It is worth celebrating that in Ebiraland today, youths no longer take
laws into their hands and peace has now come to stay. But there is a
threat to peace when the rights of these youths are being trampled upon
heinously by those in possession of power without any concomitant
justice.
Momoh-Jimoh Hadi until his death was a young hawker of drinks on the
street of Okene to fend for himself and his poor mother. He was
unfortunate to be murdered by a trigger-happy officer of the Nigerian
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Tuesday. He joined the
league of youths in Okene to carry out a peaceful protest against the
power outage in the town of Okene, but met an untimely death.
Before we begin to cast stones, we must first set the record straight
that what necessitated the peaceful protest is not out of the ignorance
that power generation has dropped nationwide, but because of the
perceived discrimination in the supply of the available power in the
central district of Okene. From reliable narrations, the protesters had
made consultations with the Police DPO and the Commandant of the
military men stationed at the Okene Government House, as well as the
attention of Tao FM radio before they embarked on the protest.
It is rather disheartening that a peaceful protest could warrant the use
of gun as a response by a Civil Defence officer who felt he should not
be intimidated by the utterances of the Ebira youths.
Worthy of commendation is the timely intervention of the military men
after Hadi was murdered. The police would not have helped matters
because they allegedly arrested two others but the military intervened,
released the arrested protesters and pleaded with them not to take laws
into their hands.
We are not also ignorant of the move by the police to protect the Civil
Defence officer from getting prosecuted by the law. This they want to
achieve by giving a twist to the story with high level of accusations
against the protesters exercising their rights. But will their actions
help matters? Just last year, a police officer shot a young boy at a
very tender age, and he accused the boy of trying to take his gun from
him.
One who is supposed to defend a civilian should not be intoxicated by
the weapon on his hands. If justice is not given, and adequate
punishment to the Civil Defence Officer is not metted out, then a civil
unrest is being cooked up. If not that the youths are law abiding, only
God knows what would have happened to our long sustained peace.
Therefore, we call on the leadership of the Ebira Peoples Association,
civil rights activists and government representatives from Ebiraland to
ensure that justice is given, so as to appease the youths and ensure
peace reigns. Since the said Civil Defence Officer was identified and
known to be an Ebira man, a regeneration may not be easily averted. A
stitch in time, saves nine.
Also, there should be a stern warning to every weapon-enabled security
operative in the whole of Kogi Central to handle our youths with care
and treat them like the humans they are. Okene is a very sensitive town
in Nigeria. Let it not be that security operatives are the ones
threatening our precious peace.
A soul lost can never be taken back, that is why prevention is better. May the soul of the departed rest in Peace.
