Shortly before the 2015 general election and ever since then, Rivers State has been embroiled in untold violence of epic proportions. This has culminated in serial killings of citizens and security agents, a situation that negates the statutory function of the state to protect the lives of citizens and their property. The security agencies have for the most part been helpless in a violence that has even claimed the lives of soldiers. Left to fester, the violence has worsened with the involvement of the cult groups in the state and the cases of killings have brimmed to a level that threatens to rob the state of all civility, as innocent lives are being wilfully and wantonly terminated by the criminal gangs in the state.
Matters have definitely not been helped by the mutual distrust between the Federal Government and the state government. While the Rivers State government has alleged that the Federal Government has not cooperated with it in tackling the orgy of violence, the Federal Government has seemingly left the state to stew in its proclivity for violence to prove a political point. Meanwhile, innocent lives are being wasted without restraint.
In a particular case, the death toll reportedly reached 60, giving the impression that Rivers is endless at war with itself. But the trajectory of this mindless violence was the desperation for the possession of the soul of the state after the estrangement between erstwhile Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the current Governor Nyesom Wike who used to be allies before things went awry between them. Must the gladiators assuage their mutual animosity with the innocent blood of the citizens of Rivers State?
Why can’t the state and federal governments find the common imperative of statutory state functions of protecting lives and property expedient enough to enforce peace? How many people must die before peace returns to Rivers? It is disconcerting, if not absolutely shameful, that those who pride themselves on being leaders would rather waste the lives of the citizens and destroy their property than back down on their egos.
Political power, especially as conceived by the politicians in the backwater states of the world including Nigeria, has never meant anything more than the means to confront the existential proclivities of the political actors even if these include pillaging the public till. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to distinguish between murder and political killings in terms of prosecution, conviction and punishment.
Many political killings in which prominent citizens have been victims in the country have gone unpunished partly because of poor and unprofessional investigation. And so what happens when the victims are people who, though not so prominent, are fed to the fury of party stalwarts in moments of rage? The state has been implicated all through. From poor policing and proliferation of small arms to complicit and compromised security arrangements, it would have been a pleasant surprise if anything else but these killings had ensued.
However, these killings in which both the state and the federal governments pretend as if all is well are not acceptable. We think they should both rise above petty politics and embrace statecraft by all means. It is even disgusting that things were allowed to deteriorate to this level before reining in the primordial emotions which request for blood compulsively.
It is certain that there is no telling when and how this detestable carnage will stop if it is not promptly checked. The likely effects on other states with similar problems of seething political discontent are scary to even contemplate. For Rivers State, this issue is regrettable, especially considering the level of development in the state in spite of its much touted oil wealth. This is also true of other states that have the penchant for violence and bask in social disruptions.
If this violence is not properly handled and controlled, it is likely to blow over to other states, and that will be dangerous in view of the national experiences of terror and other forms of political instability. Development is actually impossible in the social context of acrimony, disruptions and violence and we think this should obvious and elementary enough to require any emphasis from us.
