Living in Fear

 The situation we have currently found  ourselves in Nigeria,  no doubt is pathetic.  The majority of our citizens now  live daily in fear. From the north to the southern part, it is fear!  For instance, residents of  western Nigeria now witness all manners of kidnapping, killings and other anti-social vices and the residents in the eastern region, a once enterprising headquarter of Nigeria, wake up daily to witness  theatre of ballistics war. Indeed,  it is no lie, if anyone said, no region is totally peaceful in Nigeria at the moment. 

In fear and in tremble, we all live. On our highways, we drive with fear, at our homes, we sleep with one eye opened and the other one  half - closed. At work, we are always at alert and security conscious, just so, none is caught off guard. In fear, Nigerians search for their economic livelihood everyday. Our higher institutions that supposed to be citadels of learning, where future leaders are groomed for the future prosperity of our great nation, pathetically have all become prey and at the receiving end of the nefarious activities of kidnappers.

It is with fear that pupils in the northern part of Nigeria attend schools , the evil kidnappers, terrorists and hoodlums have made an industry out of these places by kidnapping innocent secondary school students and demanding ransoms in millions of naira and killing their victims when funds are not paid. It is such state of fear we are all living.

Not even the western part of the country that was hitherto known for peaceful co-existence and economic prosperity  is spared. The different tales of kidnapping, banditry, killings and wanton destruction of lives and property as a result of herdsmen clashes with their host communities have all made a once peaceful Odua nation, a sorry case. In the East, the ethnic jingoistic have also taken advantage of the unfortunate situation in the country to mimic their separatist  rhyme  of war, while the kidnap kingpins have made an  industry and a kill out of kidnapping activities. In the south-south, recently,  a ballistic war is being prepared by the Ijaw Youth Council over a  matter that common sense should ordinarily solve. In fact, the activation of  ballistic impunity,  tears, sorrows and bloodshed in our polity, points to one thing....absence of peace!  If you asked  the governor of Imo State, Mr Hope Uzodinma whose house in his country home was attacked with casualties and wanton destruction of his property recorded, would tell you, we are all living in fear and no one is safe!

We are in such  a tragedy at the moment, a country filled with bandits, terrorists, robbers, ethnic jingoists, killer- herdsmen and all manner of nefarious characters unleashing unrest, tears, sorrows and blood in the polity. Worststill, is that those who wield political power seem to be helpless but live in continual ignorance that no one is safe again. If the President's state is not spared, how safe is any other place in the country?

Currently, the book of lamentations prevails majorly in the north-central with obvious convictions that the hitherto underrated local terrorists,  have an inflated audacity to challenge the constituted authority and make bold statements that they are really serious at what they do. In the past weeks for instance, in Kaduna, Benue, Niger, and the Zamfara state just to mention but a few, have tales of sorrow, tear, and blood, that have made some of the residents of the communities flee while the few who stay put live in fear.

The biggest existential threat to our corporate existence as a country is the current state of insecurity and what it means is that if we do not combat this ugly situation on time, none will be positively impacted by its intended outcomes. We are already in a country of precipe and only the cooperation of all of us can salvage our predicament. The government needs to convince us with actionable policies to make this a history, our security apparatus also needs a more tactical approach, as well as a sound intelligence moves alongside the purchase of more sophisticated armory, while all ethnic separatists need to think more about the strength in our togetherness and majority of our fellow citizens should keep hope alive even in their tribulation.

This is one of the ways we can all cease to live in fear and move on as a united people.

Femi Ojo is a Media Communications/PR professional and a serial entrepreneur based in Lagos State, Nigeria.