Written by MICHAEL ILORI Iya Kayode the bean cake(akara) seller screamed and dropped the phone. Kayode her only son had just been...
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Iya Kayode the bean cake(akara) seller screamed and dropped the phone. Kayode her only son had just been killed. The boy she gave all her sweat for just died few weeks after getting a bank job in Enugu with promises to repay his mom gone with the winds. A death caused by a needless war. Mama Nonso couldn't even console her neighbor iya Kayode. Two days earlier, Nonso her second child was beheaded in the North.
Trying to escape the madness of a war which had just began, Nonso and a few others bundled themselves into a bus and tried to escape from the North. After 5 hours taking several dangerous routes in the middle of the night and about 30 minutes to safety, they were spotted by a group of angry Northern youths who vandalized their vehicle, took all in the bus and beheaded. They didn't even spare the 2 year old daughter of Margaret. The leader of the gang killed both mother and child with the same sword.
The leader of that group is Abdul Azeez. 5 days ago his elder brother Abdul Rahman was one of seven people beheaded by Kanu's IPOB who shared the video on YouTube with the caption 'Now the Zoo would know we are serious'. Until Azeez saw the video where his brother was beheaded, the only thing he had ever slaughtered with his sword were rams and cows during the Islamic festivals. Now within days he has killed scores of people and vowing to kill a thousand score more.
Chinedu(Kanu's cousin) and his partner Usman are happy and smiling to the bank. Both of them are the major suppliers of arms and ammunition into the country. Both are outside Nigeria and pray the war never ends. For the longer it is, the richer they become. While Chinedu is the chief supplier of the South & West, Usman is in charge of the entire North zone. Buy my special guns to kill your enemies they say, yet the funds go into the same account managed by both.
Chief Anyanwu(PDP) and Alhaji Aminu(APC) are in the UN calling for peace and a need to raise millions of pounds to help the needy back in Nigeria. One month ago, both had relocated their entire families to the UK knowing fully well that their hateful inciteful speeches in the name of political parties would set the stage for war and take away the attention of the EFCC closing in on them to account for the billions squandered by them before the no nonsense Buhari came in to power.
While the Nigerian army is fighting the Biafran army, the children of the poor are ambushing and killing themselves across the nation. The rich and mighty are watching with their families in safety from nations abroad. It's been only one week of the war, and the carnage and spilling of blood is shocking as reported by CNN.
I have taken timeout to paint a picture of an avoidable war. Only the poor would suffer the carnage by paying with their lives. Biafra youths are threatening, Arewa youths have spoken, Niger Delta youths are warning and Oduduwa youths are aligning. In all of these, I am yet to see the Nigerian youths.
The Nigerian youth who needs to see the potential dangers ahead and rise up to prevent the many deaths ahead. Those who need to rise up above regional, religious and political affinities. Those who truly believe that our past cannot be used to judge our future and must do all necessary to prevent the shedding of innocent blood. We must say a big NO to those who clamor for war and raise an army that shall be bigger than all the forces trying to destroy our nation for their selfish gains.
My name is MICHAEL ILORI, a firm believer in the ONE NIGERIA project and I just want to make logical sense. //
