"Nigeria is work in progress" was a popular refrain from one of my old lecturers, the late Professor Kalu Uka Uche of the Mass Comm Department at the Unilag's PG school, back in 1991.
In the first place, while the attack itself is barbaric and inhuman, it was the reactions to the event that was truly appalling. According to reports, despite the fact that the governor and the security forces were aware of the impending attack, it was successfully carried out, and that till this morning, like in other previous attacks, no suspect is in custody.
Second, the President's reaction was not only belated, but infuriating. For an event that could (yet) be the flare to set the nation ablaze, nobody is being held responsible for this security failure, just like that of the Agatu massacre.
Third, I consider those blaming the governor as hypocrites. Especially those who are totally against state or regional police and true federalism. He may be be slow as had stage fright, but he did the needful within the powers granted him by the constitution.
The Northern governors, as always, left the substance and we're chasing shadows. A region still living in denial, both of the failure of its leadership both traditional and political, as well as the barbaric almost cavemanlike behaviour of the Fulani Herdsmen in relation to other people's farms and land on one hand, and the failure to address the problem before it snowballed into a national crisis.
Instead they spent hours lamenting about labels, whether these animals and their animals should be called their real names Fulani Herdsmen, or the politically correct Herdsmen or Terrorists.
In my fifty years plus on this Earth, I have not come across an herdsman who is not Fulani. Even the Bororo in Oke Ogun, who has been decimated due to constant vigilance by farmers and the successive governments in Oyo state, are Fulani's.
So if it walks like a duck, quack like a duck and swim like a duck, then it is, in all probability, a duck.
The greater insult was however, comparing kidnapping, which is rampant in the Southeast and south south as a justification for exonerating the Fulani is not only ludicrous but also laughable.
In the first place, these people restrict their criminal activities to their regions, except for occasional forays into the south west. They did not export their criminality to Sokoto or Kano, and did not destroy economic properties in Kaduna or Katsina in an attempt to kidnap a victim.
While both acts of criminality should be condemned, the comparison is off, because while most Herdsmen are Fulani, not all kidnappers are Igbo.
While both acts of criminality should be condemned, the comparison is off, because while most Herdsmen are Fulani, not all kidnappers are Igbo.
Finally, I followed the comments in the social media on the attack within the social political prism of the make up of the Nigerian state, and one thing became apparent; A lot of people calling other ethnic nationalities names and labeling them cowards when similar attacks were carried out on their territory turned out to be cut from the same cloth. Late Fuji Creator, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister once sang that it is he who have not been in a battle that boasts of his bravery. That those who truly know war keep their counsel to themselves, based on their practical knowledge that a brave man knows when to attack, and when to retreat.
What they said cannot happen has happened, but what they promised to do if and when it happened has not happened, and would most likely not happen.
This of course confirmed Fela's summation in his classic song, SHAKARA OLOJE, That what we do is huff and puff, and that at the end of the day, all Na shakara.
I wonder what Kalu Uka Uche, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Fela Kuti would say if they are are still alive, watching as Nigeria turn upon itself.
My Ten Kobo.
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