The Drums of War

The theater is set, the dancers have climbed the stage and the drummers are set to beat the drums to admiration and pleasure of the audience and onlookers, so let the music began I hear from men of violence and novice of war. My fear is when the songs began, even those who never crave to hear will hear it loud and clear.

Man no doubt is designed to live in quest and conquest, so war and violence remain a twin partner of man's affair eventhough he claims to disdain it. The crave for war and subjugation of fellow men is as real as the rising of the sun, and appealing to mankind as a woman breast milk to a sucking child.

On this note, Benito Mussolini submitted succinctly: 'war is to a man, what maternity is to a woman'; such is the importance of war in human affairs. It was so real that at a time that war was the second most important occupation of mankind next to farming; and up till now, the defence budgets of most countries represent the chunk of most countries budgets, be it in developing or developed world.

Be that as it may, the consequences of war is better imagined than experienced. War is a stealer of peace and of joy, the mortgager of destinies, the separator of families making children become orphans and parents becomes childless, and development a taboo. When there is war, sorrow and deaths is a natural occurrence as blood flows freely on the altar of sword and axe. Life is of no significance in the face of war.

The genesis of war like disagreement is rooted in the alter ego of the gladiators. It is a fight for supremacy among the strong at the expense of the weak. People who ignite war hardly died with the war because they often secured their own lives and loved ones at the expense of others.

This is the part we are threading today in Nigeria. Indeed, the embers of war has been laid down, with little fanning,it will spread and consume the young and the old before we know what is happening. The various quit notices by various groups have done enough justice in this regard. Yes, the Arewa quit notice to the Igbos in the North,the Niger Delta quit notice to the Hausas, the Odua threat to defend the people of Yoruba origin are all pointers to the imminence of war in this country. The question is who will save us when the war begin?

Perhaps, the United States will help, I seriously doubt especially with the internal crisis it is currently battling with, I doubt if the country leaders will have time for us, added to this is the altercation between it and North Korea capable of creating Third World War with serious castrophical consequences for humanity. 

United Kingdom is a sure banker, after all, it used to be our past colonial master except for the fact that the country is also experiencing a lot of internal contradiction especially as relating to brexit and its apparent political and socio-economic implications.

France is a relatively peaceful country these days and has the financial wherewithal to rescue us if we snowballed into state of war except that the newly elected President is very concerned about making French walk again, and Economic Union a sustainable organisation.

I think charity should begin at home, how about our African brothers of Cameroun, Ghana, South Africa, Gabon...? They are all very closed allies and we have been there for them before,they cannot turn their back on us when we need them.  Hmmm...Eyin lo ma ye oloku ada. I won't say more than this on the African brothers but time is a sure judge. Maybe I should just say here that no nation in Africa is big enough to accommodate us as refugees, so those who want to fight should think twice.

Be that as it may, the war is real if not quickly nip in the bud by us all; but the people in government have a greater responsibility because they hold the instrumentality of power to redress the wrong before it is too late; and there cannot be permanent peace without justice. This brings us back to the issue of restructuring and resource control. The APC name as a political party will be written in gold if it is able to give Nigeria befitting political and economic structure that will give all and sundry a minimum sense of belonging. It is better late than never. But if it failed to do just that, posterity will never forgive its prime movers and leaders.

Change is not always easy. It is not always pleasant but it has to be done for the good of tomorrow if not for the good of today; and this we must remember that those who make peaceful change impossible will make violent change inevitable.

My prayer is may we never see war in Nigeria again.

God bless Nigeria!

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