In
my foray into the world of English literature,
I have come across two epics with ‘tales’ incorporated into their titles. One of them is the
Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, which I read as a HSC at Federal Government Enugu, 1975-1977.
Canterbury Tales is a collection of diverse stories as told by pilgrims from
London to Canterbury Cathedral, all in efforts to kill time. My
most favourite is the story by the Wif of Bath and my greatest
takeaway from the entire tales is ‘if gold shouldst rust, what shalst
iren do’? The next , A Tale of Two Cities, was authored
by Charles Dickens and revolves around social class, revolution and personal sacrifices. It
explores the contrasts between two cities and starts with this famous statement: ‘it was the best
of times, it was the worst of times’.
I note sadly that this is a reflection
of the unfortunate Nigerian situation today. For BAT and his gang (Shetima, Fisrt son and First ‘dota’ of the republic, Akpabio,
Gbajabiamila, Mele Kyari, Wike, our ‘Sinnators’ et al) and
even some private sector operatives like Dangote, Otedola and Elumelu, this
is the best of times. For the rest of us, it is the worst of times!Unfortunately,
I don’t know where to place Joe Igbokwe!
Sometimes later, I got acquainted with Tales by Moonlight, an
NTA programme, designed to teach
life changing values to children
through folk-stories. That was when NTA was NTA, and operates from evening to
10pm in a black& white mode. One thing is common with these
tales: they are works of fiction, imaginative products of fertile human minds. Unfortunately, the
tales I am about to re-tell are real-life and unfortunate developments that show Nigeria at
its nadir.
The
first one is ‘Tales from Gobir’.
Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa, Sarkin Gobir of Gatawa District of Sokoto State and
his son were kidnapped by known
bandits, who demanded for some huge ransom. They threatened to kill him
and he pleaded with his people, government and indeed to the whole world to
rescue him by tangoing with the kidnappers. When nothing happened, they killed
him on 29/7/24 and went on to place a ransom
on his corpse! His family and community ignored them and buried
him in absentia… according to Islamic laws. I call on the Guinness Book
of Records to take note of death of an
emir in kidnappers’ den, ransom on a corpse and burial in absentia. A few days after the Emir was murdered,
the bandits stormed the community,
kidnapped about 150 people and hustled
about 1000 cows (and they will probably sell these cows to known people in
known markets!!!). This was probably as
a punishment for collaborating with
security operatives and proving to them that the security men assembled in the
town could not do much. The son of the late emir, who is lucky to be
spared, had openly accused a known person of complicity in the
case, claiming that their captors told him pointedly that they were mobilized by Hon XYX to
do the deed. Yes; they are all honourable men! On this, I
have no comment! The Gobir Development Association has also called on
State and Federal governments to retrieve the corpse of their Sarkin from the
marauders for proper burial while accusing the Sokoto Sultanate Council of
insensitivity to their plight!
The second one is Tales form Zurmi. We woke up the
other day to ‘see’ Turji and gang celebrating the ‘capture’
of two new APCs and
assorted arms from the Nigerian army in a country under the leadership
of APC. However, while Turji claimed to
have seized the warring equipment from our gallant soldiers, the tales had it
that the soldiers decided to withdraw when the battle became more intense than
expected, especially as air-force cover failed to arrive, and that the APCs got
stuck in the mud, where Turji and Co arrested them. Many
questions were running around our heads,( including what the soldiers should
have done to the equipment before retreating) when the military
authorities mercifully, debunked the
story, stating that it was a stale video (even quoting when it was posted
before) of what happened somewhere outside Nigeria. Nigerians do not trust
clarifications from the security people (Police, Army, DSS) but it is good for our mental health, to trust them this time around and this
is where I leave the matter at that. But what do people gain by manufacturing,
resurrecting or transmigrating stories?
The third is Tales from Moriki. The one and only Turji, the terrorist-in-chief
imposed a penal levy of N50m on the people of
Moriki in Zamfara State as an
appeasement for his cows killed by a JJC military commandant.
They pleaded with him (yet he is UNKNOWN and occupies an UNKNOWN space!!!)and the compassionate Turji mercifully reduced the collective tax by 40% to N30n with an immutable deadline. The difference is clear
because our government would have
ignored the pleas or told the people to GO TO COURT! The local
military authorities asked the people not to pay the ransom since they would be protected and
promised never to attack cows (???)of the known Bandit-in-Chief..
But the people are more willing to obey Turji than listen to the military
because they knew what Turji is capable of.
They have levied family heads, N10000 and other adults N2000 for that
purpose. The military has mobilized, and after neutralizing other Chief
Bandits, assured that Turji would soon fell. But Turji remains defiant, asking
the soldiers to walk the talk!
In addition to the tales, there are some stories. (For the difference
between tales and stories, consult me offline!). The star story is that a family, which desperately wanted to
secure the release of a relative, was
ordered to produce N35m in cash, 6 fresh motorcycles, 4 cartons of whiskey, 10 packets of tramadol,
a bag of indian hemp, a carton of Aspen cigarette, 12 bags of 50kg rice, 5 bags
of 100kg beans, 25kg jerrycan of
groundnut oil and 25kg jerrycan of red oil, 1 carton of seasoning, 10 packets
paracetamol and 10 packets chloroquine. As they were ready to deliver, the criminal entrepreneurs instructed them to
make the motorcycles combat-ready by fueling them 100%!!! These would require a
small truck to convey and I wondered why they did not get the security forces
informed or how they moved into the
deadly forest-zone with this armada
unnoticed. I then heard that they sought
security clearance before
proceeding only for soldiers to intercept them, briefly detained them, profiled
them and wished them well in their trip! Security clearance to deliver
ransom? But I have heard years back how security operatives took part
of the ransom and asked the bearers not
to worry about the shortage because they ( the kidnappers)will
understand!
Cattles murdered in Brinin Deji cattle Market
There are other small-small stories, like the
people of Wushishi Estate in Mina ( Niger State Capital)who were ordered to
vacate the estate with their heads still on their necks or else… as well as the community in
Taramuwa LGA of Yobe State where about 120
people were butchered by the bloodthirsty bandits; 20 medical students
kidnapped on their way to Federation of
Catholic Medical and Dental Students (FECAMDS) annual convention in Enugu;
bandits who invaded a hospital and abducted both patients and medical staff, 5
security personnel guarding Setraco Ltd
and some construction workers murdered by bandits at Yandoton-Tsafe village in
Tsafe LGA of Zamfara State; how they murdered a driver and fed his corpse to
their dogs; how 15 people were abducted in Kaduna,; how some trainee
bandits who kidnapped 7 people in Anguwar Barde village, along the
Kaduna-Abuja highway requested for a ransom of only N2m( That is why I believe
that they are still apprentices!); how gunmen
in military uniform stormed the Sabon
Birnin Daji Cattle Market in Kaduna
State, and killed three persons and over
100 cows.
Kidnapp Statistics
Beyond stories, we were
informed (what is the difference between tales, stories and information?)
by Prof Akintoye that 29000 Yorubas have been murdered by herdsmen. We used to
call them Fulani herdsmen, but not anymore; just as herds men
invasion, murder and destruction of farmers and their farms is now labeled
farmer-herder clashes, with the farmers mentioned first!!! The Chief of Army
Staff has also informed us that 2m security personnel cannot effectively
protect 200m people, thereby telling us in effect that
we are on our own! Ngozi Okojo Iwealla further informed us
that insecurity has been weaponized by politicians “ who believe that the best way to make their opponents
look bad is to instigate insecurity, making it look like they can’t govern,
regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent
Nigerians’ She just confirmed what we had suspected ALL along!!SBM Intelligence has also revealed that from July 2023- June 2024, N6bn was demanded as ransom but only N845m was
paid, an information that has been beautifully repackaged by NAIRAMATRICS
above.
It was
then that I remembered the query to security agencies and our communication ministry by Chaly-Man
on why they could not track the bandits up-north who demanded for ransoms,
negotiated with victims’ relatives, and
operated freely in the social media. I also wanted to ask why people who
effortlessly traced End-HuBaGo protesters, their financiers and
supporters, including the Whiteman who
wanted to coup BAT, and Ajaero,
their Collaborator in Chief
could not track and finish these audacious bandits and end their
blood-chilling reign of terror. However,
I heard another story. The story, which
is connected to this question, which I had not yet asked, has it that the real-time tracking technological
platform procured in 2015,that once
helped the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, to crack many criminal cases ended
up being used by politicians to monitor
their “enemies and mistresses”. ‘This device also helped
investigators analyze the locations and patterns of calls made by the
kidnappers, the routes, and potential safe houses. and provided valuable
evidence, such as call records, location data and communication patterns, to
build a strong case against the kidnappers. “Due to the failure to pay
subscription fees for about three years, and after a grace period had expired,
the company overseeing its maintenance and upgrade decided to withdraw its
services This story was told by a retired senior police official
who violently shook the table in
an interview with the Vanguard. Did this explain the other stories? Did it
answer most of the questions running
round our heads? Anyway, other stories reveal the successes achieved by our
security operatives in neutralizing
other small Turji’s in town including Kachallah Buzu, Halilu Subudu, Lawal Dodo, Jambaleri and
Hosseini Osman. They have promised to serve us the head of the original Turji
on a platter and we are waiting. We also
heard that the 20 medical students are now free (Freed, rescued, ransomed?)
and that staff and students of Federal University Gusau are now joyfully free after a 7 months
sabbatical in kidnappers den. I
rejoice with them but I believe that
they should first go for socio-psycho and medical rehabilitation before going back to school. They should also write
a memoir to be titled: inside the kidnappers den or Alive to tell the
tale!!!
When I studied literary appreciation during my HSC programme, there were no correct answers. Each candidate did his or her own analysis and was rewarded according to the logicality of the analysis, its believability, the grammatical structure and such other criteria that could even turn a saint into a sinner. These tales and stories I have just told do not have any answers, do not require recommendations and do not pass any specific information. Each reader should interpret as the spirit directs, bearing in mind that I did not concoct any of them. Meanwhile, I await the head of Turji who had the audacity to ridicule our security forces.
Turji
addressing his crew…from the grave?
But I
close with one last tale or story or information. The Secretary to The
Government of the Federation, George Akume, one of those most corrupt governors
identified by Ribadu in his first coming (together with BAT, OUK & Akpabio), informed us in May this year that
BAT had finally and completely
finished the terrorists within
his first year in office. So, who are these Turjis terrorizing us today? Are
they the descendants of the original Turji or are they dead ones operating from the graves? If you are
surprised that Ribadu is now working for and with the most corrupt former
governors, then you are not a Nigerian
-
“Find a great mentor, someone who has already been through the many challenges of being an entrepreneur..” -Jodi Levine
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