DISASTER AND GRAVE DESTRUCTION FROM THE NORTH.

Nigerians need to know their God and activate their guts!

Security is a fusion of ‘In God we Trust’ and ‘Concern for Happening Around’. Most of the youths in Nigeria within the age bracket of thirty and above will allude to watching bombings of cars in the streets many years back, in Asian movies and Hollywood action packs. Worse still, we soon began to watch the likes, live on news media, sooner than we thought, overrunning the Middle East without malice obscenity. Talk of the Afghanistan terror, talk of the one in Iraq. For the most of the news enthusiasts, empathy trilled our hearts, as we always prayed they survived what has come to be known as the latest charter of brutality. Indeed, the vicious blood thirsty beast from hell has begun his campaign among nations. September 11th, the US was woken from its sleeping bed, never to sleep with two eyes closed.

One will wonder if sanity has been lost to planet oblivion. Our sons and even daughters who have volunteered themselves, soul and body for the Mission Inhumanity are still hovering amongst us with the beaming smiles of their past crimes. Dastardly as their acts and action seem, the escalating gravity of their reoccurrence shows that they are soaring in their disgust. If a fellow man will be so mean as to want to roast another man in a bath of ‘red-hot-coal’ then, it is high time heavens blew the whistle for the world to be called to a halt.
It is just like yesterday, when in company of friends we chinwag and mourn the losses of foreign nations to terrorism. We hadn’t the slightest imagination that an army-of-calamity was brooding at our backyard. The Independent Bomb Blast tagged IBB rocked Nigeria in 2010 leaving her citizens with a psychological shock that leave our future a mirage. The eco of the incident reverberated across the land lending hallucinated visions to most of our brains. Many Christians thought, as at then, that it was the last sign heralding the end times. Even when we were yet to wake up from the dreadful dream, the insurgency waved sporadic attacks across more states in Nigeria, to confirm without doubts that they are home to stay. The President’s speech asking Nigerians to see Boko Haram as part of us was the wakening tweak that starred the reality of terror in action among Nigerians. Though many citizens where at parallels with the comments of the president. It took time for citizens to come to terms with the wise saying that; ‘the first way to start solving a problem is to accept the existence of the problem’. Not without much resistance, we had to grudgingly accept the dented tag that ‘Nigeria is a Nation besieged by terrorism’, the government swing into action to prepare the military for counter terrorism. So far the fight has been dwindling to and fro, leaving Nigerians in hopeless hopefulness.
My recent study of the book of Jeremiah 4:6, “Raise a banner towards Zion! Run for your lives, do not tarry, for I will bring evil and great destruction from the north.” left me spell bounded as to whether the writings where encoded revelations pointing to the avalanche of calamities that rains over Nigeria.

The recent bomb explosion meted against innocent Nigerians, who were diligent enough to wake into the day with resilience for the job-front, was indeed mayhem. The terror aroused a lot of thoughts over our level of insensitivity to lives and properties. Even though some families were not directly affected, tomorrow’s threat holds much to be perturbed about.

Nigeria is no doubt a nation with one of the most religious population of worshipers, Christian or Muslim alike. Following the heinous crimes perpetrated on citizens by their acts, it makes one ask what kind of God we worship that has earned us this fate. The religious leaders are the worst for it, as they have never failed at seeing prophesies of advancing doom, but nothing is done to salvage the eminent danger. The words of our Holy Book is sufficient to make a case for ‘judgment’ for these religious leaders who have soiled their hands as abates while evil reigns in their camps. The same Jeremiah 5:28-31 saying ‘they have become fat and sleek. Great is their wickedness; there is no justice in their judgment; for they do not protect the orphan’s rights nor defend the needy’s cause! Should I not severely punish them for such things? – it is Yahweh who speaks – Should I not exact vengeance against a people like them? A terrible and abominable thing has happened in the land. Prophets prophesy lies and priests teach what pleases them, and my people like it to be so. But what will you do soon?

I don’t mean to trade words with the so call holy men but, I know God is alive in Nigeria. The most important aspect of our reality is that Nigerians are becoming more and more concerned with the security of their lives. The military has been on there toes ever since. They have been exceptionally tactful in their defensive scheme. We never can tell how many plans were thwarted by their operations. But, for a country of 160millions inhabitants with extensive terrains, we as citizens will have to join in the military surveillance. There is the urgent need to let go our long cherished I don’t care attitude. The war before us is advancing without retreat and demands our courage and cooperation, if the common enemy must be made shelterless. As it is right now, the hunter knows the pray and is persistently hunting the pray concealed in the camouflage of the prey. This is to simply say, the fact that we don’t know the terrorist is because we have not united well enough to make the terrorist obvious amongst us.

What must we do to make the hunter be the hunted? It is simple logic I wish to share to fellow countrymen. Just make sure you start knowing at least 50 persons that leaves around you. This does not presuppose going to seat and gist with them, it’s all about interest. Be interested in knowing their jobs, their beliefs, their personality, their acquaintances and their activities and movements. This is the first step to becoming a resourceful community to security agencies whenever the need arises.

Then afterwards, as you go from place to place, be on your guard and be alert for informal news and pay attention to the happenings that rent the air, giving the choosy ones your interest. This does not mean that one will abandon his day’s duty for other errands. Just be little inquisitive, you might just get a wind of info necessary to save lives. I tell you, no secrete is safe even in a vacuum. The walls will speak to you if you care enough to listen. When we care enough about ousting ill minded individuals from our society, God will care enough to guide a sensible Nigerian at some point to a trail a nest. The issue is most times when these malicious plans are at the verge of unfolding, someone is likely to be at the verge of not paying attention to secretes hidden in the open.

With just these attitudes sustained without compromise, our collective intelligence will work better than the Global Positioning System GPS in fishing out these brood of vipers living among us as men. The true Nigerian spirit never gives up. That is why we have survived our ills by faith. We do not fight a religious war Christian vs Muslim, neither are we in a regional war North vs South. Just check around you, the disaster we see today comes from the North. The North is not restricted to the geographical demarcation of Nigeria alone. But any spirit within us that has placed us in the edge of aridity, damping our value for lives and enslaving us under the clouds of religious misrepresentation is indeed the north I see destroying our beloved Nigeria. May God see us through the turbulent waters of terrorism.