OP-ED Opinions 

Tragedy In Zabarmari And Other Matters By Achike Chude

The funny man or clown, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman says that the slain farmers in Zabarmari village (110 of them according to the UN), Borno State, Nigeria, needed permission from the soldiers to farm. Perhaps he is unaware that in some parts of the North East, even the soldiers need permission from Boko-Haram to operate.

What else is there to say about this country and government? There is nothing new. With what we see and experience everyday in our dearly beloved country, it is almost easy to say that we are finished. So easy to say that President Muhammadu Buhari is about finishing what his predecessors started – the total and final humiliation and despoilation of Nigeria. Some are saying that he has come to put the final nail on the country’s coffin. I do not know about that. All I know is that in an earlier Facebook and social media post I had argued that one of the reasons President Goodluck Jonathan was sent packing was because he claimed that he was no army general or field marshal, therefore could not deal decisively with the situations at hand in Nigeria. Nigeria and Nigerians needed a general and ‘field marshal’ to root out Boko-Haram within months as promised by Buhari. My contention in that post and write-up was that President Muhammadu Buhari, previously considered a lion, had become a kitten before the ravaging and rampaging Boko-Haram Killers. 

Our country is in a very difficult and almost impossible place. Do we give up completely? Do we throw up our hands in total surrender and proclaim victory on behalf of the forces seeking our country’s final humiliation and defeat? It is difficult to hope, to believe, to see anything good ever happening to us as citizens of a potentially great country. But believe, we must! Hope, we must! I had reminded us somewhere else that it is at the darkest point of night that dawn breaks. Our dawn will come! So my fellow citizens, my fellow Nigerians, friends and compatriots, regardless of your pains, your disillusionment, your Hopelessness, regardless of your religious inclinations, your ethnic proclivities, and your geo-political leanings, get up and believe that a  new dawn will break in this country. Wake up from your dark reveries and see the gloom of your despondency lifted up. There is a silver lining somewhere. You do not see it or refuse to see it because you believe it is over.



Those who afflict us will only do so for a time. Soon, very soon, you will look for them and see them not. Their cup is almost full. When the hour cometh, you will understand the statement that ‘no man controls all the variables of life’. 

“There is a tide in the affairs of man, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” says William Shakespeare. 

We missed the initial tide before, and in the wake of our independence and have struggled as a country ever since. This time around, in spite of the crises in our country, the cacophony of noises, the discordant tunes, the poverty, the unmitigated lootings and corruption, the acts of injustices, the violence, the perfidy of the ruling class, the crass mediocrity and apalling myopsm and nepotism in government and governance, another flood, bringing good fortunes and blessings is coming. We must see it for what it is and take it at its peak at high tide. 

Nigeria as a geo-political expression is too beautiful and inviting, in spite of her many ugliness, and Nigerians as a people are too resilient, too innovative and ambitious to wallow in failure. We shall arise! We shall yet have cause to be proud of ourselves and our nation. But only after we have gotten rid of the cankerworms that deny us our joys and happiness. 
And get rid of them we will. 

EVENTUALLY.

Sourced From Sahara Reporters

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