilty of conspiracy in matters of insecurity in the country. This fact of conspiracy is understood on two grounds. First, is what one may call failure conspiracy. It is the prerogative of every government to protect her people from internal and external aggression, hence the issue of security. Granted that no nation of the world can boast of a perfect security system, insecurity is found to be glaring in some countries of the world. The level of insecurity in Nigeria, obviously gets worse by the day; the little successes recorded by the Buhari-led administration in the fight against terrorism is far from ensuring peace within the Nigerian state. This failure by the government has only but encouraged the numerous perpetuators of these crimes with the full knowledge that the government is handicapped and inefficient in bringing them to book. This is the case of failure conspiracy.

Conspiracy of Silence becomes the second form of collaboration that President Buhari has established with the assailants. Nigerians have been worried over the unusual silence on the attacks meted on innocent Nigerians especially by the Fulani herdsmen. No public statement of the president has been reported in reaction to the numerous attacks. Even the particular cases reported in this work has not been reacted to by the President at the time of this report. Silence in the normal African understanding underscores agreement. The silence of the President to these and related issues, could be taken to be his consent, hence, conspiracy of silence.

Nigerians are faced with many security challenges in recent times. The government is encouraged to bracing up to her responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and properties in Nigeria.

Okechukwu Chukwuemeka (okeyemmy@gmail.com) is a freelance writer who publishes regularly in the “The Choice Flame Newspaper”, a bi-weekly publication of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria.

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