When reason depart

Unfolding events make you wonder what it is that has caused Nigeria to suffer the prevailing level of dislocation and lawlessness. Every one should act reasonably. This is the one single requirement for a society to exist and have its people enjoy peace and harmony. Once being unreasonable becomes the norm, society eventually gravitates to […]

Unfolding events make you wonder what it is that has caused Nigeria to suffer the prevailing level of dislocation and lawlessness. Every one should act reasonably. This is the one single requirement for a society to exist and have its people enjoy peace and harmony. Once being unreasonable becomes the norm, society eventually gravitates to even chaos. This is tending gradually to become the story of Nigeria – a country in which the high and the low do not act reasonably any longer.

From a vintage position, we tend to locate the fault outside us. Why should there be mass disobedience of the law to the extent that a particular crime like kidnapping and the demand for ransom suddenly becomes the vogue? We have had it like this in the past, a specific crime suddenly becomes the modus operandi of criminals. Armed robbery of banks and travellers was when the security community battled and caught the Oyenusis and the Aninis. Then drug trafficking took attention and its momentum increased. Then with the onset of religious fundamentalism came faith based conflict and violent confrontations taking lives and property. Then we had the Maitatsine riots which were quelled. For some years, the petty crimes held away, and suddenly the Boko Haram developed and became an insurgency that Nigeria is battling with up to the tenth year today.

Today, Nigeria has a reputation for being the most dangerous place to live in. Bandits have taken control of highways robbing the poor, and kidnapping those who look well to do for ransom. Kaduna – Abuja highway has been practically conceded to bandits. It used to be a two and a half hour jolly ride. Today it is avoided for fear of the kidnappers. The newly introduced train service now ferries the high and low as the commuters, many of them senior citizens who once ruled this country. Quietly as they sit through the train journey they reflect and discuss in low tones on the broad subject of what could have happened to our country.

My reflection today is that Nigeria and its people have suffered the departure of reason. Does reason depart a nation? Yes it seems, reason does depart in such a way that no one acts reasonably, not the leaders, not the led, not the workers nor their manager, not the politicians and nor their supporters, not husbands nor their wives, not parents and nor their children. Reason just has taken flight out of our nations.

I am forced to ponder this way because I have difficulty in seeing events happening in the country as attributable to any sense of reasoning. Somehow, citizens have become unreasonable, speak negatively in language that tells you we are suddenly without faith in the rule of law and have simply become criminally minded. In all fora of discussion given the impact today of social media, supposedly responsible people suddenly wear the toga of sensationalism and lead their lowly and ignorant in hate speech, doomsday predictions and unsettling negativity. In discussing this, I had reason to say that much of the negativity we see today emanates from the fact that the rain of justice in Nigeria appears to only fall on the poor. The rich can enjoy freedom as unconvincted criminals tethered to our long rope of a defective justice system. There is also political frustration in the land – the minority Igbo for instance are hard put to find how one of their kind can get to lead Nigeria, however competent he is, whereas a Northerner however “incompetent”, will always win in an electoral process that gives advantage to the most populous ethnic group. We speak it, but do not have the willingness to make rotational power sharing happen. In nearly all states of Nigeria, this primordial frustration exists, and is a cause for desperate negative rhetoric and criminal thinking. This repeats itself in the patronage made possible by the political economy that favours only the winners and their attached friends and family. Abduction and kidnapping for ransoms is a wicked last resort of the disgruntled folks made ignorant poor and disfavoured by an uncaring system. This Nigerian nation needs a whole rebirth. From top down, we need new hearts, new songs, and each and everyone, a new spirit. There is a void that the negative narrative is filling. Our situation is not helped by the glaring failure of powers that be across the board, to include vulnerable communities in the scheme of things. You can cover all with patriotic rhetoric, truth be told, Nigerians generally do not have a sense of belonging.

I sit at home today and reflect on the glaring divide between my tribe the Bachama and the Fulani, as there is no love lost any longer, when these were people who once lived progressively well with one another, sharing seasons. Then there was no knowledge that we call education. Today we are daggers drawn, manipulated into that excision of reason by the wicked elite who have suddenly disappeared. The ordinary herder and farmer have lost friendship they once had, and the ecosystem has been adversely affected. Grass that cows would have fed on is now overgrown, enabling rodents and reptiles some of them dangerous, to overgrow beyond control. The harmony has been disturbed against the will of both contestants and against the will of God. It is proving difficult to address the matter as a small spark sets off an ogre of killings. This is a source of negativity since people are perpetually daggers drawn over a land resource that ironically is sufficient were it to be enjoyed in mutual respect brought about by reason.

Alas, reason has departed. This is only one example. Every State you go to you discover that reason has taken flight indeed. Chaos looms. In a new normal – we apparently have resolved not be law abiding, this is the negativity reflecting. It is the handwriting on the wall. A nation dies, when reason leaves and is replaced by irresponsible rhetoric from men supposed to be leaders. A nation dies when abuse of power stands logic on its head, allowing some to break the law especially of pillage of the treasury, and get away with it, while others are sanctioned severely for petty crimes. There may seem peace and quiet now, but like it says in scriptures, just when you think it’s peace and safety, sudden destruction.

We have refused to methodically narrate the cause of our degeneration in comparison to less opportune nations that today fare better than Nigeria in peace security and development. All, because reason has departed, taking with it, our rational thinking. Of course all hope is not lost and we can stagger back and away from the dangerous precipice, if President Buhari rallies the leaders around him, if central power takes the initiative. Will he? Will it?