What reminder does the next Nigerian president need to let them know the priorities of the Country. The killing of Deborah Samuel last week has highlighted one of the many problems in Nigeria today that has gone out of the Government’s control.
The task of fixing Nigeria is somewhere between eradicating poverty or getting us on the right road. No easy way out but the latter is what will do the former.
Nigeria used to be a peaceful Nation, where we lived amongst ourselves regardless of tribe, religion, or location. Somehow, over the last 30 years, politics has managed to divide us, incomprehensively.
History will tell you religious violence in Nigeria (Christian-Muslim) goes as far back as 1953 during the period of preparing for independence. Before that, there has been trouble in the North after the Sokoto Caliphate and Islamic states were defeated by the British, after Nigeria Amalgamation in 1914.
However, since democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999- Jos, Kaduna and Kano have seen religious clashes that have killed thousands of people and destroyed properties. This violence in the North against Christians have been going on since but there were no social media, so the news was contained.
The recent riots almost in all cases follow the same trend, the northerner
will kill the southerner based on a religious point of view and if the Northern Nigeria authorities try to take any action against the perpetrators, there will be serious consequences. Female southerners were lashed in 2000s in the North for wearing skirts, Abacha brought in Sharia Law in 1999. Things have not improved since then.
The killing of Deborah Samuel last week has followed the same pattern and will possibly end the same way. No action, nothing changes, business as usual.
Southerners in the North should really start thinking about going back home. If the Nigerian government cannot have a ministry backed by the highest power in the land to challenge this situation, then it is hard to see the desired change coming. Religious clashes as they have shown anywhere in the World (Israel, Palestine, Sudan including Boko Haram in Nigeria) just never go away.
Who promises to tackle this problem adequately will go a long way to winning the Nigerian Presidential elections in 2023.
RIP Deborah Samuel