Let’s now digest little from what I will call ‘The Theory of Drift’. Most times, the gait of drift is slow and measured. At times, those who understand the geography of its movement can transform into prophets, with the power to predict the ultimate graph of its descent. But a drift is a drift, a slow slide from the grip of sanity, down through the contours, the abyss of insanity. One feature of it is progressive from one end to the other. It has a spatio-temporal identity and is unique for subverting the very essence of where it begins its onward journey. The drift is a regression. A drift, however, may not descend beyond a level where it could be tamed. For a perspective people, immediately its rolling stone transits from its point of sanity, it is gripped with all the might, held by the neck down and heaved off its destructive course. It thus ceases a geometric slide which it begins and is made to return to its original docility of sanity. If the rolling stone doesn’t benefit from this rein, it tumbles down the mash-messy path, wriggles itself down the ladder and ends up with a deafening staccato. No calamity wreaks as much havoc as the calamitous crash-land of a drift. Then a phenomenon of sorrow and tears follows its occurrence. Once its beyond control, the larger environment(society) is at risk.
Our society offers a very poignant study of the geography of a drift. Unlike in other societies where, backed up by a very strong and formidable statistical culture, you could view a drift from its point of departure and everyone would be agreed that a downward gravitation is afoot, our society is a Janus-faced example. As situation slides down hill, and maggots outdo one another wriggling their waists inside the conundrum of rot, an accustomed life stuck in a rut; and so, it is legitimated by so big a crowd that you wonder what the matter is. The other crowd, thin I must confess, de-legitimates it, but its voices are shrouded and muffled. The drift nevertheless rolls on, making as much noise as it could, sometimes making none, but most times, warning its perspective audience of its calamitous gravitation. Nevertheless, the negative multiplier effect is unpredictable, resulting in great wreck and unwarranted loss and damage. It is then, and only then, that our society bemoans and groans aloud in sorrow, tears and blood. But we all failed to address the issue when it started rearing its ugly head. We all looked the other way.Now that we are all arrested, after running and running, we have nowhere to hide again. We have all forgotten that only diligence sets a fine example and standard. Negligence pays a greater price as much. We often than not waited until when the drift becomes like the greatest trouble of Pythagoras which was that “the square root of 2 is irrational and therefore, cannot be expressed as a ratio of two integers!” And so we become helpless when the whole thing becomes hopeless. Our nation, as it is presently, is berthing on the pedestal of juxtaposing of surreal and reality. What tomorrow holds for us remains a mental puzzle. A national dilemma of sort. We need to fast-track on the urgent solutions to our national security challenge, drifting state dirigisme and the rapidly waning social orderliness.
Ayi Kwei Armah, the famous Ghanaian writer, puts the drift in perspective. In his book: “Two Thousand Season”, Armah wrote: “The drift is like a spring water flowing desert ward and such a spring water should know that its future is extinction.The desert never knows how to give, it takes; sucking life out of an otherwise life-filled spring water.” That’s the truth about the kinds of socioeconomic and political drift that we are challenged with today in our nation. The backward kind of drift – the retrogressive kind of.
The above analogy of our national security challenge with Boko Haram paranoid is lack of vision on the part of our leaders. When one writes about this kind of security challenge in the past, the people in power see such a person as an alarmist, a wolf crier where there was none (whereas, there are many untamed wolves abound). The most dangerous situation now is the public pronouncement by none but Mr. President that Boko Haram has infiltrated his government! Then who is who now? We are in a state of total national embarrassment and confusion. We are slowly drifting to a state of anomie? Or a deluge has come? The fear of Boko Haram is now the beginning of wisdom in Nigeria! Now tell me who is safe in a situation where all security agencies are being attacked on a daily basis? Boko Haram operates like the US Navy Seal – they can get you at will and escape without being arrested or counter-attacked. It is now a case of ‘Israel, back to your tent!’ Now the big question is: which way forward,
my dear compatriots? Which way, may I ask you,once and again? For I am not just incredulous; I’m incensed!
The above analogy of our national security challenge with Boko Haram paranoid is lack of vision on the part of our leaders. When one writes about this kind of security challenge in the past, the people in power see such a person as an alarmist, a wolf crier where there was none (whereas, there are many untamed wolves abound). The most dangerous situation now is the public pronouncement by none but Mr. President that Boko Haram has infiltrated his government! Then who is who now? We are in a state of total national embarrassment and confusion. We are slowly drifting to a state of anomie? Or a deluge has come? The fear of Boko Haram is now the beginning of wisdom in Nigeria! Now tell me who is safe in a situation where all security agencies are being attacked on a daily basis? Boko Haram operates like the US Navy Seal – they can get you at will and escape without being arrested or counter-attacked. It is now a case of ‘Israel, back to your tent!’ Now the big question is: which way forward,
my dear compatriots? Which way, may I ask you,once and again? For I am not just incredulous; I’m incensed!
For any discerning mind, we don’t need any soothsayer to tell us that, we are drifted already and Nigeria nation is on the edge of the precipice! Yesterday,the 10th of July,2012, Boko Haram issued a Fatwa and/or Jihad War on Christians all over Nigeria. They seriously warned and threatened that: “Nigerian Christians must convert to Muslims and accept Islam or they leave Nigeria for them.” Ignorance is a mental disease. if not why will a group of disgruntle elements threatens to pursue people out of their territory? Is Yoruba or Ibo land their father’s land? The Yoruba and Ibo Leaders and people generally, MUST take up this issue and answer these ‘agents provocateur’
of the Arab and Fulani/Hausa aggressors and war soldiers. As a concerned citizen, like many other patriotic Nigerian Christian citizens and moderate Muslim citizens, IF, I repeat, IF an immediate action is not taken by those concerned, especially, the Northern leaders and other Muslim leaders, who are just paying lip service to this matter, but kept almost quite, let them know that there is nobody who has monopoly of violence. The North must tame their roaring lions now more than ever. If a their dog is crazy, it must know the difference when it sees fire. Even as violent as a lion is, it can still be tamed and brought to the zoo!
– Segun Fadipe
