In the month of June 2018, so many Nigerians died. One is too many, but this, this is unforgivable. A state is meant to protect, or else it serves no purpose. There must be a reckoning somewhere, someday, because all our thoughts and prayers and self-glorying testimonies are an affront to the dead.
Around the 2nd of June, cattle thieves were said to have killed at least 20 people in Zamfara state, but due to disparate accounts, there is no reliable record of the dead.
On the 16th of June, suicide blasts in Borno state reportedly resulted in at least 31 deaths. There is no reliable record of the dead.
On the 21st of June, ‘clashes’ between farmers and herdsmen in Plateau state resulted in at least 86 deaths. Some put the numbers at 200. There is no reliable record of the dead.
On the 28th of June, Lagos, a petrol tanker caught fire in traffic. 50 cars exploded. The death toll has been said to be 9. But in reality, there is no reliable record of the dead.
In Nigeria, there is no reliable record of the dead… never, except in the earth that swallows them.
This is the state of Nigeria. The earth has swallowed so much blood, it is amazing that the earth does not animate and swallow us all.
I think now we need to be bold about what future we want to see. I have said many times that I am not wed to the continuous existence of Nigeria if it remains inextricably linked with the continuous and escalating destruction of her people.
We often say that we want to rebuild/restore Nigeria. But we forget that Nigeria was built for the sole purpose of extracting resources from the many to the few. A thing will always do the thing that it is created to do, and if we want a thing that will do what we want it to do, we must create it. And those who are benefiting from the old thing will not agree to the creation of the new thing. The old thing cannot become the new thing, we cannot turn a house into a car, or a pencil into a motorcycle. There is no adaptation to be had here. The nature of the thing limits the scope of what we can adapt it to.
The state is the problem. It was created to be vampiric and toxic to its people and will continue to suck the life-blood out of its people until there is nothing left and then walk around in their corpses till we turn to dust. We cannot restore what never existed, we cannot rebuild what never was. The vampiric state must be done away with. Staked through the heart of its corruption. So that its malaise becomes nothing but dust… a foul memory, a sceptre of reminder of a path that we must never walk again. So maybe the earth will be able to rest from its bleeding and weeping. One day. But we must act. Now.
