- But as it is with Nigeria, events and happenings, no matter how tragic and devastating they are, are certain to soon be eclipsed by another incident. The latest may either be of less significance or even far more harrowing and jarring than the previous occurrence
- His actions and deeds aren’t exactly what many expected from someone who dangled the carrot of religiosity before his people to seek their votes at the polls.
The killing of over 200 people at Yelwata in the Guma local government area of Benue State last Friday is still very fresh in the minds and consciousnesses of Nigerians. It is the worst tragedy and calamity to befall the nation in recent times and one of the worst massacres in Nigeria’s checkered history. But as it is with Nigeria, events and happenings, no matter how tragic and devastating they are, are certain to soon be eclipsed by another incident. The latest may either be of less significance or even far more harrowing and jarring than the previous occurrence. From salacious and trendy stories of the personal lives of inconsequential celebrities to heinous activities of criminal elements to embarrassing and disgraceful posturing of politicians and elected public officers, Nigeria is in a continuous loop of bland and pedestrian happenings that do nothing but take the minds and eyes of the citizens from what truly matters.
Just a few days after grabbing the headlines for a catastrophic and unsettling loss of human lives, Benue State is in the news again for an absurd reason, no thanks to its governor, Alia Hyacinth. One of the ironies of Benue State is that it has a governor who leveraged his faith and religious standing as a Catholic priest to achieve his gubernatorial objectives of becoming a governor but his actions and deeds aren’t exactly what many expected from someone who dangled the carrot of religiosity before his people to seek their votes at the polls. After the outcry and outrage that greeted the Yelewata massacre, President Bola Tinubu promised to visit Benue to commiserate with the state and the victims of last week’s genocide.
One would have expected that the governor would use the president’s visit to inform him of the magnitude of insecurity in the state, take him on a tour of the attacked villages to see first-hand the level of destruction that was done, and the incessant attacks and killings can be stopped. Instead, the governor felt the president’s presence in the state should become a political gesture and party affair. The governor feels the president’s visit is the perfect time to show his loyalty. Everything the state government has done in preparation for Tinubu’s visit is aimed at massaging the president’s ego and relegating the massacre that necessitated the visit first to the background of public discourse. The governor has turned what was supposed to be a sombre, pensive and retrospective moment into a funfair and political jamboree.
In one of the viral circulars, support groups ‘are required to form a shoulder-to-shoulder procession from the airport to Wurudum roundabout and down to the government house in Makurdi” to give a ‘rousing welcome’ to the president. What kind of rousing welcome does a president who is visiting a state where over 200 people have just been brutally murdered need? One does not know what to attribute this galling politicisation of human tragedy to? But the optics are not good at all. The state government also declared a public holiday for the president’s visit. The declaration of holiday may have been commended if it was done for the right reason. But in this case, it was done for the wrong reason.
The public holiday is not about the victim. It is declared for the president, a move that smacks of insensitivity. The governor could have killed two birds with one stone. Declare a public holiday on the day of the president’s visit but make it about the victims of the carnage. Use the occasion to enjoin Nigerians to mourn and issue a directive that the flag shall fly at half mast in public institutions and government establishments for two or three days beginning from the day of the president’s visit. No carnival, no jamboree, no fanfare, no political undertone. The mood must be melancholic, and the atmosphere must be grim. Speak of hope and justice. Communicate passion and empathy.
Governor Alia failed at the basic human decency and optics test. His desire to shore up his declining political influence in the party and guarantee his re-election has seen him place political survival over the sanctity of human lives. And the president, being a character that relishes unbridled obsequiousness and sycophancy, will see nothing wrong with the governor’s action.
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