Of abducted Colonel and incest in the land

 

I have been very sad since I heard the news of an abducted Colonel in Kaduna. I am also concerned about the Abuja-Kaduna expressway where all manners of things happen these days. A serving Colonel in the Nigerian Army, Colonel Samaila Inusa is abducted by gunmen, his wife is even dropped off, and then drove off towards Abuja. His abductors had the presence of mind to drop off his wife. I bit my nails; I searched in vain for clues. What in the name of God did he do? How is his family feeling? What did the wife tell the children happened to their father? All manners of questions set my mind abuzz. I worried; I got nervous until two days ago when I got news of his demise. My heart sank. My greatest fears came to table. Sad, very sad!

“Abducted army Colonel found dead in Kaduna,” Army confirms. I was heartbroken. It was also stated by the army that he may have been killed as soon as he was abducted. Something is wrong with a people who abduct anyone at all, not to talk of an army Colonel. I have searched my mind for what a man/woman/child could possibly do to warrant them been taken away or even killed by another.

 

Today the man’s wife is a widow just like that! It boggles the mind. I am particularly concerned with the level of inhumanity going on in the land, the thought of which just turns my stomach to water. How is it possible that human life will mean nothing to another? What have you got to gain if you are a murderer and upon your head is written the name of another, his name dripping with blood on your forehead? How do you sleep? How can you eat knowing you will be held accountable here and in the hereafter? Stories of sightings of the Chibok girls continue to appear in our papers and now there is the story about one of them being a possible suicide bomber arrested in the Cameroons. My heart is in my mouth! There are stories of rape, beheadings and all manners of atrocities in the insurgency enclave. Then there are stories of students beheading each other as part of cultism. I wonder where we go from here! Not safe at home, not safe abroad. Just take a look at Brussels!

 

The good book tells me that murdering someone is not only in the physical but can be by virtue of gossip, slander and untruth against another. Nigeria continues to be weighted by a dose of this kind of murder which involves an attempt to bury another alive. Gossip is rife and untruth is what some people revel in. No nation can rise in this manner. With the work Mr. President is doing to bring Nigeria back to reckoning, we, the followers need to imbibe the “War Against Indiscipline” mantra, live right, queue up, stop the lies and do your work.

 

As for physical murder, my heart goes out to the family of the late Colonel Samaila Inusa. I also commiserate with the Nigerian Army on this soldier who has passed. With the work our military are doing to fight insurgency and protect us, this is not the time for news of an abducted soldier and his eventual murder. I urge all good Nigerians to come forward with any information that will assist the army in bringing the murderers to book.

 

Incest continues to bother me and the stories are getting increasingly worrisome. The papers are awash with fathers raping their daughters, teachers sexually harassing their students and other such oddities. A nation with so many incestuous stories needs to step back and take another look at its moral barometer. I worry about women who leave their children in the hands of their salacious husbands who could not keep their hands off their house girls but have to leave because their husbands turned them into punching bags. I worry about the state of mind of women who know their daughters are been sexually abused by their husbands but have no one to cry to.

 

I cry in my soul when I hear of girls who have had two abortions for their fathers and these fathers have been abusing them since they were 12 years old. I worry about our nation and the spirits we have unleashed by debauchery, ill gotten wealth, corruption, sexual abuse, rape, incest, murder and sloth. It is time to gather ourselves and wear ashen clothes and beg for God’s mercy. In the Catholic Church where I worship, it is the year of mercy. Lent just ended; let us rise with the resurrected Christ at Easter. Let us re-invent ourselves for good. The nation needs cleansing, let it start from you and I.

 

Eugenia Abu