Yet another community in southern Kaduna was attacked by Fulani herdsmen the night before last. Women and children were hacked to pieces and men had their genitals cut off in front of their wives and children as they bled to death.
I have refused to post the pictures that I have been sent because they are far too graphic and traumatising and because they would undoubtedly violate the rules of Facebook and other social media platforms.
I looked at them and I could not sleep. If the world were to see these pictures and this footage they would have no hesitation in calling Nigerians bloodthirsry animals and wicked beasts.
The barbaric and savage nature of those that commit these crimes against humanity and this mass murder, ethnic cleansing and genocide beggars belief.
Please understand that this is not an isolated event but it happens on a regular basis all over Southern Kaduna. The people of Kajuru LGA can testify to that.
It also happens on a daily basis throughout the Middle Belt and Christian communities have been specifically targeted. The people of Plateau, Taraba, Benue, Kaduna, Adamawa, Nassarawa, Kogi and Kwara can testify to that.
All this yet there have been no arrests and both the state and Federal Government appear to be, at best, indifferent and, at worse, complicit. This explains why they have refused to declare the Fulani herdsmen as a terrorist organisation.
The most damning aspect of the whole matter is the obvious and sickening conspiracy of silence that appears to be in place.
Consequently the Nigerian people and the world at large have not said a word or registered their protest about what is happening in Southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt and neither are these terrible events reported in either the local or international media. There seems to be an unofficial news blackout on the entire matter.
The question is why this is so? do Southern Kaduna, Middle Belt and Christian lives not matter as well?
The world rightly cries out and expresses its outrage when an innocent black American George Floyd is cruelly murdered by a white police officer in the streets of Minnesota but they do not say a word when thousands of innocent women and children are slaughtered on a daily basis by Fulani herdsmen in the towns and villages of Nigeria.
Why is this so? What exactly is our offence? Is it a crime to be a Nigerian? Why does the world regard the lives of animals as being more valuable than that of our people?
More importantly why do we ourselves share in thet morbid sentiment? Why do we not value the lives of one another? Why are we not our brothers keeper and why don’t we give a damn about what happens to our compatriots?
Are we cursed or are we just a wicked, heartless and cruel people who have no feeling and who are unable to empathisewith the suffering of our own brothers and sisters?
We weep for foreigners like George Floyd but we shrug our shoulders and even smile when our very own are being hacked to pieces by those that can best be described as demons from hell. I say shame on us all.
I have lived in the Middle Belt for the last 17 years and I proudly identify with its people. I love them and I stand with them. And this I will do come rain and come shine and through thick and thin.
Even if the whole world chooses to remain silent in the face of these bestial acts of terror which are being unleashed against these innocent, law-abiding, defenceless, pacifist, gentle, loving, warm and kind people, I will not.
We owe it to ourselves, our God and our common humanity to stand up to this great evil and to resist this horrendous tyranny, unadulterated terror and primitive barbarism.
May the souls of all those that were butchered in Southern Kaduna the night before last rest in peace and may the Lord comfort their families.