Game with death in Nasarawa

In the process of knowing the people I have also learnt about their villages, their towns and their traditions.Except for the motorbikes which seem to outnumber all other vehicles by a ratio of roughly seven-to-one, Lafiya the state capital would have passed for the most tranquil city in the entire nation, when suddenly its merchants […]

In the process of knowing the people I have also learnt about their villages, their towns and their traditions.
Except for the motorbikes which seem to outnumber all other vehicles by a ratio of roughly seven-to-one, Lafiya the state capital would have passed for the most tranquil city in the entire nation, when suddenly its merchants of death awoke. On May 7 when against all wise counsel the Nasarawa state government embarked on a mission to obfuscate the powers of a traditional medicine man Baba Alakyo, they did not envisage what would befall their security agents.
The mission, instead of putting a stop to the exploits of the Ombatse cult, which is sweeping Nasarawa state like a plague, only further emboldened mischief makers and blood-suckers. Several dozens of security agents lost their lives in what many described as mysterious circumstances but with all fingers pointing in one direction. The painful thing is that nothing has been done to ameliorate the scare that the cult inflicted on the people and nothing seems to be on the way.
As a sequel, a group of about fifty women drove in a convoy of eight vehicles, some say five, including pick-up trucks and nine-seater buses purportedly carrying a coffin. This trick caught the military and police checkpoints off-guard as the women were indeed not mourners but couriers of arsenal, including guns, machetes, daggers, chain saws and hand grenades which they promptly delivered to their male compatriots to embark on their mission of death to exterminate the people of several villages belonging to neighbouring communities.
More than twenty people were killed; properties worth millions of naira destroyed and a myriad of houses were pulled down. The most fascinating aspect of this aggression was the determination by the assailants to also fell all trees that gave the people shades or daily relaxation. By the end of the operation some towns and villages under Obi Local Government Area as well as Obi town itself were in tatters. The Ombatse cult group has also vowed to continue their rampage until their enemies vacate their towns. But to where?
Legend has it that all these killing have their roots in the forthcoming 2015 governorship elections. Another source however attributed the mayhem to the killing of a lone Eggon native who was apprehended with arms, amulets and charms at a checkpoint somewhere in the precincts occupied by the Arago people. Both may be true but both do not warrant the kind of retaliation that followed especially in this day and age.
However, there is a more fundamental disconnect that results in these barbarities. It is the collapse of the social contract between the leaders and the led. Also is the failure of the elite, not just in Nasarawa state but throughout the country. Many would wonder why young people who should aspire to be upwardly mobile descend as to become vehicles of destruction in the hands of self-serving politicians. Some intellectuals see the serious emphasis on religion and ethnicity as the cause of the crises. The ideological basis of our nationhood has given way to parochialism, nepotism, open mutual suspicion and religious fundamentalism. As a result, corruption and violence have grown in direct proportion to the emphasis on religiousity and piety. This is what compels the Eggon youth in Nasarawa state to see an inchoate and old medicine man as a pathway to resolving the difficulties of life currently confronting them.
Today, there is a game with death in the state. It is like ping-pong. The Arago youths have also girded their loins and are spoiling for war in the form of a return-match. I am aware of several efforts by well-meaning Nasarawa people to broker peace on the matter but the grim challenges confronting both the Eggon and Arago leaders does not permit them the luxury of meeting just for the sake of getting together. It is a pity that the situation I met in the state the last time I was there and the pronouncements from the various warring groups do not give me much cause for either cheer or optimism.
After just a cursory look at the towns and villages most of which have been deserted by their local inhabitants and left at the mercy of vultures to pick up the carcass, I found that the scars of war that have been left behind are more deep-rooted than one can ever imagine. There is tension everywhere including inside government offices where hitherto friendly colleagues now become estranged and suspicious of one another.
It is fearsome that once this extends to schools, the situation might worsen as children would be difficult to pacify in a kalabalik of this character.
Right now the state needs relief of all sorts. Lafiya is filled to the brim with refugees who were lucky to escape unhurt or with various degrees of injury, and who have relations in the city. Apparently what we are witnessing s that leaders are more concerned, even deeply involved with their political survival more than the survival of their communities. While from all indications politics is at the root of this evil, mere jamborees of the elite cannot calm the frayed nerves that litter the area. The security men that stand sentry in the ravaged villages we all know are not going to be there endlessly just as neither is peace in the city likely to endure if the problem is not nipped at the bud. A word surely is enough!