The Fulani cattle herdsmen are fast assuming the status of terrorists. And the authorities that ought to have put them in check have continued to turn a blind eye. The unspeakable barbarism of these wandering hoodlums is highly intolerable, and has no place in a civilised world.

Let us call a spade a spade. The Fulani cattle men – who have wreaked and continued to wreak  havoc all over Nigeria, especially in North-Central, the South-East, South-South and South-West regions of the country – must be checkmated before they plunge Nigeria into a full-blown inter-ethnic war.

A friend – a renowned Professor of History and International Relations who also doubles as a veteran diplomat, having served in more than two grade one countries – told me that the greatest threat to Nigeria’s corporate existence is not Boko Haram, but the rampaging Fulani herdsmen! According to him, three major international intelligence outfits have rated the terrorism of the Fulani herdsmen over and above Boko Haram and the horrifyingly and sophisticatedly armed Niger Delta militants. The horrendous villainy of the Fulani herdsmen lacks logic. Here is a murderous group of men who hide under the shade of cattle-tending to invade other people’s land and property and top such thievery with wanton attacks on the farm owners. It simply does not make sense that a group of Nigerians, armed to the teeth, will trespass on other people’s legitimate source of livelihood, and after ruining the victim’s farm produce will go ahead to kill the victim.

This columnist has written over 10 articles on the dastardly activities of the Fulani cattlemen, pleading with the Federal Government to take action, but all to no avail. Every now and again we are confronted with terrible news of the carnage caused by this lawless group on innocent farmers in south-western states, and in other regions already mentioned, and in most instances more than 100 lives are wasted by the cruelty of these unfeeling and conscienceless hoodlums.

Some uncharitable commentators have opined that the real reason why the Fulani herdsmen have continued to wax stronger is because most of the leadership members of the security and law enforcement agents who are expected to curb the notoriety of the Fulani marauders are also of the same ethnic stock!

It is actually mind-boggling that despite the visible horrors regularly inflicted on sections of the Nigerian populace by the lawless Fulani herdsmen, security agents appear to be condoning these horrors. I believe that if some of these Fulani herdsmen murderers have been arrested, tried, convicted and executed for the murders they committed, the obvious impunity these reckless men enjoy would have been eroded. Nigeria cannot continue to ignore the serious damage the Fulani cattlemen are doing to her citizens and her international image.

Come to think of it! Is Nigeria the only country breeding and managing cattle? Are we the people of Nigeria the only human beings eating beef? Don’t other countries of the world have cattle, sheep and goats? Something must be seriously wrong with us and some of our outdated traditions and cultures. I spent months in Australia in 1991 and I can confirm that I did not see a single cow roaming the streets. And yet, Australia breeds about 10 times the heads of cattle bred in Nigeria!

I am sick and tired of the silly argument that the Fulani are by nature a wandering and nomadic pastoral people. If the argument were to hold, how come the same Fulani ethnic group have produced some of the most brilliant men and women in the world? Dr Tahir, a former minister, made a first-class honours degree in one of the best universities overseas. Several friends of mine who are of the Fulani stock are among the best minds on earth. Why are they not Cyprian Ekwensi’s ‘sokugos’?

And in any case, even if anyone was to raise and rear cattle, must such person trespass on other people’s property? Must they kill people whose crops their cattle had vandalised? Must such person or persons carry AK47 guns? Is AK47 the traditional stick for directing cattle!

As far back as 1983 when Engr (Dr) Godwin Bakare introduced the Fodder Technology to Nigeria, and my personal foray into the business after visiting Spain in 1984 to meet with the masters of the technology, we have been making serious efforts to get governors of the 19 Northern Nigeria states interested in this miracle cure for the wandering Fulani cattlemen. With the fodder, any amount of grass needed by cattle can be home-grown. The Fulani herdsmen will not need to travel a yard out of their locality to feed their cattle. The federal and state governments of the zones producing cattle should acquire large expanse of lands and erect fodder fields to cater for cattle and other domestic animals. Grazing can now be done under a canopy!

I am sure that agriculture experts will have several other options that the federal and state governments can explore to put an end to the dangerous wandering of the Fulani herdsmen.

It must be emphasised that the patience of many ethnic groups and geographical zones that have continued to bear the brunt of the Fulani herdsmen’s callousness is coming to an end. This notice must be taken seriously before the suffering villagers in Abakaliki, in some towns in Akwa Ibom and in many places in Plateau and Benue take up arms and resort to fighting back. No group of Nigerians have a monopoly of violence.

And let it not be said that the nefarious activities of the Fulani herdsmen are part of a hidden agenda! As they say in Yoruba on the Bond FM, Koko Inu Iwe Iroyin programme: “If someone is being viciously beaten and a leader who is in position to stop the beating refuses to do so, it can be deduced that the leader is indirectly involved in the beating!”

Someone must take decisive action to stop the daring plunder, which the Fulani herdsmen have continued to impose on the innocent victims whose farmlands they recklessly vandalise.

There is no place for Stone Age tradition in Nigeria. And there is no more space for reckless impunity. We are about to end political and economic/financial impunities. We must also end the Fulani herdsmen’s impunity.

Nigerian security and law enforcement agencies must face the reality and accept that the Fulani herdsmen constitute a greater danger to Nigeria’s corporate existence than Boko Haram!

It is my prayer that the souls of the innocent men and women cruelly sent to their untimely graves by the Fulani cattlemen’s barbarity rest in peace.

And may it please Olodumare to give our leaders the wisdom and political will to put an end to the Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism.

•This article was first published on 11 May 2015 by News Express. Chief Tola Adeniyi is a former Managing Director of Daily Times of Nigeria. He can be reached via [email protected]

Over the last one week millions of Nigerians have expressed concern about which direction I am going politically and much has been said.

Some have gone out of their way to reach out to me and offered their counsel out of genuine love and concern.

Others have not reached out to me and have written or spoken out of ignorance, hate and malice imputing the worst motivations for actions which they claim I have purportedly taken.

This contribution is an attempt to provide answers to just a few of the oftentimes asinine and absurd assertions and observations that the latter group have made.

Some say they warned me and that I have fallen into a trap whilst others say my voice has been silenced, I am a spy and that this signals the end of my political career.

My response to them and others who have conjured up even stranger motivations and conspiracy theories when it comes to FFK is as follows.

To whom it may concern: spare me your crocodile tears and be rest assured that I am too big, too intelligent, too experienced and too forthright to fall into any trap.

It is impossible to castrate a lion, render it impotent or silence its roar.

I stand on all my beliefs, core values and principles. I am the voice of the voiceless, I am a warrior, I fear nothing, I fear no one, I am as constant as the northern star and I will ALWAYS stand against evil.

Speaking to other leaders across party lines in order to build bridges, engender peace, foster stability and enhance national unity ought not to create such national and international rage, panic and pandemonium.

Are we so divided that we can’t even talk to one another and take pictures together without causing a public stir and setting the Internet on fire?

You insult me and say I am scared of prison because I had a meeting with two APC governors?

Do you know how many PDP and APC governors and leaders I interact with and meet regularly? Do you know how many I talk to on a daily basis?

Do you know that I was prosecuted for seven years by PDP governments who tried to jail me simply for speaking out against them yet it did not deter me? Ask those that were in the Yar’Adua and Jonathan administrations.

After a while they got tired because the more they tried to intimidate me into silence or make me flee the country the more I stood my ground and fought my corner till they gave up.

Does that sound like a man that is scared of death or prison?

You insult me and say I am broke because I had talks with two APC governors.

Do you know that I spend more on my monthly salary bill in one month than some of these people that are claiming I am broke earn in five or 10 years?

I have 55 domestic staff in my house alone. Not one of them gets below 70,000 naira per month which is higher than the national minimum wage.

I do not owe salaries and I feed each of them three square meals every day. I do all this just to help them and to ensure they can look after and feed their families. Does that sound like a broke man to you?

That is my little contribution to the welfare of our people because I certainly do not need so many staff. I employ them just to keep them off the unemployment line.

Apart from that do you know how many people I give scholarships to and how many people’s children I feed and educate? Do you know how many other families I am responsible for in terms of day to day living?

The Bible says be your brother’s keeper and I do these things unto the Lord. I do them and I will never stop even when my good is repaid with evil.

The Lord has always provided for me and given me the fat of the land. He has always caused me to be a blessing to others though I do not make noise about it.

For the last 60 years of my life He has been good to me. He has caused me to excel, prosper and flourish and from beginning to end He has always been with me and mine.

You say I make money through politics meanwhile I left public office in 2007 which is 13 years ago! Does that make sense to you? In any case is politics my only source of income in the world?

Am I your conventional politician who craves for elective office? Do I even attend their meetings? I have been in this game since 1990! Do you know that?

I have been making my contributions to current affairs, political discourse and politics for the last 31 years which is long before most of today’s governors or ministers even knew the meaning of the word.

And it was always a struggle which involved sacrifice. Where were my detractors when I was in NADECO and fought against military rule?

The records are there and so are the essays and some of the people I worked with.

Where were they when we set up September Club in 1989 and some of the nation’s greatest leaders and elder statesmen and top politicians over the last 30 years, including presidents, governors, ministers and legislators across party lines, were members.

Where were they in the days of NRC, SDP and Choice ’92 when politics was real, when the greats held sway and when men honored their word.

Where were they when we risked all for MKO Abiola’s stolen mandate and June 12th and even had to go into exile for years because of it?

Where were they when we stood against the annulment of June 12th and fought against the government of General Sani Abacha?

Where were they when we formed the Progressive Action Movement in 1999 and some of the nations brightest and best young stars and minds made their contribution to national affairs?

Where were they when we fought against Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who was sent to high jack and destroy the PDP?

Where were they when I led President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign in 2015 and took the battle to the gates of the enemy?

Where were they when I stood behind President Olusegun Obasanjo and faced down ALL his detractors?

Where were they when I was targetted and almost assassinated on two separate occassions during the Obasanjo Presidency simply because I was the President’s defender in chief and armour bearer and was totally committed to his cause?

I did all this in the past and present and you say I am making money from it? Do you know the risks involved in these things?

Do you know I could have been killed together with members of my family long ago and most certainly would have had it not been for God?

Can my detractors give up so much and risk so much just for politics? Honestly it really is the deepest insult.

Some of us were born into wealth and have never lacked it. We were born into politics too. We were born into the circles of power so nothing moves us.

For us politics is a noble calling and not a profession. It is about proferring solutions to complex national issues and not about the acquisition of primitive wealth.

We gave up all for the struggle for democracy and the opportunity to help to develop our country and move her forward and now we are insulted and mocked and told we did it for money? Which money?

How much can I be bought or bribed with? All the money in the world could not move me because I have never lacked it.

What have I not had or enjoyed in life from a very young age? Where have I not been?

I came to the conclusion long ago that all is vanity and that material wealth means nothing. I would never sacrifice my principles or integrity for it.

Mallam Abba Kyari, the President’s late and powerful Chief of Staff, was my brother for over 40 years and we interacted regularly whilst he was in power.

I never asked him for ANYTHING from his Government just as I never asked or got ANYTHING from any of the previous Federal Governments between 2007 and 2021.

If I had done so I would not have been able to criticise those governments publicly and I would have been exposed. You cannot criticise where you eat from.

I did not join APC when Abba was in government and I did not compromise my principles when I could have asked him for anything I chose in return since he had the ear of the President.

I respected and loved him for who he was and NOT for the position he held and the feeling was mutual.

I opposed his government in spite of our friendship and did not share his views yet we remained friends because our friendship was well above politics.

That is what civilised people do. They agree to disagree and respect each other’s views. They never let it come between their friendship.

I opposed Abba’s government and risked losing an old and loyal friend and brother because I believed passionately in all I said. I believed all that I said then and I still believe it today.

All that and now you dare to question my resolve and consistency? It is laughable.

You say I am inconsitent. Meanwhile I have been more consistent in my views over the last 30 years than 95% of Nigerian leader and I have stuck to my guns despite all manner of persecution and suffering!

You say I have no relevance meanwhile millions all over the world read my words avidly every day and follow my actions religiously because I inspire them due to the fact that I have always had the courage of my convictions and I have always spoken truth to power.

Unlike most politicians I actually inspire people and give them hope. And most important of all they trust me and trust my judgement.

They have also acknowledged the fact thst more often than not my words are prophetic and I have displayed remarkable insight and foresight when it comes to national affairs.

How many of your so-called “relevant” leaders have done that? How many of them have displayed such courage under fire for years on end?

How many of them can have their newspaper columns in three national dailies closed over the years due to threats to the publishers from the Government and yet keep writing his essays on social media with millions of people all over the world still reading them and receiving the message?

How many of them can be blacklisted by the nations newspapers and television stations with threatenjng orders from above and still keep talking?

How many of them across party lines can mould the thoughts and guide millions in this way with their counsel, words, actions and thoughts?

First seven years of persecution under PDP then five years of persecution under APC! HOW many of your leaders can stand such fire and pain and still fight on?

Almost all of them ever do is sell you down the river, tell you lies, ignore your pain, deceive you, mock you, use you and give you crumbs in return for your acclamation, support and loyalty but you love them for that.

You say I am scared of even more persecution. At the age of 60 you believe I am scared?

What more can they do to me that they have not done already? And what more am I looking for in life that I have not enjoyed over the years?

Yet you say I am scared! And those that say so can barely endure one tenth of what I have endured.

Some of them make noise from the safety of other countries and stay away from Nigeria out of fear of being locked up yet they mock those of us that live on the doorsteps of our oppressors in Nigeria and dare them to their faces.

Some of them have not been able to face hardship or deprivation and neither can they bear it when their rights are being violated.

Yet to many of us this has become the norm ahd we are used to it yet we still continue to struggle and fight the system regardless. Let me give you just one example.

Do you know that I have not been able to travel out of Nigeria for the last 13 years because my passport was first seized by a PDP Government for 8 and then by an APC Government for 5?

Do you know that I could not even go for medical check ups outside the country because of that?

Did you ever hear me complain or did this ever stop me from speaking truth to power, standing firm against injustice or speaking up for the weak, the persecuted and the voiceless?

Do you know I was locked up by both PDP and APC Federal Governments for no just cause?

Do you know I was even locked up in Boko Haram detention centers with Boko Haram suspects and convicts?

Do you know that only terrorists were kept in the facility that they kept me? Do you know that that place is worst than Gauntanamo Bay and that it was built by the British Government?

Do you know how terrifying that was and that I could have been killed or maimed whilst there?

Yet did you ever hear me complain about it, submit, compromise, give up or back down from criticising the Government or previous Governments because of these trials and tribulations?

How many of your so-called “relevant” and “great” leaders can bear such torment and injustice without cracking? Did you ever see or hear me crack? Did I ever break?

Do you know what horrors my first wife Regina and my daughter Remi were subjected to by a PDP Government? Do you know why they had to go into exile and live abroad?

Do you know what hell my ex-wife Precious and first son Aragorn were subjected to by the APC Government?

Do you know the tears we shed secretly and the number of times we suffered and were forced to go underground for no just cause?

Do you know the kind of stress and torment this put us through? Do you know that all our bank accounts have been frozen for five years?

Did all that stop me or stop us from standing? Did we not endure and bear it all with dignity for years and still continue to make our contribution to national affairs with zeal and passion.

Yet leaders like me that make these sacrifices and speak truth you describe as having no relevance, no consistency and you hate.

You mock, ridicule, insult and believe the very worst about us at the drop of a hat. Some even have the nerve and effontry to say we are not politicians simply because we have not run for elective office.

It is those who speak truth and that are courageous enough to expose and confront evil that you hate, judge and always think and assume the worse of at the drop of a hat.

Do you know that despite facing the most vicious persecution and prosecution for 7 long years the court found me not guilty of corruption whilst I was Minister of Aviation and Minister of Culture and Tourism and acquitted and discharged me?

How many of your leaders can endure going to court for seven years before 4 different judges and in the midst of a vicious media witch hunt in which most people who knew nothing about the case had declared me guilty?

How many of you could have survived that without capitulating, cracking, begging and bending the knee?

Do you know that I have been facing prosecution for the last 5 years in two separate courts for doing absolutely nothing wrong except leading a presidential campaign against Buhari and for Jonathan in 2015 and as a consequence of politically-motivated and malicious charges which were filed only because of my bitter and vicious opposition to the Buhari Government?

Do you know that under my tenure as Minister of Aviation there were no plane crashes whilst the year before I came in there were 5 and 453 died in those crashes?

Do you know that I put a stop to those crashes and that I am the only Minister of Aviation in Nigerian history under which there were NO plane crashes?

Do you know that despite all the challenges and persecution I was recently polled by 85% of the readers of Vanguard Newspaper that I was the loudest and most consistent voice of opposition against the Buhari Government over the last five years?

All this yet you label me a coward and someone that has achieved nothing?

Do you know that most of those leaders you rever and love so much are cowards who are unable and unwilling to risk all and speak truth to power.

All they are able to do is to mislead you and their followers to hate and insult those of us that really care for you.

Honestly some people need mental health checks and medical attention!

And for anyone to say I will not be welcome in a party that I have not publicly expressed a desire to join amazes me.

The joker that claimed I was rejected by the APC needs to tell me where and when I applied to join them and what my registration number was!

Did I tell you I am leaving PDP for APC? Or did I tell anyone that I will stay in PDP forever no matter what happens or no matter what they do to me or to the country?

You see unlike most I am a one man army and riot squad and I am accountable to no man or party. I am only accountable to God!

Unlike most I do not do things in the dark and I do not shy away from speaking the truth or my mind once it is set.

When and if I ever choose to make a move I will be clear and categorical and I will let the world know so hold your hate fire till we get to that bridge.

Yet know this: I owe no-one any explanation for what I will do or will not do tomorrow, I will gladly live with the consequences of my actions and decisions and I will defend myself and explain my actions when I choose to do so if I believe it is ever necessary.

I do not know what the details are yet but before 2023 there WILL be many realignments and new alliances. Both parties will see many shifts and many individuals will change sides.

This is because we must get it right in 2023 and we must ensure that whoever takes power at the center, regardless of party affiliation, restructures our country and takes our nation to the promise land.

We must build bridges and secure the peace, unity and progress of this country and most important of all we must avoid civil war and do all we can to save our nation from armed conflict and fratricidal butchery.

That is the challenge before us today and that is the reality of Nigerian politics.

Whilst others meet secretly and hide from the cameras in their quest to achieve these objectives, I will not. I am the beloved of the Lord and I am a LION!

No man born of woman can silence my roar!

I am who I am. I am FFK.

By Lasisi Olagunju

(Published in the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, 22 February, 2021)

Northern leaders are an intriguing lot. They are looking for shortcuts to the top of the palm tree by befriending their nemesis, the bandits. They want peace, yet they express open sympathy for killers. They speak volubly for bandits and have no word of empathy for their own people, daily killed, daily abducted by the marauders. Now they are angry with Yoruba governors for asking northern terrorists to leave south west forest reserves. What the northern cripple is saying is ‘da bi mo ti da’ (become as I am). But the Yoruba have long mastered how to deal with bovine sticks aiming at their eyes. You heard Senate President Ahmed Lawan and his open rebuke of Yoruba governors. He said they enabled violence in the region. You heard Bauchi State governor and his stern warning to the south west to stop rumbling their forest reserves against the cows from the north. No one owns the forests, he declared on national television. You also heard former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his declaration that no one has any right to any state and that any Nigerian can claim any state as his own. It was a bumper harvest of wild shots and dirty slaps from the north- all in one week.

We saw Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s bandits with their belt-fed General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) laughing, high-fiving one another. I looked at their monster weapons and shouted; what are these? I consulted books on guns and bullets. The books said each of the bullet belts you saw wrapped round the bandits comes standard with 200 rounds – and the belts can be joined to infinity. The books told me that the guns “have a rate-of-fire spanning 650 to 950 rounds per minute” and can effectively pick targets 1.83 kilometers (2,000 yards) away. These are obvious weapons of war, they are not for kidnapping. So, what war are these people fighting or preparing to fight? The senate president has told us about the criminals of the south west, he should tell us too what and who is emboldening and kitting north’s pampered killers and for what purpose.

I do not envy the south west governors. They are suspected home and abroad. The Yoruba people are a peculiar breed; some would say they are difficult to rule, to enslave; and others would say the problem is how to understand them. Even they find it impossible to understand themselves. The north-versus-west tension is historical. The wily north sees the Yoruba people as very troublesome. The north could see that in the way south west governors forced the Amotekun project on Nigeria. Now, the west is resisting murderous herdsmen at a time the north says we should appease bandits with cash and kisses. Education and their long trek from a treacherous past are to blame for whatever is ‘difficult’ about the Yoruba. Listen to their stories and their songs and you will have an idea of what shapes their ways. Outsiders who do not like the poet and his poetry, can’t they just look away or compose theirs? It is characteristic of the Yoruba to shrill his solemn affirmation of faith and pride. It is not about party or politics, the responsibility is to the homeland, the land of his birth.

If you haven’t, please go and read what Lawan told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on the south west at the weekend. The Yobe senator, whose road home has been long lost to Boko Haram terrorists, took a deep look at the Western region and declared that it is suffering from “failure of leadership.” I feel like asking him what he has to say about his blood-soaked north? The senate president spoke the language of the master. He said: “Leadership failures in the south west region caused what happened in Oyo State and other things that kept happening in the southwestern states.” He added for effect that “some utterances by some governors also went a long way in inciting the citizens to take up arms against other ethnic groups settling in their states.” The governors’ utterances, he said, “emboldened the criminals to unleash violence against the northerners.” It was a blanket condemnation of the governors; a barrel bomb. I wish the governors give him back measure for measure. But, let me ask Nigeria’s number three man: if the ‘utterances’ of the Yoruba governors “emboldened the criminals” of the south west, what is emboldening the bandits of the north?

Lawan and his angry north should not blame the south west governors. You cannot turn their ancestral groves to jungles of crimes and say they must not shout and act. In any case, the governors are not independent of the street. The Yoruba mass are the drivers of the public train. Governors know that no leader drives against the traffic on the rail lines of his people and escapes home to sleep with his wife. The people did not create the system; they met it and will pass it on. You do not inherit a goodly heritage like this and use it to build a shrine for beef. To the Yoruba, cow is meat, it is never an object of reverence. That is what Senate President Lawan could not understand.

Before Lawan, we read Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s take and I said it is finished. Atiku Abubakar, ex-vice president, ex-presidential candidate, future presidential candidate, billionaire Fulani husband of Titi (Yoruba) and of Jennifer (Igbo) and of others from other places said no Nigerian should claim any state as his own. It was his defence of the north and its people down south. His words: “The state of origin of every Nigerian is Nigeria. Nigeria gave birth to the states. The states did not give birth to Nigeria. Every Nigerian state must be 100% for 100% of all Nigerians, 100% of the time. No exception.” He wanted the “bloodletting… in Shasha” and “in every other locality” to stop. That was the reason he cancelled history (and logic) and said Nigeria gave birth to its parents, the constituent parts. Did Atiku write those lines with his nimble fingers or a paid agent wrote them for him? If an agent did, he should run away from the person. A nation is a forest, it may be dense when viewed from outside, but every insider knows that each tree in the forest has its place. The Nigerian forest owes its existence to the trees and the shrubs and the creepers, it is not the other way round. It is not logical to say the Nigerian house birthed its building blocks.

If you don’t have all the facts, don’t judge. If our politicians do not know how to navigate the darkness of this Nigerian night, they should learn to stay at home. I remember the former vice president joined the chorus for restructuring of the Nigerian federation a few years ago. He did tell us that he understood everything connected with it. And he was quite lucid in espousing the fine details of true federalism. So, sir, is the market over so soon? When he wanted to be governor in 1999, why did Atiku not come down south to pick one of the 17 states as his own? When he wanted to site his American University, what informed his choice of far-flung Yola as the host? Why did he not take it to Aba or to Ilesa, his in-laws’ place in Osun State or even to Abuja, the nation’s capital?

Governor Bello Mattawale of Zamfara State also said his own; he spoke clearly about where he belonged in the current debate on how to treat the bandits kidnapping and killing the young and the old across the north. He said: “If you investigate what is happening, and what made them take the law into their hands, some of them, sometimes were cheated by so-called vigilante groups. They normally go to their settlements and destroy property and take their animals. They did not have anyone to speak with, so sometimes, they go for revenge. When the vigilante group attacks them, they go for reprisals.” This governor rammed his conclusion in. He said leaders should get to the genesis of the problem and not conclude that all bandits are criminals. I heard him and shouted that he was right – after all, in Nigeria, “not all robbers are thieves.”

Nigeria’s needle of peace has fallen into a deep well. We could see many from everywhere looking into the well and chanting all sorts of madness. So, what is the way out of the mass death, mass abduction and mass misery which the north has imported and distributed to all of Nigeria? With those weapons displayed by the northern bandits in photos and videos, is it not clear that the bad situation may get worse? Who will retrieve the lost needle? Definitely not the specialists who are in photoshoots with bandits, murderers and kidnappers. Who else? The president? He is not talking, he is not moving and I understand. Is it not said that he who is being carried does not realize how far the town is? Anyone who is not part of the solution is obviously part of the problem. A heart patient once suffered a blockage like our nation suffers. Surgeons did a bypass and got blood into the heart again. What we need, going forward, are people of wisdom who would go down the well and retrieve peace for us. We need to know who is picking the bills for the bandits; we need to know who is supplying them weapons of war and for what purpose. We need to know why terrorists get sympathy from the elites of the north and why no northern leader fights for the northern victims of banditry. We need people who will say ‘enough is enough’ and speak for the long suffering villagers of the north – and of the south. We need people who would say ‘these poor people deserve peace,’ and that we all do and that even the mightiest eagle comes down to the tree top to rest. May the north learn to clear its forests of bandits. May the south know how to bolt its doors. May God chase war away – far from this land.