Whistles of War -By Okike Benjamin

Nigerian soldiers, operation python dance in South East

Whistles of war are being blown by every ethnic group in Nigeria. There are ethnic groups blowing such whistles aloud whereas others are blowing theirs in their minds. Our youths are being used as instruments for whistle of war blowing. But unfortunately, Nigeria politicians are buying trumpets for these youths in addition to the whistles that the youths already bought with meager money at their disposal. The sounds of the trumpets and whistles being blown produce better and faster sounds to reach all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

Although, our so called elder statemen are pretending not to hear these sounds of the ongoing whistles and trumpets of war. Some of them are sitting on the fence with the intention that before the war eventually starts, they would take off from this nation, Nigeria.

Whether Nigerians like it or not, the tension within the country now is already high and any little thing that would ordinarily have been ignored may likely cause ethnic conflicts, which may lead to civil unrest. It is easier to predict the start of war than predicting the end of war. I believe that when Boko Haram catastrophic whistles started in the North East, politicians within that geopolitical zone embraced their sounds as a means of silencing or even eliminating political opponents. With time, Boko Haram sect members were no longer under the control of their political sponsors/godfathers and godmothers as well.

Those politicians believe to belong to (Any Government in Power (AGIP) group should use their closeness to this administration to advise them to tread on the part of peace by doing the needful immediately. I can recall vividly when this government was ‘young’ in office, I wrote against the lopsided appointments made earlier by this administration, but nothing was done by the government of the day to balance the political equation of the country. For those of you who never read my writeup, you can still read that on the website: http://www.olufamous.com/2015/08/open-letter-to-president-mohammadu.html

This political imbalance has led to agitations and counter agitations by various ethnic groups and has brought us into this present-day quagmire. I may not want to comment on the issue of QUIT NOTICE to Ibos by the Northern Youths at this point, but the reason for that may not be unrelated to the agitations for self determination by Nnamdi Kanu led group and the stay at home order on 30^th May, 2017.

In any case, there is no doubt that the President has done much to douse the tension, but an administration ought not wait for tension to be high before waging into the matter. I believe in the saying that ‘prevention is better than cure’.

Now that we are in this precarious situation as a nation, the only solution is for the President to deploy wisdom in doing the needful by carrying restructuring of the country.

Okike Benjamin

Okike Benjamin,
A teacher in the Department of Computer Science,

University of Abuja, Nigeria