ALUU 4 – the terrorist in all of us by Tope Fasua

f I meet you today, it does
not matter if I’ve always
known you. If you are a
Nigerian, or even an
African, I will peer deep
into your eyes, I will watch
your every move. I will
listen carefully to what you say. I will
observe what you wear, the
decorations around your car, the kind
of phones you carry, the religion you
subscribe to. I would wonder what
sort of evil you can get up to in a
moment of madness. Don’t blame
me. Curiosity got the better of me,
and I watched the beating to death
and roasting of four university
students, down south in the very
‘civilised’ city of Port Harcourt.
Initially when I heard about the
incidence, I refrained from watching
the video because I knew it would
have some terrible effect on me.
Even as a child or teenager, every
time I saw the charred remains of an
alleged armed robber on Lagos
streets, I often wondered if indeed it
was a real robber or just some
unfortunate bystander who was set
up in a jiffy and who bore the brunt
of a deaf and demented mob, baying
for blood. Yet this is supposed to be
year 2012 for crying out loud, and
the south of Nigeria always claims
this pedestal of being ‘enlightened’
than the rest. Our sociologists are
merely carrying paper certificates
around, no one is using their
knowledge to analyse and advise
their society, and we have lost all
humanity, even as we preen about
cockily, feeling that the world is
under our empty regal feet!
Nigerians would wonder why the
world dislikes, distrusts and disdains
them, when we wallow in the most
despicable acts, fuelled by a warped
belief system. In my book, I
emphasised that there is a need to
fix our cultures, otherwise it fixes us.
Seems the latter has become the
reality.
I saw four young men naked on the
ground, surrounded by either Bible
or Quran wielding Nigerians. I
suspect it was more of Bible-
thumpers because of the location
being Port Harcourt. I saw them
being bludgeoned with sticks and
iron. Two of them had very deep cuts
in their head, blood streamed all
over the ground. One was out cold,
perhaps dead. Then the clip moved,
and one of them attempted to get
up. He staggered. All of a sudden fire
appeared. The two that could still
move were pushed into the fire, and
someone added petrol. One of the
boys was already consumed fully by
the fire. The other tried to stagger
away but was pushed back forcefully
into the fire, as someone added even
more petrol. It was the most horrible
reality clip I had ever seen, and
would question the humanity of
Nigerians in my mind, perhaps
forever. Of course all four died.
Young, enterprising university
students. Perhaps wayward. Perhaps
members of some gang or the other.
But certainly they were most
unfortunate to have been caught in
the glare of a demented Nigerian
mob and therefore were cut down
most gruesomely in their primes.
I have been thinking very seriously…
Why would a Nigerian want to
summarily kill another? Why would
Nigerians gather, watch and cheer
away as four young men are being
gruesomely, slowly and painfully
murdered? What rights have we to
claim any iota of civilisation after this
event? Who will we blame this time
around? The Military? The
Government? These four students
were being roasted to death even as
the internet sites were agog with the
comments of Professor Chinua
Achebe in his new book ‘There Was
Once A Country’. Many people from
the South-West felt Achebe was
unfair to the memory of Obafemi
Awolowo and to Yorubas in general.
Many Igbos were reliving the
unfortunate events of the Civil War.
My take was that Achebe is an old
man, absolutely entitled to his
opinions, his memories, his
prejudices, even his dreams. But who
are we in our own generation and
time, to complain about the bestiality
of the Civil War era, when we would
mete out even worse treatment to
human beings for whatever reason?
Who is crazier; the man who ‘starves’
other humans or the one who clubs
them, machetes them and then set
fire to them and adds petrol, or those
who watch and cheer??!! Rivers State
is one of those that has been
collecting huge amounts from
government as a result of being an
oil-producer, but in that same state,
hundreds died from scooping fuel the
other day, and now this. Is the
money doing the real people any
good at all in terms of bettering their
lives, and educating them properly?
Or are we just subhuman such that
no amount of money can reform us?
This matter throws up a number of
issues, but the annoying part was
when I watched the debate at the
Senate and many members stood up,
gave eloquent speeches and asked
that the incident be ‘condemned’!
Condemned? What effect would that
have on anything? Would Nigerians
stop doing crazy things because the
Senate ‘condemned’ those who killed
4 students in broad daylight? I
doubt. We need people who will act,
not those who will speak flowery
words. We need people who will
teach, not those who will pontificate.
We need people who will take on the
arduous task of analysing what the
problems are, and proffer workable
solutions, and follow through with
their recommendations, not those
who will dress up flamboyantly every
morning, speak big ‘grammar’, and
get paid a king’s ransom for
debating.
The other day we watched a video of
Fulanis allegedly roasted and being
eaten somewhere in Plateau State. A
BBC reporter was there and reported
about the cannibalism. When I saw
these students being roasted, a
thought coursed through my mind
that only cannibals would do a thing
like that. Perhaps many Nigerians
still harbour such primitive
tendencies, which unfortunately has
become exacerbated by our fanning
of anger in the land. I warned a few
years ago, that we were sowing the
wind and will reap a whirlwind.
Politicians, civilians and so-called
intellectuals take delight in whipping
up negative sentiments against their
perceived enemies. Newspapers revel
in bad news and see them as
opportunity to make a kill. Nigerians
see tragedy, anger, murder, rape and
so on, as opportunities to make
money.
We have become a nation of GHOULS
and SADOMASOCHISTS. We seem to
now seek sadness and anger
wherever they can be found. So
killing four university students (who
may be cult members if they were
armed as alleged), is just a nice
sporting event since we couldn’t win
a plastic medal at the ‘Olumpics’. The
government itself see the
opportunity of terrorism being
unleashed – usually on the poorest
people – as opportunity to shut
themselves in some more and use
monies meant for education,
infrastructure and development, to
buy more arms and ammunition, and
the latest protective gadgets. The
government purchases private jets
and bullet-proof SUVs as if those
items of vanity are going out of
fashion. The poor people or Nigeria
are left in the lurch…
So, blame not the military. Stop
being a coward by blaming dead
people like Sani Abacha. Blame
yourself. Blame me and you, for
being wide awake even as our people
drift back to the dark ages. But
perhaps you could do better. Starting
today, ensure your thoughts,
speeches and actions, are directed
towards bringing out positive
emotions amongst our people. Our
people need help. They need re-
education.

#CONSENSUS 2015