Brutus, a leading figure among the conspirators that assassinated Julius Caesar, said: “Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers. Let us kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; we shall be called purgers, not murderers”. Similarly, Casca, another conspirator, said: “So often shall the knot of us be called the men that gave their country liberty”. Purging and cleansing of society by means of bloodshed had been an old practice, even when such projects are motivated by envy, ambition and other hidden agenda.
The purging and cleansing mechanism which we call Nemesis operates in such inscrutable ways that defy human interpretations. It happens that when human beings become too obtuse and proud that they forget that ill-disposed people are many in every society, that surprises visit, to jolt the people up. We hear about the Incas, a highly civilised South American race which settled in Peru long before European immigration. They were happy, easy-going people who did not reckon with the fact that there can be ill-disposed people on Earth.
The ancient Incas were attacked by another vicious race and destroyed along with their highly civilised culture. The race of vicious invaders took advantage of the lapses observed among the Incas, which included accommodating hospitality that believed other people were also as simple, easy-going and generous like the Incas. The result was the destruction of the race of the Incas, wherein began the idiom that eternal vigilance is the price for liberty. The weak goes to the wall.
A vital lesson which we can learn from literature and history is the need to remain alert, cautious and vigilant, even with close associates. Despite his valour, Othello, the Moor of Venice, had a personal weakness which accounted for his fall. Hear how his servant, Iago, described him: “The Moor is of a free and open nature, that thinks men honest that but seem to be so, and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are”. Truly, like an ass, Othello was led into killing his wife, Desdemona, through the instrumentality of calumny, gossip and set-up.
Listening to and acting upon the basis of gossips and calumny can be described as a personal weakness which can ruin leaders and men of valour, like Othello. We can hardly doubt the fact that many Nigerian political leaders can, like Othello, “as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are”. No one should doubt the fact that a peculiar weakness in Nigerian leadership posture is inability to take independent decisions based on personal conviction, without external prodding or influence. Such proddings and influences can come from quarters that it would be hard to displease or disappoint.
In Nigeria, for example, the current use of the terms bandits, insurgents, etc, had arisen probably because of inability to “call a spade, a spade”, as an idiom goes. The fact that herdsmen became associated with carrying firearms which also led to terrorizing farming communities and persons, cannot be described as false. Similarly, it is true that the increasing state of insecurity is associated with Boko Haram insurgents. Such insurgents have been known to terrorise and kill people. What purpose?
Among places and people terrorised by the Boko Haram insurgents included places of worship and clergy men. Such terrorist activities have currently included the abduction and kidnapping of students from their campuses. The current trend is a shift of the locations of banditry to the southern parts of Nigeria, which had been relatively peaceful. From Ebonyi State to Rivers, increasing acts of banditry and terrorism are taking place, purportedly committed by unknown gunmen. The commonest crisis in Nigeria is the alarming state of insecurity, with hardly any prospect of an immediate abatement. Helpless!
If, in the words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “there’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”, then it can be said that the current turn of events in Nigeria, like other places, is not without a similar special providence. To say that “there is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will”, is similar to saying that events do not happen by accidents. This line of philosophy may be too hard for some people to accept as valid, but it is true to say that for every effect there is a cause whose origin may not be immediately known.
Let us admit that human beings have been deceived for too long, by individuals and authorities that arrogated to themselves the right to lead and guide the masses. There are ignorant and false shepherds that have led the masses into desolate wilderness and perdition, with false claims, promises and doctrines. Like the Incas of old, the gullible masses have been too care-free and complacent to be vigilant, alert and watchful.
Matters arising from the recent Southern Governors’ meeting and decisions taken by them, have exposed the hypocrisies in Nigeria. For example, reactions attending to the decisions for a national dialogue and a ban on open grazing, are distasteful to some sections of the country. We cannot deny the fact that the current security crisis can be linked with Boko Haram insurgency and cattle-herders/farmers’ clashes. There was a security report long ago that cattle would be co-opted as instrument in the pursuit of some hidden agenda, including the brewing of population figures.
The time has come for Nigerians to recognize the fact that what we call Nemesis is an instrument of “a special providence” that acts as a balancing system to sanitise human lapses. Human lapses range from aggressive brutality and blood-letting, to excessive docility and gullibility. Both ends of human weaknesses must be checked and then balanced through bitter experiences, requiring introspective leadership. But in a situation where leaders are ignorant of the regulatory mechanism of Nemesis, then the masses suffer double jeopardy.
Regulatory mechanism of special providence ensures that darkness destroys itself and its works through the instrumentality of its activities. Hence, conspirators, assassins, bandits, insurgents and all categories of violent and smooth criminals, serve as purgers, not murderers, when Nemesis is at work. Actors in the services of Nemesis rarely know the guiding mechanism behind their roles. Nigeria will be cleansed through this mechanism and hypocrites would cease to call murderers bandits.
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.