Never have things been this difficult for us, and never, in the history of Nigeria, have the people been as divided as they are presently. Similarly, Nigerians have always been angry with successive governments but not to the extent they are with this government because of its failures on many fronts.

The misdeeds of this government are so clear that even the blind can see them; the worst being that this government can no longer secure lives put in its charge. In a single day, no fewer than seventy innocent Nigerians were buried in Benue State owing to the brutal killings by some herders. This government has defied the very reason for its existence.

We dare say that enough is enough, bearing in mind the lines of Martin Niemöller: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak – Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me –and there was no one left to speak for me.

Now is the time for Nigerians to stand together for what is right and speak out against the evil that pervades our land. The mindless and unscrupulous killing of people by the Fulani herdsmen, therefore, must stop; injustice and imbalance in the distribution of the nation’s wealth, otherwise known as political corruption, must also cease.

We must not be cowed to silence. Now is time to rescue our dear nation, and not when it is grounded.

Although it is not a novelty for the Nigerian state to rob her citizens of their fundamental rights, which are theirs by nature, it is most disheartening that virtually everywhere in the country, life, the only property the poor Nigerians are left with, is unsafe because of the activities of the marauding herdsmen. Rather than allaying this fear, the Buhari-led government still plans to legalise the senseless killings by establishing cattle colonies across the country. This, surely, is a strategy to pacify the aggressive, blood-thirsty and murderous herders, and we declare that

it is wicked. Who is still in doubt that

this government is for some people and not for everybody?

The urgency with which the government is going about this project also leaves much to be desired. How is it that the same government that has, for two-and-a-half years, failed to secure enough lands for commercial agriculture and plantations, in order to rescue the ailing economy, is so desperate in planting colonies all over the federation for the Fulani herders? When did cattle rearing become the business of government, not even as it constitutes an existential threat to the nation?

Sometimes, one wonders what the Nigerian masses have done to deserve this ignominious treatment. Is this how to pay back the electorate who voted this government into office against all odds? As it stands, it is clear that this administration does not have any good plan for Nigeria. It is merely taking the country back to the primitive age and blocking the people’s vision for a better tomorrow, while the rest of the world is leaving us behind. Nothing shows that Nigeria is progressing with the rest of the world. In the 21st century, we still grapple with herdsmen killing people brutally while the rest of the world is thinking of settling in the space among other technological advancements.

All is not well and everyone must speak out. We cannot afford to continue to live this way – living the single life that each one of us has in misery and uncertainty because of some heartless creatures. Nigeria belongs to all of us and not to the Fulanis alone.

No slave owner would heartily free his slaves. It is the slaves who must be wise to free themselves. It is time Nigerians took their destinies in their own hands. We need to cry out more than ever, even with our last blood, that we want a change of the way our life,  as a people, is being structured. Of course, we will continue to turn in the same kind of government if we do not follow the path of reason. Only a fool will continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.

The warped structure the military foisted on millions of Nigerians has to be re-negotiated.  It is the reason that all these anomalies are having a field day. The federal government must realise this and find a way to restructure this country peacefully before it is too late when we shall be compelled to do so by force.

ROVING LENS