Enugu Is In The Hand of God: A Huge Irony!
The Enugu people are known for their peaceful and even docile nature. So, it was so easy for the slogan 'Enugu is in the hand of God" to resonate well with the people of the state. We love the magical slogan. Who could quarrel with such a beautiful idea? Even an atheist will live with it.
But the whole scenario changed on Friday, 2nd August, 2019, when catholic priests matched toward the Government House chanting: "Enugu is no more in the hand of God. It is now in the hands of herdsmen!". It was quite a spectacle to watch them in their priestly robes. And really, when it comes to telling who is in God's hand, who can tell it better than the priests?
They just have to pray the State back into the hand of God. The people of Enugu cannot afford to be anywhere else.
Church leaders position in the war against kidnappings is colored by political interest
DPA News has had the opportunity of comparing the way certain church leaders addressed criminality under different administrations.
Two men of God readily come to mind - Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministry and Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The same social and political conditions that Mbaka condemned during President Jonathan's administration were tolerated during President Buhari's administration.
In similar pattern, Adeboye was working to organize a million man match to protest the increasing spate of kidnapping during the tenure of Jonathan. But faced with a worsening of the same problem under President Buhari, Adeboye merely calls for prayers. He was an activist during Jonathan's days, but a man of God during Buhari's government. Questions can be asked why this noticeable inconsistency.
Apart from these two church leaders, there are others on the other side of the scale. They were more tolerant of Jonathan than they have been of Buhari. This is a surprising development because the church and the men of God are expected to operate above politics.
IS NIGERIA DESTINED TO BREAK UP?
While every Constitution of Nigeria since the 1967 - 1970 civil war has proclaimed Nigeria a united and indivisible country, everything else happening in Nigeria points in the opposite direction. If Nigeria disintegrates as is now very likely, it will be a classic affirmation that when it comes to building a united nation, action speaks louder than slogans.
The real threat to Nigerian unity is not the types of Nnamdi Kanu and his neoBiafran agitation, nor the dramatic rhetorics of Asari Dokubo, nor the frustration of Ohaneze. In the end, what will take the credit will be the rampant corruption, the gross abuse of human rights, the government facilitated inequities and injustice and the instabilities they jointly created in this country. No enduring nation in history has ever been erected on a heap of injustice, as those who proclaim the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria seem to want.
The Break Up Seems Now A Fait Accompli.
The Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa have joined forces and have successfully carved out a caliphate around the Lake Chad region, but mainly within the Nigerian territory. Nigerian army cannot evict them and cannot stop them when they may decide to take more territories from Nigeria. And if they are able to mobilize the seemingly already armed herdsmen, who are already present in every corner of Nigeria, the entire country will be overwhelmed easily.
Apparently, the army of the new caliphate are better motivated than Nigerian army. They have better battlefield experience, as many of their fighters saw battle in Syria, Iraq and Libya. They are better equipped. Nigerian soldiers have been considerably weakened by their unregulated dealings with civilian population - the mounting atrocities.
Any army that could easily go and terrorize its civilian population as the Nigerian soldiers do cannot fight a war against any well disciplined army. They are demoralized. The ramblings among the military commanders further accentuates the crisis.
The caliphate army has huge arms supplied from Libya and the Libyan civil war helps them in many ways. The vast expanse of space through the desert makes it so easy for them in the absence of airpower to move unhindered and to advance significantly. Algeria and Egypt are potential sources of arms too.
Ethnic and religious sentiments coupled with endemic corruption in the system will not allow Nigeria to modernize its military forces. So, the army will collapse relatively easily.
The Nigerian troops are fighting a defensive war within Nigerian territory. The ultimate outcome is that as the caliphate army wages territorial war against Nigeria, the Nigerian army could be on a confused retreat. And as the other ethnic groups in Nigeria realize that the Nigerian army cannot defend them, they will be forced to take their own defense into their hands, which also means asserting their sovereign status and redrawing the map of Nigeria.
That could be the bitter end of Nigeria, and the emergence of new smaller states in place of the current Nigerian State. Ironically, it will be a tale of how the Nigerian governments helped break up Nigeria.
The Conservative Church Reacts in Enugu State
It is not normal occurrence for men of God, especially the usually conservative catholic priests, to react angrily publicly. But that was exactly what happened on Friday 2nd August, 2019; when many catholic priests took to the streets in a massive protest against the killing of a priest by gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen in Enugu State.
This will seem to mark a critical turning point in the growing outcry over the spate of killings and kidnappings believed to have been orchestrated by the herdsmen.
It is noteworthy that this is happening in Enugu State whose Governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, is believed to have been relatively soft in dealing with the growing violent attacks attributed to the herdsmen. Probably, this might push the state government into a more aggressive tone of reaction over these killings.
But what can a state Governor really do given the state of politics and security challenges in Nigeria? Ugwuanyi has seemed more gentle than other Governors judged by his rhetorics or lack thereof. However, that is not necessarily a sign of weakness. His position is probably a mark of sober realism in the face of a problem that is beyond the Governors.
The possibility is that with the much increased outcry, the Governor might be tempted to bend towards saying or doing things in ways that are calculated to please the people more. But Ugwuanyi has been safe and secure politically. If he did not feel pressured while in his first term, he will likely not feel so now that he is at the beginning of his second term.
It remains too early to tell how the heightened outrage might change the official reaction to herdsmen-related violence at both the federal and state levels.
The Preventable Death of Abuja Court Official Shows Lack of Emergency Agency In Nigeria.
The death of the Finance Director for the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria was sad and shocking, the tale of government failure. Mr. Tony Okecheme and his driver were trapped in a rain flood while on their way to the Abuja airport on Friday. For a whole hour, the two men were trapped and waiting for rescue in broad day light with many people watching helplessly.
Eyewitnesses said the National Emergency Management Agency officials who came to the scene failed to rescue Okecheme and his driver who were reportedly trapped in the flood for about an hour before the water swept away the director. His car, a Toyota Camry, which was filled with mud water, was eventually pulled out of the ravines by the rescuers, who were angry that NEMA failed to rescue the man.
Abuja is not known for heavy rains or flooding. The flood that took the life of Mr. Okecheme was relatively mild and would not qualify for a major disaster. But for the main emergency relief agency, having been fully mobilized, and failing to rescue the stranded men within an hour is the real disaster.
A Kidnapping That Could Change Government’s Narrative.
As the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, announced to his congregation that five RCCG pastors have been kidnapped by yet unknown gunmen on Thursday, every thought and cerebration went to the Vice President of Nigeria, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo, who was an RCCG pastor before becoming the Vice President.
The focus on the Vice President after this incident is based on the fact that the number two citizen of Nigeria has been somewhat in denial of the menace caused by the apparently unpredictable crime of kidnapping in Nigeria.
While traveling to the United States recently, Osinbajo was quoted as saying that stories of kidnapping in Nigeria were exaggerated. The clear effort to downplay the menace took many by surprise. Even recently as fresh outcry arose in the wake of the death of the daughter of the leader of Afenifere in one of the daily crime occurrences, the Vice President attempted to downplay the spate of crime in Nigeria. Now that five of his former colleagues have been kidnapped while attending a church conference everybody wonders if this would be enough to get the Government of Nigeria to finally admit that kidnapping has spiralled out of control, and it is time to throw in all it has against kidnapping and kidnappers
According to Pastor Adeboye, the five pastors were kidnapped along the Ijebu-Ode axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The ministers were kidnapped while they were attending RCCGs Ministers’ Conference in Lagos.
Pastor Adeboye who said he was not happy over the development however urged his congregation to pray for the release of the pastors.