By Leonard Karshima Shilgba
When they attack those we consider “innocent”, we get angry. They (who attack) are angry too; but why?
When they kidnap people from whom they assume ransom can be forced, we are angry. Why do they attack?
When our farmers are attacked, killed or wounded, we get angry. But why do they attack?
We call them “terrorists”, but what accounts for this transformation, or were they born so? If this is a transformation, not congenital, who are the artists, the architects, and the general craftsmen?
Why do they attack our institutions: the prisons, the traditional security agencies, the legislative buildings, religious centres, our schools and universities, etc? Can we decode their coded message?
Why don’t we seek to learn their language; why do we seem unable to learn; why are we not thinking?
Why do we assume there can be external help at no price? Why do we act like the price can be afforded; why do we seem to prefer a “cure” that shall worsen the disease? Why do we assume the profiteers are not the saboteurs?
Why can’t we acknowledge that it is time for the troubled nation to hold a family meeting?
Is it not time for a sovereign national conference?
They want to break out, we want to break out too. They accuse us, we accuse them too. They are angry, we are angry too. Then, let us sit down and talk frankly, openly, and unconditionally. But to talk profitably is to first think deeply and soundly. Can we start thinking?
Are you afraid of talking? Are you afraid of losing some? Would you lose all then? That is the fate if you lose faith in me. I own this troubled nation as much as you do. If you don’t trust me, why should I trust you?
The centre is giving way; the boundaries can’t hold either. If we can’t fix the national ailment, we can’t fix the sectional ones either. There is no help from the US AFRICOM. The big man of the troubled nation should desist. His Macedonian call is fraught with secondary crises.
INEC is only doing its duty; it has proposed a timetable for the ritual. But the ritual for 2023 should not be the priority for the troubled nation. We must talk first. The legislature must work for this, prepare the legislative framework for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) instead of calling for some nebulous “Emergency” in Nigeria’s security processes.
Let us start thinking. Let us start the serious talk to rescue the troubled nation.
We are all angry, but are we thinking?
© Shilgba
Photo Credit: The Guardian Nigeria
