NIGERIA'S BLEEDING HOUR: WHEN WILL “ENOUGH” TRULY BE ENOUGH?

Daily Rendezvous

“A nation cannot claim progress when its children are hunted in classrooms and its citizens sleep each night with death as a neighbor.” ~ Martins Yanatham Dickson

By Martins Yanatham Dickson

Nigeria is again standing on the edge of a deepening security abyss. From the renewed Boko Haram onslaughts in Borno State and surrounding communities, to the brazen ambushes of military personnel, to the frightening escalation of banditry and abductions across the North West and North Central,  the national landscape is soaked with fear and far too often, with blood.

The most recent horror, the armed bandits’ attack on Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School (GGCSS), Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, where the Vice Principal was brutally killed and several students abducted is yet another devastating reminder that the country is nowhere near safe. When schools have become hunting grounds and classrooms are turned into graveyards, what hope is left for the Nigerian child?

When will Nigerians see an end to these attacks?  is the question that echoes from Maiduguri to Zamfara, from Kaduna to Benue and Plateau, Niger to the Federal Capital Territory. 

Nigerians have waited, endured, prayed, protested, mourned and bled. Yet the violence multiplies. Communities are emptied. Families are shattered. Thousands roam as internally displaced persons in their own homeland. Many are abducted, abused, or simply vanish without a trace.

President Tinubu’s words of  “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” truly be enough during one of his statements is supposed to resonated with millions who longed for firm leadership. But words, no matter how profound ocannot shield a farmer from being slaughtered on his own field. They cannot stop a convoy of terrorists on motorcycles from abducting schoolchildren in broad daylight. Nigerian lives require action, not rhetoric.

Leadership is not about tracing the origin of problems; it is about solving them. The constitution does not ask a president to explain who created the insecurity it demands that he tackle it. 

Nigerians did not elect this administration to give history lessons on past governments. They elected it to defend the country, secure the land, and restore peace.

When will the APC administration stop expending precious time and national resources wooing political decampees while the nation burns? Governance is not party expansion. It is not about strengthening political machinery while looking the other way as national security structures weaken. 

Time spent pursuing political advantage should be redirected toward rebuilding intelligence networks, strengthening the armed forces, motivating security personnel, securing schools, clearing forests where criminals hide, and delivering justice swiftly and decisively.

Is this too much to ask?

Every day, too many lives are wasted. Too many homes are destroyed. Too many children are orphaned. Too many communities are displaced. The atrocities are unspeakable, yet they continue. When will the government acknowledge that the blood of innocent Nigerians has flowed far too long?

Mr. President, how much more blood must be spilled before “enough” finally becomes enough?

Only courage, empathy, patriotism, political will, and true leadership can halt this cycle of national mourning. Does the president lack these virtues? Nigerians desperately hope he doesn't. But hope alone cannot save a nation, action must follow.

Mr. President, the lives of Nigerians matter.

The students of GGCSS Maga in Kebbi matter.

The soldiers ambushed on duty matter.

The farmers murdered on their fields matter.

The women and children displaced in their thousands matter.

Every life lost is a national failure that must weigh heavily on your conscience.

Nigeria cannot continue like this.

Nigeria must not continue like this.

Enough should indeed be enough.

M_Y_D

martinsyanatam@gmail.com