From Tawari to Iran – Not a happy New Year

It is not a happy new year. There was no happiness in Tawari, Kogi State of Nigeria where the death toll after a bloody midnight attack has reportedly risen to 29. Tawari was burnt down when marauders, believed to be herdsmen unleashed their terror on the village. One account believed the marauders attempted to wipe out the community for suspicion that the villagers were spying on a kidnap ring that operated on the Abuja-Lokoja highway. Their intelligence report, it was alleged led to the killing of four of the gang members.

From its foundation, Kogi has never advertised as the home of peace. Peculiar crimes have been perpetrated there from the bathing of a young compatriot, Alifa Daniel in acid to a similar attack on a political party scribe all in the state capital.

The cultural festivals that should attract tourists to the state has consistently led to violence forcing successive governments to outlaw the celebrations. Armed robbery and kidnapping became rife in the state well before the adoption of the Tatatata model of politics of brigandage. The secretariat of an opposition party was burnt down and the candidate harassed, but that was mere child’s play compared to the immolation of an opposition party leader in her own home.

Yahaya Bello, the chief beneficiary of the proceeds of the violent election appears to be finally sober enough to do something about it. He promises to make the rustic state habitable for the citizenry.

The southwest has launched it’s Operation Amotekun. This new outfit is a litmus test of true federalism. The usual suspicious groups have applauded it. The big test would be when the other component regions decide to adopt similar regional outfits. From history, many beautiful initiatives have been destroyed by the so-called Nigeria factor, so good luck to the Amotekun honeymoon.

President Trump arrested New Year celebrations with the order to take out General Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards on a foreign soil. Trump broke from his usual dour tweets to adopt the tone of his predecessors who took out known terrorists like Osama bin Laden.

In Soleimani’s case,we were expected to swallow the allegation because – big brother said so. If we disbelieved Big Brother, we dared not say so because Big Brother doesn’t take kindly to people querying its views on any issue.

Unfortunately, Soleimani did not go down alone. The first collateral damages included the Iraqis that America went to war to ‘protect’. President Trump even threatened to target Iran’s cultural sites, which are global heritage sites. In democracy-speak, that amounts to a cultural terror-threat.

A shocked and bewildered Iranians trooped to the streets in thousands with the usual death to America. Their righteous anger reverberated across the globe. It shook global peace, economy and even in America, it exacerbated religious and political tension. Unquestionably, evangelicals and republicans were on Trump’s side while democrats and others were largely against his action.

Sadly, General Soleimani did not go down alone. Aside the collateral damage of the nameless members of his convoy, an extra 50 or so died in a stampede at his planned funeral. The unilateral action of the American president drew the ire, of NATO member-state who were called out to defend an action they probably wouldn’t have endorsed.

The worst of what promises to be a long drawn proxy war appeared to be the downing of an Iranian plane carrying 170 passengers in which there were no survivors. Prior to that freak accident, Iran had fired missiles at US bases in Iraq resulting in negligible damage.

It is sad that after fighting questionable wars, in the name of internationalizing democracy, the only safe people, even in America are arms manufacturers, not the ordinary people. Who takes the moral blame for Iranian missiles downing a civilian aircraft, ostensibly in error?

There are no clear winners in a war in which religion meets with patriotic fervour. It is easier to trace the start of such wars but not how, where or when it would end. These wars exert a high casualty figures on the innocent. The fervency and determination of avengers would make the world less safe than it’s been. Politico-religious war mongering recruits conventional and proxy combatants whose warped image of martyrdom endangers everyone anywhere and everywhere.

The conventional soldier fights for flag and country, the zealot seeks redemption in the blood of innocent bystanders and unarmed victims. This was not the happy New Year the world wished for on January 1. Now wherever we are, we would have to look over our shoulders and be extra cautious of the actions of those who would seek to inflict maximum carnage to meet their minimum requirement for paradise or national martyrdom. No thanks to President Trump’s policy of acting first and damning the consequence, after all, he has no kid kitted to fight in any war he declares or imposes.