I just returned last week from a short visit to London. One of the major news items there was the re-opening of an inquest into the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 when some spectators died during the F.A. Cup semi-final football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. When I heard this, I shook my head. These “oyinbos” are still concerned about deaths that took place 25 years ago. But here in Nigeria, there is no serious inquest into the deaths of job-applicants to the Nigerian Immigration Service in several cities just this year. A Senate Committee spent a perfunctory two days paying lip-service to the disaster. The Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, refused to resign. His understanding of his responsibility did not go beyond mouthing vain platitudes. The government imposed no sanctions on those who turned our stadiums into death-traps simply in order to defraud the poor unemployed of 6 billion naira. A court-verdict ordered that 50 million naira compensation should be paid to the suspended Central Bank Governor for his unlawful detention for 24 hours. How much compensation should be paid for the senseless deaths of innocent job-seekers? Official neglect The government has passed legislation criminalising homosexuality in Nigeria without regard for the implication of this for fighting the scourge of HIV/AIDS. After South Africa, Nigeria has the highest number of HIV/AIDS patients in the world. Who cares if by criminalising homosexuality, homosexual patients are discouraged from seeking such medical treatment as are available locally? Let them die; and if they don’t, we can certainly stone them to death if we ever discover that they are homosexuals. Boko Haram insurgents go to churches to kill Christians. Christians go to church prayer-meetings to kill their enemies. Atheists go to “babalawos” to negotiate death-sentences for their rivals. It is no longer a big deal to hear of Fulani herdsmen killing the innocent, or of area-boys executing jungle-justice in our streets. It is now all par for the course. Let us face it: there is no regard for human life in Nigeria. In Nigeria, we love life, but promote and encourage death. We lavishly celebrate births, but disregard children after they are born. The Israelis would move heaven and earth to protect and defend the life of one Israeli. But governments in Nigeria don’t give a damn whether a Nigerian lives or dies. Over three million Nigerians were slaughtered in a three-year civil war; and yet there is no national memorial commemorating our loss. The victims are gone, what else is new. |
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