Newsie Events:- #Opinion by Caleb Onyeabor
Nigeria has once again registered its name in the bloody book of failed states with the recent mass murder of armless and peaceful protesters who were exercising their constitutional right in a purportedly democratic country.
This is not the first time nor the tenth time that the Nigerian army has soaked its hands in the blood of the people it was set up to defend. Nigerians shouldn’t be in a hurry to forget that the same Nigerian army massacred thousands in Odi, Zak Ibiam, and has in the last 5 years spilled the blood of members of the IPOB and Shiites group.
Nigerians dying in state-sponsored violence over and over again is proof that the Nigerian government is mindlessly and continually at war with the people it is supposed to protect, a clear violation of domestic and international law and ethics as well as an act that elevates Nigeria into the top spots in the list of failed states.
60 years after independence, the Nigerian state has demonstrated its alienating character at every opportunity it gets. This recent military-led genocide is marked by the fact that the people who are being massacred held the Nigerian flag and sang the Nigerian anthem as Nigerian soldiers attacked them.
This single act has put to rest the question of whether Nigerians should be patriotic to Nigeria. It is madness to be patriotic to a country whose military murders its own citizens, whose military are terrorists to its own people, and whose military are the monsters the people fear. A military that has enmeshed itself in spilling the blood of the Nigerian people in its many needless, wayward and haphazard internal security operation that it gives ridiculous names. From Operation Python Dance to Operation Monkey Tail, Operation Crocodile Smile, and Operation Animal Kingdom, the Nigerian military has proved its animalistic character over and over again.
In this massacre, you will find Nigerian flag soaked in the blood of slain Nigerians who felt the flags should ordinarily protect them and deter the army from releasing fire. The Nigerian army, deeply politicized and unprofessional, the institution that ought to be the biggest defender and respecter of the Nigerian Flag, has by their single-action rubbished any respect the citizenry have on national symbols like the flag.
From Green White Green to Green Blood Green. The history of the country is stained with the blood of the people who have fallen victim to state-sponsored terrorism. For the Nigerian army, the implication is the disappearance of legitimacy. The Nigerian army like the Nigerian Police has lost the respect and support of the Nigerian people. You wouldn’t be surprised if subsequent attacks on the Nigerian army by terror groups is met with jubilation from the Nigerian people. As a matter of fact, all Nigerian institutions have lost credibility and legitimacy from the Nigerian people. This is why cyber attacks by foreign hackers on some of the databases of national institutions received great praise from Nigerians and goes to show that they will pledge allegiance to anyone or group attacking its own government not minding the implications it will have on them and their nation.
Patriotism is dead in Nigeria, the Nigerian state has failed. It has demonstrated that failure over and over again. More Nigerians are losing face and faith in the country every single day, no sane person will love a country that eats her own, no sane person will be loyal to a country whose flag is stained with by the blood of her citizens, no sane person will be proud of Nigeria as it is today.
Caleb Onyeabor is a Nigerian intellectual, an avid advocate for political justice, social justice, and economic justice. Author of Diary of a Messed Up country. Follow him on Twitter via twitter.com/caleb_onyeabor
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