How are the mighty fallen?
The mighty is the Giant of Africa, and he has been soaked in his own blood, unable to reuse himself to fight because he has been inebriated by the enemy within; but the sons of the terrorists are rejoicing? Why? Because they have touched us at a place where it hurts the most. All Nigerians are now like Fulani cattle for slaughter.
On Sunday, June 5, 2022, a total of 70 people were killed in Owo, Ondo State, and Adara, Kaduna State. In Owo, the terrorists invaded St. Frances Catholic Church and killed 38 persons on the spot, including men, women, and children; while in Adara, the so-called bandits raided the community with about 150 motorcycles, with three men wielding AK-47s on each, killing 32 people. Most Nigerians were unable to eat after seeing the mutilated lifeless bodies of children lying in the pool of their blood.
This savagery against innocent Nigerians has elicited a torrent of lamentations, one of which came from the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji,  last week, when he said, “Nigeria is bleeding. Our land is soaked in blood. From North to South, East to West, blood is flowing like  river. Nigerians now live in fear and anxiety, as a dark cloud of uncertainty hangs over the nation. Nowhere is secure. Our homes, our highways, our institutions of learning, and even our sacred precincts of worship centers, are all unsafe. Why has our country become so insecure, while we have a government charged with the responsibility of defending the lives and property of one and all?”
Another heart-wrenching lamentation from last week came from Most Rev. Ndagoso during the funeral service of Rev. Fr. Joseph Bako Aketeh,  who was kidnapped and killed by bandits with his brother. The Archbishop said, “This is the first time I am presiding over a funeral mass without the corpse. We hope that one day we would be able to see even if it is his bones. Nigerians are wornout due to weeping; our eyes can no longer produce tears. Bandits are terrorising with impunity. Does our government care about our pains? Something is happening, they have failed us.”
As if having terrorists in the gab of bandits, prowling, raiding, and killing people and destroying communities in Southern Kaduna is not enough, we now have to deal with the controversy surrounding the report from locals that the terrorists in Southern Kaduna now have aerial capability.
According to reports, the attack on Sunday in Southern Kaduna was executed with aerial support from a helicopter. Even though the Kaduna State Government has debunked the report, there are still many unanswered questions. Questions like, are the people of Kajuru and Kaura Local Government Areas all hallucinating? Is it that no one in the attacked communities can identify a NAF helicopter?
But there is more, in February this year, a helicopter was sighted during the attack in Kaura LGA; and according to reports, this has become almost a regular occurrence since 2016. In February also, Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, the self-acclaimed spokesman of the bandits, alluded to the plan of the bandits to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and other sophisticated weapons; and with this latest attack, it is clear that Nigeria is at war, but the Nigerian Army is missing in action.  The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai has accused the military of failing to act on intelligence, regarding the precise location of the Fulani terrorists; even when they are able to monitor the IR telephone conversation.
Is the primary purpose of government no longer the protection of lives and property? If this cardinal obligation of government is sacrosanct, and President Buhari’s only active role in our security is that of Commander-In-Chief, how then is he able to remain in power, while the blood of those he swore an oath to protect continues to flow like river? The fact that the whole country has become a killing field is apparent to all. However, no section of Nigeria has suffered the wrath of the sacred killers as much as the North. Even Buhari’s home state of Katsina has not been spared; people have been kidnapped and killed even in his local government area.
Why  is it that a  failure like Buhari’s administration is allowed to continue? Why are members of the APC of northern extraction in the National Assembly  unable  or unwilling to call for Buhari’s impeachment; even when his weakness killed, and continues to kill their people, and decimate their communities?
Just last week,  British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson,  was almost removed from office in a No-Confidence Vote. He survived, but the Prime Minister of Pakistan was not so lucky. He was removed from office in April in a similar No-Confidence Vote. Boris Johnson may have survived, but that singular action by the House of Commons was as good as reprimanding him.  Why is our polity different? Why can’t Buhari be impeached?
A man who initiated the destruction of this country even before he became president. A president that was given $1 billion for the acquisition of military hardware; but to date, he has no tangible result to show for it. This is a president whose body language is government policy, and his current posture is being interpreted by the military Top Brass as meaning, ‘Deal kindly with Boko Haram, marauding herdsmen, ISWAP, terrorists, bandits, and Ansaru that is responsible for the Owo attack’. Remember Buhari’s comment during President Jonathan’s administration, that “any attack against Boko Haram is an attack against the North”. Thinking of it now, that statement is equivalent to hate speech, especially against the people of the North East; because, here was a Fulani man from the North West sabotaging the efforts of the  government in power from protecting the people of the North East.
In fact, his posture might be the singular reason why the Nigerian Air Force is yet to deploy any of the six newly acquired Tucano jets to wipe out the terrorists in the forests of Kaduna State, almost eight months after their proscription by a court.
President Buhari is a man with the issue of blood; however, unlike the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible, who spent all she had to find a cure, Buhari by his body language, appears to  like blood, and he told us so himself as far back as 2012, when he said,” if what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.”
It is unfortunate that in 2022, Buhari’s dog and baboon are the Owo 40, the 32 villagers in Adara, Kaduna State, 48 farmers in Borno, and the more than 200 IDPs killed in Zamfara State between April 10 to 16, Deborah Samuel, the list is endless, and history would remember that during a particular week in 2022, April 10 to 16, with Buhari as president, 30 innocent Nigerians were killed daily. This is his legacy.

By: Raphael Pepple