THE front page picture of the Nigerian Tribune of Wednesday, December 28, told a pathetic story. Niger State governor, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu,was shown consoling Mrs Christianah Chioma Dike, who lost her husband and five children to the Christmas day bombing at a catholic church in Madalla, Niger State. While the governor's efforts cannot be condemned, and while hunting down the perpetrators of that tragedy cannot wipe away Mrs Christianah's tears, the incident offers a sad commentary on Nigeria's failed quest for nationhood.Just as this writer stepped out of his residence on Sunday, a wailing woman broke the serenity of the street. 'Ina omo jo mi o'', she kept crying in Yoruba, rolling in the dust, disconsolate. That was the same period when a group of youngsters were drinking themselves silly at a nearby joint. The woman's son had died in police custody, apparently tortured to death by mad dogs in black uniform. Police stations are scenes of murder and brigandage, headed by blood-thirsty DPOs who have too high an opinion of their own importance to bother about the crimes perpetrated right under their nose. Is DPO another tag for a paid government brigand' The question does not engage our attention this week.Can Mrs Christianah Dike's tears be wiped away by any government' I think not. There are tears which no human effort can dry. Where is the woman to start from' Is she to begin the business of childbirth and rearing afresh, after five issues' Is she to endure the pains of pregnancy and childbirth, the agonies of the country's lunatic economy, the taunts of wicked neighbours and the lies of fake clergymen prophesying lies to devour her home' Who is she to marry when the man to whom she gave her entire being for decades lies entombed in a ruinous grave, shocked stiff by the barbarities of a wicked band of marauders in a blood-thirsty zone' Sad pictures of the season, sad pictures, and let the wise redeem their daily living. We can all die like Mr Dike, and let no one boast about any fake security. Many righteous men die grievous deaths, and are buried just like the riotous and unlearned.Who is Mrs Dike to marry, if she should heed calls to start afresh' Who can appreciate the rhythm of her heartbeat, the current of her thought and the flow of her passion and deep love for motherhood and family life' Who can fill the void left by five children, children whose crime was visiting a place of worship on Christmas day' Who can cry 'mummy, mummy, I don't like what you are doing o; my sister's meat is bigger than mine'' Can money help her, can a billion dollars reduce her pain' But they do not think, the mad dogs who run the terror gangs, and they do not know that for every evil, there is recompense.The government should act now, or one day, their own children will go the way of Madalla Christmas, and this is not a curse. Failing to hunt down criminals while you continue to earn salaries as a public official is high treason.Those who made Christianah's Christmas a tragedy think they are on a good run. They kill for sport, and to prove their efficiency. But their children will die on wedding day, and they will get a bullet to the head when, finally after a stretch of wickedness, they repent, enclosed in gates of brass. Their wives will die in labour, and the emirs who breed them will end up in frenzied flames inspired by angry youths protesting their crimes against the neighbourhood.We have heard that the killers are illiterates, that they are misguided Muslim fanatics seeking to Islamise the nation, but whoever believes that has not put his/her brain to profitable use. Do illiterates manufacture sophisticated weapons, do they infiltrate any government's security apparatus and do they bomb police headquarters' Is this madness not designed to prepare a bluffing ground for a 2015 presidency by those who regard it as their birthright' Are there not emirs, senators and governors behind the criminals who ravage the land, leaving the president stunned and bewitched' President Jonathan should sack his service chiefs, some have said, but perhaps the service chiefs are not the problem; maybe Nigeria itself is the problem. Maybe Nigeria is not meant to be a country; maybe the big fraud of 1914 is finally about to explode in an orgy of contradictions; maybe we need to begin the Sovereign National Conference and stop pretending that we are a nation.Odumegwu Ojukwu saw the present day, but many would not see beyond his weaknesses. Now, it is clear that Nigeria will never know peace, run like the private business of a group of mad guys, the same criminals who gave the North higher population figures than the South; the murderers who condemn Boko Haram at noon but embrace it at night. These men are proud of Boko Haram because they feel that it shows that northern youths are powerful, and can lay the nation prostrate. But their payday will come.Awolaja is on the staff of Nigerian Tribune
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