By James Sunday, FCAI. MNIIA.
A problem left undefined remains unsolved. Many people loosely use the word genocide in different scenarios, yet very few offer meaningful solutions. As an analyst, what many refer to as genocide is actually intolerance in its full-blown form.
Fast forward to today’s Nigeria, where mayhem and wanton destruction of lives and property have generated mistrust, fear, and hatred across the land. Today, people are seen as enemies simply because they look, dress, eat, talk, or worship differently.
For many of us who lived through a better Nigeria, we know a different reality. We are witnesses to a long history of tolerance among people in this country, when Christians shared Christmas food with both Christian and Muslim neighbours without discrimination; when intermarriages were common; when we attended the same schools and hospitals.
Today, the pattern has shifted. Schools and hospitals are now established to serve specific religious groups. This is a sign of growing intolerance.
Let us properly define the word genocide. It is the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, with the intent to destroy that group.
Acts that constitute genocide include:
killing members of a group without justification
causing serious bodily or mental harm
deliberately inflicting conditions meant to bring about physical destruction
Following recent mass abductions of students across Northern Nigeria, federal and state governments have responded by closing boarding schools throughout the region. These panic measures are not only retrogressive, but they also play into the hands of terrorists.
In the 65-year history of Nigeria, never have schools in an entire region been shut down because of a terrorist threat. This narrative suggests an avoidance of confrontation with enemies of the state.
Nigeria is gradually becoming a potential theatre of proxy conflict over highly coveted rare-earth mineral deposits, which Northern Nigeria, from the North West to the North East and North Central, is richly endowed with.
Terrorism has been a national tragedy for 16 years. Boko Haram has operated for 12 years, and the Lakurawa terrorists for 8 years. Concerned citizens, including traditional rulers, elders, clerics, Christian leaders and the media, have been working tirelessly to calm tensions across communities.
Meanwhile, banditry continues to spread like wildfire, extending into the South West and South South. A disturbing pattern is emerging across the regions: a sophisticated strategy by kidnappers, bandits, ISWAP, Boko Haram, and Lakurawa terrorists to destabilise multiple regions and render them ungovernable.
These attacks are intense, vehement, and unimaginably widespread. They are frightening and instilling genuine terror across the country.