It was George Orwell in his book Animal Farm that told us of a group of animals who ousted human beings from the farm on which they lived because according to them “Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever.” The Animals led by two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon adopted seven commandments to guide them in leadership among which was “All animals are equal.” That was their most important commandment. In making “All animals are equal” the most important commandment, they recognized the fact that without animal equality they were still going to end up with the same challenges they faced while living with Man.
A week ago, depending on the news channel you subscribe to, no fewer than a hundred innocent people from across eight villages in Borno and Adamawa state lost their lives like animals to the devilish attack of the Boko Haram sect. These attacks also displaced thousands of people from their home. Also, about twenty young female students were abducted from the Government Girls Senior Science Secondary School and Ashigar School of Business and Administrative Studies by the same sect. In all of these, they have been no official statement from the Presidency condoling with the family of the deceased or even assuring the families of the kidnapped students on efforts being taken to have their children released timely and unhurt.
While all these was happening, Nigerians were being fed on social media with various pictures of the President touring cities to visit traditional rulers and churches for reasons one can only imagine. The only statement attributed to the Presidency was “We have been having our own unfair share of these negative news brought about by Boko Haram, but we believe that God knows it all. Without your prayers, probably it will have been worse than this”. You can hiss again.
About three days after this sad occurrence, news filtered in of the shocking death of Senator Isaiah Balat, the Special Adviser (Special Duties) to Vice President Namadi Sambo. And pronto, a condolence letter was release for him by the Special Adviser (Media & Publicity) for the President.
This has left me asking if all human beings are still equal. Are some lives more precious than the others? Is the life of a Special Adviser to the Vice President more precious than the lives of over a hundred people in Borno and Adamawa State? Do the lives of people in All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled state valued as those working in a People Democratic Party (PDP) Presidency?
Section 14(b) of the Nigerian Constitution says: “The security and welfare of THE PEOPLE shall be the primary purpose of government.” Keyword there is primary purpose of government. Of what use is the Federal Government if citizens keep being exposed to blood sucking idiots? We all thought the declaration of a State of Emergency would bring back normalcy to the affected States but it has not and nothing shows things are improving for better.
Since the Federal Government does not care, we should individually or in groups reach out to the families of those affected and find out their needs to see how we can support them. Like the animals in Animal Farm, we as individuals need to rebel against the “I don’t care” attitude we exhibit when killings like this occur. All manner of death is tragic. Whether you are located in the east, west, north or south the killing of innocent citizens by Boko Haram should concern you. We can only develop as a country when we adopt the maxim that “All human beings are equal” and treat an attack on one of us as an attack on all of us. It is time to start asking and probing on behalf of the others. We would only begin to reap the fruits of unity, when we understand that we are all equal no matter the language we speak.
My prayers are with the families of those who have lost their lives in the hands of Boko Haram and also the family of Senator Isaiah Balat. May God give you all the heart to bear the (in)evitable loss.
– Ofordile Tony-Okeke @oforokeke
Views expressed are solely the author’s
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