Animals and the human society
October 4 2015 By Abi Giwa
it is uncertain whether or not Shekau is yet alive, but his forces are still killing innocent Nigerians
Nigeria has two Grendels that are endangering the souls and lives of her children. The first Grendel is corruption and the second one is Boko Haram. The life of the first Grendel can be decimated and its power to endanger the country's economy curtailed, and reduce its impact on ability of Nigerians to economic survival. All over the world, people have been making strives to kill corruption, but corruption has proved difficult to be exterminated.
The second Grendel in Nigeria is almost in the same category like the first. It may be impossible to be killed and be taken out of existence, but its power can be reduced and it can fade out with time, when proposer corrective measures may have been taken by the country through the government.
These Grendels are like the Grendel in Beowulf - from an old English epic poem. The Grendel in Beowulf hated the Danish people. Grendel killed as many Danes it had access, because of its hatred for the Danish songs in praise of God, from a hall (Herot) specially built by the Swedes' King for that purpose.
After Grendel was killed by Beowulf, a fighter from a friendly Swedish country, Grendel's mother came into attack, but Beowulf was too much for her. After the killing of Grendel and its mother, the Danes later knew peace and they celebrated the end of their enemies. With information from Nigeria, Nigerians are still far from achieving clear victory against the second Grendel, though the country has declared war against the two Grendels.
The government has vowed to kill corruption, but those who have knowledge about the truth of corruption have said that corruption cannot be killed, but its impact can be reduced to a level that it can no longer have effect on the struggle and ability of Nigerians to survive or from preventing the country to provide required infrastructure that would life amenable for Nigerians. The second war on Boko Haram is also still haunting the country.
On the country's Independence Day on October 1, 2015, Boko Haram came of its hiring place and it killed scores of innocent people in Abuja. A week earlier, it had killed yet another scores of people in Maiduguri. These killings happened amid songs by the Nigerian new military leaders that they had driven Boko Haram out of its enclave in the Sambisa forest, North East of the country.
People are now asking that if this Grendel has been driven out of its enclave as the military officers have said, why does the animal still has power to kill scores of Nigerians?Of course, no one should expect to get the appropriate answer to such a question, while political answers are not in short supply. And part of the political answer came from President Muhammed Buhari, who said that the country will defeat a Boko Haram.
Earlier, President Buhari had given the military three months to end Boko Haram. And among his supporters, the song that the country has ended Boko Haram is defeating. Earlier, while Boko a Haram used the Sambisa forest as its stronghold, people advised the military to attack the animals in their stronghold. There were confused debates about lack of fighting equipment, a shortage said to have been caused, first by corruption and second, by unwillingness of civilized countries to sell military wares to Nigeria for political reasons.
Somehow, Nigeria got military equipment and it began a raid of the Sambisa forest and managed to displace Boko Haram fighters. But Boko have not stopped occasional attacks and it has kept killing innocent people. Some Boko Haram elements in Lagos and from some parts of the South East, a sign that Boko Haram fighters may not only be on the run, but they may be living alongside law abiding Nigerians but their identity unknown. The spate of Boko Haram elements surrendering themselves to the military also points to the possibility some of them may have become homeless.
But there are tines and occasions that warrants knowing the domicile of an enemy as an advantage to winning a war. When the position of an enemy is unknown, attacking and defeating it may be extremely difficult. For example, Grendel and its mother feud not live among the people. They had home in the marsh almost impenetrable for humans. But because their place of domicile was known made it easy for Beowulf to know where to go find them. Once he got into their den, the battle became one of survival of the fittest. But the animals never though people knew their home.
Nigeria, like Beowulf, may have the military wares, but where would the military wares be deployed? With Boko Haram members hiding and living among the people makes detecting them a little more difficult. They know where to go and do their evil and what time to choose for the evil, like on the country's Independence Day.
It is this situation that may have turned President Buhati into Hrothgar- the Danish King, who at a time could no longer step out to see the evil the animal had wrought. President Buhari too could not go and see for himself, the evil that Noko Haram caused in Abuja on the country's Independence Day, but instead he sent presidency officials. News reports gave the number of casualties at the Abuja bombing as 15, the official figure.
There is nothing wrong with the media using official figures in their reports, but in a country where corruption is still endemic in spite of the wars upon wars that have been waged against it, one would expect the media to ask for further scrutiny on the officials figures being published. The bags seen being carried out by first responders in published photographs of the bombing venue show that the number of casualties there may have been far more than 15.
Of course, even if it was only one person who got killed, it still showed a state insecurity of lives and that book Haram is still of killing innocent people. It is what animals like Grendel can cause, when they are allowed a space in any human society.
The second Grendel in Nigeria is almost in the same category like the first. It may be impossible to be killed and be taken out of existence, but its power can be reduced and it can fade out with time, when proposer corrective measures may have been taken by the country through the government.
These Grendels are like the Grendel in Beowulf - from an old English epic poem. The Grendel in Beowulf hated the Danish people. Grendel killed as many Danes it had access, because of its hatred for the Danish songs in praise of God, from a hall (Herot) specially built by the Swedes' King for that purpose.
After Grendel was killed by Beowulf, a fighter from a friendly Swedish country, Grendel's mother came into attack, but Beowulf was too much for her. After the killing of Grendel and its mother, the Danes later knew peace and they celebrated the end of their enemies. With information from Nigeria, Nigerians are still far from achieving clear victory against the second Grendel, though the country has declared war against the two Grendels.
The government has vowed to kill corruption, but those who have knowledge about the truth of corruption have said that corruption cannot be killed, but its impact can be reduced to a level that it can no longer have effect on the struggle and ability of Nigerians to survive or from preventing the country to provide required infrastructure that would life amenable for Nigerians. The second war on Boko Haram is also still haunting the country.
On the country's Independence Day on October 1, 2015, Boko Haram came of its hiring place and it killed scores of innocent people in Abuja. A week earlier, it had killed yet another scores of people in Maiduguri. These killings happened amid songs by the Nigerian new military leaders that they had driven Boko Haram out of its enclave in the Sambisa forest, North East of the country.
People are now asking that if this Grendel has been driven out of its enclave as the military officers have said, why does the animal still has power to kill scores of Nigerians?Of course, no one should expect to get the appropriate answer to such a question, while political answers are not in short supply. And part of the political answer came from President Muhammed Buhari, who said that the country will defeat a Boko Haram.
Earlier, President Buhari had given the military three months to end Boko Haram. And among his supporters, the song that the country has ended Boko Haram is defeating. Earlier, while Boko a Haram used the Sambisa forest as its stronghold, people advised the military to attack the animals in their stronghold. There were confused debates about lack of fighting equipment, a shortage said to have been caused, first by corruption and second, by unwillingness of civilized countries to sell military wares to Nigeria for political reasons.
Somehow, Nigeria got military equipment and it began a raid of the Sambisa forest and managed to displace Boko Haram fighters. But Boko have not stopped occasional attacks and it has kept killing innocent people. Some Boko Haram elements in Lagos and from some parts of the South East, a sign that Boko Haram fighters may not only be on the run, but they may be living alongside law abiding Nigerians but their identity unknown. The spate of Boko Haram elements surrendering themselves to the military also points to the possibility some of them may have become homeless.
But there are tines and occasions that warrants knowing the domicile of an enemy as an advantage to winning a war. When the position of an enemy is unknown, attacking and defeating it may be extremely difficult. For example, Grendel and its mother feud not live among the people. They had home in the marsh almost impenetrable for humans. But because their place of domicile was known made it easy for Beowulf to know where to go find them. Once he got into their den, the battle became one of survival of the fittest. But the animals never though people knew their home.
Nigeria, like Beowulf, may have the military wares, but where would the military wares be deployed? With Boko Haram members hiding and living among the people makes detecting them a little more difficult. They know where to go and do their evil and what time to choose for the evil, like on the country's Independence Day.
It is this situation that may have turned President Buhati into Hrothgar- the Danish King, who at a time could no longer step out to see the evil the animal had wrought. President Buhari too could not go and see for himself, the evil that Noko Haram caused in Abuja on the country's Independence Day, but instead he sent presidency officials. News reports gave the number of casualties at the Abuja bombing as 15, the official figure.
There is nothing wrong with the media using official figures in their reports, but in a country where corruption is still endemic in spite of the wars upon wars that have been waged against it, one would expect the media to ask for further scrutiny on the officials figures being published. The bags seen being carried out by first responders in published photographs of the bombing venue show that the number of casualties there may have been far more than 15.
Of course, even if it was only one person who got killed, it still showed a state insecurity of lives and that book Haram is still of killing innocent people. It is what animals like Grendel can cause, when they are allowed a space in any human society.
