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Ordinarily one should not be talking of heroes or villains in a yet to be fought, won or lost battle. However, as we continue to chronicle the unfolding events engendered by agitations for secession by Nnamdi Kanu’s Biafra and Northern Youth coalition’s quit notice, there are people/groups who have tirelessly doused tension with disarming words, comments or acts of good gestures. I used Kanu’s Biafra advisedly because with the passage of time in the last few weeks, it is coming to light that Kanu’s miniscule group does not represent their interests (rooted in commerce all over the country), although they initially dithered on their stand. I’m also not referring to the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo whose constitutional duty is first and foremost, to keep Nigeria united, provide security and welfare, commendable as his efforts are. Nor am I referring to the governors who threatened to arrest quit ‘noticers’ but have suddenly developed cold feet. These (Osinbajo and governors) are politicians whose error of omission led to the fragmentation, and gathering storm hovering over the nation. Acting Vice President and governors are impliedly symbolic representatives of politicians generally. This is not to discountenance the exertion they have put in. It is obviously not about subversive elements and hate campaigners, their sponsors, social media rats who feed fat on conflicts, political turmoil, whip up sentiments and post false stories to attract traffic to their sites and blogs. Heroism is beyond these elements.
My idea of heroes in this lingering North-South East conundrum is those pockets of people who do small things with huge significance. In the The Sun of last week was published the story of a robbery case in Onne, Port Harcourt. To me this story should have been highlighted on the front page, but it is a matter of news judgement by editors: in this case it is either to avoid inflamed passion or the victims are not from the paper’s catchment area. Somewhere in Onne, Port Harcourt, armed robbers were said to have attacked one Mr Garuba, his wife and child. The man who was a truck driver and had lived in Onne for years, wrestled with robbers, overpowered and killed one of them. Out of anger, the remaining robbers unleashed terror; they ran outside, locked Garuba and his family from outside, sprayed fuel on the house and set it ablaze. Garuba and his family died in the inferno. But that’s not where the story is, newsworthy as it is. When his brother was asked whether the killing had anything to do with the on-going hate-mongering and hot exchange of words in parts of the North where they come from and the South where they live, his brother rejected the conspiracy theory out-rightly. He said his late brother was just a victim of criminally wicked armed robbers as the tragic fate that befell him had got nothing to do with hatred, if any, for Hausas in Rivers state. His late brother, he said, had lived in that community in harmony and peaceful co-existence for years and the people had no ill-feelings towards him to the point of eliminating him.
Garuba is gone, but his brother who narrated the story could have magnified it to fit into the current hate narrative. These are people we should celebrate, and not paper tigers, attention seekers and those who hide under political correctness and skilfully plant seed of discord, hate and subversion. Of course, there are people who share materials that border on the unity and indivisibility of the country. The carnage in Rwanda, its genesis being hate speech and mutual suspicion, will resonate in Nigeria if men of conscience do not speak up or act right. These are the heroes of the moment. Lately too, I’ve seen governors of the South East like Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who felicitated and hosted the Hausa community in Enugu, while fiery trouble-weary Wike did same in Port Harcourt and Hon Pat Asadu in Nsukka/Igboeze south Federal constituenc, besides the reassurance to Igbos from governors from the North like Kashim Shettima, Nasir El-Rufa’i, Ibrahim Geidam and others. All these are reassuring messages needed at a time like this.
Unfortunately, there is a downside to the story narrated above. In all the crime-related stories I had read, I had never heard of robbers setting a house ablaze because of failure to rob their target, or because the would-be victim had the effrontery to stand up to them. My fear is that, just as some citizens think out of the box to repel marauders, criminals may resort to arson tactic, besides arms and dangerous weapons for vendetta if they fail. In the same spirit, the police should muffle Evans, the Terrible (for now), from revealing all his strategies, because as you and I are feasting on the juicy revelations, criminals are taking a cue from his exploits.
