Southern Kaduna, Katsina, And Zamfara: We Hear You! -By Muhammed-Bello Buhari

1. Oh Southern Kaduna, Katsina, and Zamfara! It’s really midnight at your homes, your communities, and your surroundings. And the darkness is so deep that you can hardily see which way to turn.

This past weeks, we have watched in horror, outraged at the killings of innocent lives unfolding in the place you call home. These killings were a tipping point for events that are reverberating throughout the Northern Nigeria.

Banditry has been a part of Nigeria’s broken system for far too long. It has been institutionalized and weaponized in the North, allowing for unconscionable words and actions to become the norm rather than the exception. I condemn it in all its forms.

It’s really an understatement to say that Nigerians are simply misgoverned or oppressed. We are smothering in a hermetic cage of corruption and bad governance amidst insecurity and a few corrupt affluent politicians.

This is no time for apathy or ethnicity! This no time for party politics or empty philosophical debates about freedom on social media space. This is a time for vigorous and positive action! Now is the time to lift our country from the quicksand of bad governance to the solid rock of good governance.

History has indeed, thrust this our generation an important destiny to complete and cleanse the stained and tainted democracy in our dear country. The future of Nigeria is bound in the present crisis. And if Nigeria is ever going to be a fully democratized country where the right to life of everyone is guaranteed then it all depends on all of us; the collective will and duty of all of us as citizenry to dramatize the irresponsibility of our government.

Its recognized that systems are designed for the results they get. It’s true that we have all deeply contributed to the status quo, maintaining silence, sitting with that discomfort, and moving to do better.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin

It’s hackneyed principle in any progressive democratic atmosphere that ‘hiding truth is always the same as telling lie’. Therefore, this times calls for us to stand for Truth and Justice. This generation must not allow evil to continue unqueried and unpunished. The lines are drawn, we either stand up for Truth and Justice now, or continue to face the consequences of neglect and silence.

Therefore we should not sit back and watch or keep out mouth shut, while darkness is overlapping our country. We must all rise to the defenders of the status quo. We must all work to make a better Nigeria. And we must do it because we all have conscience. It’s only when the people begin to act are rights in the Constitution given real life existence.

We are on the move now, we must remain awake through this challenging era. Any real and positive change in the status quo depends on the continued and selfless action of the people.

Dear Southern Kaduna, Katsina, and Zamfara! We weep for you and we hear you! But It’s very obvious and unfortunate that the government(s), whose primary purpose is your security and welfare – do not or cannot hear you; or do not want to hear you! This is a tragedy indeed.

And perhaps it is easy for those who are uneducated or beneficiaries of the status quo or from the elite class to support, celebrate, and justify the atrocities currently in motion in Nigeria, but only that it might be your turn very soon. Because power is transient. I repeat, it’s transient! Your family might be the victims of this social evil tomorrow if this killings continue to happen (Godforbid).

I therefore call on the government to wake up and realise that it is really midnight in Nigeria, and that only their effective and proactive actions can eradicate this social evil with immediate effect.

And I salute those who are marching in the streets to bring about this much needed change.

We must continue to preach the gospel of good governance and keep on constructively criticizing irresponsibility and inefficiency irrespective of who bear the brunt. Never shall we relent nor comprise our voices. Posterity will surely vindicate us, by God’s Grace. So help us God!

By Muhammed-Bello Buhari

A Human Rights Activist and An Advocate for Good Governance.

Contact: embbuhari@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @mbbuharii

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