In a grotesque manner, 16 Nigerians travelling from Rivers State back to their homes in Kano State were murdered by a group of vigilantes in a village near Uromi in Edo State last Thursday.
They were traditional hunters who plied their profession in the forests and thick undergrowth of Elele in Ikwere Local Government Area. And, as I said earlier, they were making their way back home to Kano State to celebrate the forthcoming Eid-el-Fitr which took place at the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan. Indeed, all of them were observing the fast, which was nearing its end and their expectation was that they would arrive at their village of Toronkawa in Bunkure Local Government Area of Kano State in the morning of Friday and proceed to prepare for the Friday congregational prayers as well as the Eid which was expected either on Sunday or Monday depending on the sighting of the moon.
It was not to be. The 16 Nigerian citizens met their brutal and fiery end in Uromi after the vehicle in which they were travelling was stopped by a group of local vigilantes. Despite identifying themselves and producing their valid hunting licences, the vigilantes were not convinced and there and then they proceeded to pronounce judgements that the travellers were kidnappers and bandits and decided to summarily execute them in the manner they did.
I was not a witness to the ghastly events at Uromi, but with the graphic accounts of the survivors of the tragedy and other witnesses, it was easy to reconstruct what happened. And what happened in Uromi that Thursday, March 28, and the aftermath of it throws up a number of issues that mirror the reality of our country, which challenges our conscience and civility as citizens of Nigeria.
Let us face it, that for a number of reasons, it should not come as surprising to us that the travellers died in the manner they did at Uromi. In the context of the Nigeria of our times, from the moment the travellers left Elele in Rivers, there were several reasons to believe they would meet with death one way or the other and that until they arrived back home in Kano in one piece, they were like other road travellers in Nigeria, virtually dead men on the road.
The reality in Nigeria today is that travelling by road, whether in your vehicle or by anyway of conveyance, one is more likely to meet death from many sources. Bad roads, reckless drivers, armed robbers, bandits, kidnappers, hostile communities etc are some of the causes of deaths on Nigerian roads. You could also find yourself in the middle of sectarian clashes of which you know nothing and be summarily killed.
But a recent dangerous dimension added to these is the element of hate, profiling and prejudice introduced by war merchants stoking the embers of conflicts to score cheap political points. They are aided in this by internet warmongers and media warriors who spew hate-filled drivel fuelled by dangerous blissful ignorance.
It is this concatenation of prejudice which has unfortunately become embedded in our public space and national discourse, that led to the gruesome death of the travellers. In this regard, the travellers, travelling as they were from their base in Rivers stuck out like a sore thumb and were sitting ducks to people who had been conditioned to think of them in worse terms. Passing through villages along the way, they would have made a curious, unfriendly spectacle in some places and in Uromi, where they met their end, they were identified as people from that part of the country who kidnap and kill people at will. And some would think of them as people from that part of the country responsible for all the ills bedevilling it.
And the tendentious and provocative statements directed at that part of the country from internet and media war mongers would have motivated those who stopped them not to hand them over to the authorities as they should, but to proceed to execute them as they did. And such incidents have happened repeatedly in the southern parts of the country.
But then, if northern lives are regarded so cheaply, then we need not look further than the North itself for this. Over the past two decades, northerners have been killing each other in great big bleeding batches without any concerted efforts by leaders of the region to stamp out the scourge. Indeed, while there have been great outrage shown at what happened in Uromi, we must admit that far worse had occurred in the North perpetrated by northerners on northerners without a commensurate level of concern shown by northern leaders and intelligentsia.
But the aftermath of the Uromi tragedy was not all negative. Kudos must be given to the Governor of Edo State, Monday Ekpebholo, who showed a great sense of responsibility and leadership by acting swiftly to douse the tension that rose from the dastardly events in Uromi. He immediately undertook a visit to the scene of the incident and directed the arrest of those responsible for the killings and disbanded the murderous vigilante outfit. He convened a meeting of the various non-indigenous communities resident in Edo State to reassure them of their safety in the light of the happenings and to call for restraint all over the state.
In pursuance of the damage limitation efforts, he also undertook a condolence visit to Kano State and proceeded to Toronkawa village in Bunkure LGA where the victims hailed from. Although the parents, families and relations of the victims are still grieving from the loss of their loved ones in such a manner, the governor's efforts, especially in offering to compensate their families, have helped to reduce the tension that had ominously enveloped the country.
May the souls of the 16 departed travellers rest in Aljannah firdous, ameen.
The changes at NNPCL
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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves commendation for listening to the call by Nigerians to effect necessary changes at the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), which he eventually did recently.
But there are a few observations about the shake-up which need to be considered.
The new board seems to be made up of former employees of International Oil Companies (IOCs), namely Shell and Total. This raises a potential conflict of interest scenario whereby such members may want to favour their former employers against the national oil company, especially on issues regarding Joint Venture partnerships. Mr President, can't you find competent people within the NNPCL to fill the positions? Are you comfortable handing over our national oil company to persons with strong links to foreign oil companies?
Secondly, there is an element of unfair representation in the appointments. Bashir Ojulari, the new CEO, is from Offa in the North Central state of Kwara. Babs Omotowa, former MD of NLNG from Shell who is appointed to represent North Central, is of the same ethnicity as Ojulari and from the contiguous area of Kabba/Bunu in Kogi State. Two appointees from the same ethnic group and geo-political zone?
Fairness should dictate that the member that should represent NC should come from any of the following NC states; Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau or Benue. If Kogi is preferred, why not either Kogi East or Kogi Central?
