Who Will Protest To Seek Justice For Harira And Four Murdered Children? -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

What better explains the killing spree that is witnessed on daily basis in Nigeria if not absence of governance? It is an understatement to say there are ungoverned spaces in Nigeria. This sounds as if there are governed spaces. The rate at which terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, thugs, kill and go is alarming. Nigerians are fed up (including apologists of this regime).

Apologists who wrote in defense of this regime are now apologizing for their apologias. Their apologetics are now indefensible not only due to the widespread insecurity in the land but because of the staggering revelations of corruption in the government of their lord(Mr. Integrity). They are making a U-turn not because they are willing but because the regime’s failure is (as it is now) glaringly indefensible.

The rate at which people passionately murder fellow beings in Nigeria is sickening. More sickening is the fact that no one is brought to book. Most sickening is even the knowledge of every willing killer that they will kill and go and nothing will happen. Nothing emboldens and incentivizes killers to kill than the knowledge that they are free to kill.

Shouldn’t it scare us that killing is becoming a profession in Nigeria? What am I even saying!? Is it not a profession already? Do those forest guys in states like Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and other places have other work than kidnapping and killing? What about the unknown gun men in the South? What is their profession if not killing?

What offence did Harira, a mother of four, commit that unfortunately took her to her grave? How callous are her murderers who could not spare her children? Her heaviness (being pregnant) which should bring forth in them the human sympathy did not restrain these bloodthirsty criminals from the ruthless act. This want of mercy best characterizes those who are destined for Hell.

What is saddening is that virtually all of our local and international newspapers, with the exception of Daily Trust, did not find it worthy of their front pages. Some did not even report it at all. Those who reported it did it in a tongue-in-cheek manner.This makes tongues wagging withnagging voices such as; ‘a Muslim soul does not matter,’‘souls of northerners are worthless in Nigeria,’ ‘the shamelessness andhypocrisy of the media are glaring,’ etc.

This is, apparently, in reaction to the killing of Deborah in Sokoto for her diarrhetic mouthiness—foul-mouthed utterance against the best of mankind (SAW). Understandably, Deborah committed a punishable crime. What we vehemently condemned was the mob action. What crime did Harira commit in Anambra State? Why were her four kids considered unworthy of existence? What role did the fetus in her womb play in the crime for which it was mercilessly murdered along with its mother?

This is bad. We should also ask: why did the media suddenly become tongue-tied? Where are those ‘patriotic’ and ‘concerned’ Nigerians who protested and continue to protest the killing of Deborah? Why have their lips become so irredeemably glued that they cannot even feign concern? It is unfortunate that in Nigeria our reactions to crime are determined by who commits it and who the victims are. Until we undress criminals—by taking away their religious cum ethnic garbs—we shall continue to react stupidly to issues of lawlessness, corruption, and criminality because bigotry reigns supreme over our intellects and informs our views despite our educatedness.  

So, who will protest to seek justice for Harira? Who will gift the husband, and father of her four murdered children, a befitting house to live in? He said he is relocating to his hometown, Adamawa State. He had been working as a security guard. Who will cater for him as he relocates to his hometown—as a bereaved jobless man? Who will clean his tears?

He is wifeless, how do we help him with a caring wife. He has lost everything, how do we help him to have things that will bring happiness back to him? Evidently, his wife and children cannot be replaced in the real sense, they have reached the point of no return. However, our willingness to help him could be a great relief. Good Samaritans should, as a matter of urgency, come to this man’s aid. We ask The Almighty to console him and admit his wife(Harirah) and his children into Paradise.

Though it happened in a suspicious succession, I do not think Harira’s killing has anything to do with Deborah’s. We should be ambassador of peace. Retaliation shouldn’t be encouraged. The southeast terrorists, just like their northern counterparts, seem not to discriminate in their killings. They are sanguinary killers who love the spectacle of blood. Just this week, mass killing is reported in Borno and Katsina. I don’t want to mention the reported number of those killed. It is harrowing. These killers (may be in the south or in the north) are avowed enemies of their Creators.

Under the watch of our elected president, governors, representatives, and other political office holders, Nigeria is literally becoming a modern state of nature. What a terrible watch are they! There is God. And there is afterworld accountability.

In today’s Nigeria, everyone, as it seems, has the right to take the soul of any other person with no consequences. The souls of Nigerians in Nigeria are becoming (if not already) the most worthless on Earth planet. Or where else is life so cheap like Nigeria? This makes me sick. Shall we continue this way?

We are heading to a situation where people will be proud of taking souls of fellow beings as hobby. And with the perennial increase in the population of unemployed youth, I pray not to witness a time when job seekers in Nigeria will start mentioning ‘killing’ as their hobby in place of ‘reading’ or ‘sporting’ or ‘traveling’ in their CV. May it not even happen. God! Help Nigeria. 

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

@salahuddeenAbd