By Toheeb Omotayo (DaPenWarrior)
My heart aches whenever I see people, who ascribe themselves as ambassadors of peace, planting the seeds of discord, fueling the flame of disaster, and stocking up the fire of disunity. The truism about war is that, it’s perilous nature is second to zero. When the first fire is being shot, it becomes hard to tell when the battle will end or how the burning flame will be quenched and human lives are mere blips on the canvas of eternity.
However, don’t be surprised when two people, from different factions, become stone-head-insistent on putting an end to a mayhem after making the blooming flower loses its shammer in the eventide. Sometimes, those strong-headed viciously violent individuals (mostly appeared to be concerned with the people’s welfarism) are the ones pulling the string from behind the scene, provoking the spirit of violence in their blinded soldiers and at the same time feasting on the altercation. They never wanted the chaos to stop. Never interested in making peace!
An African Proverb says “Where two elephants had a fight, it is the surrounding grasses that suffer the ultimate droughts.” It is the people of the communities that are always at the receiving end of every violent outbreaks which, thus, leave them with broken hearts and memories of the pain of bereavement over the lose of their beloved ones, properties and source of livelihoods.
The results of a war are generally known for breaking the hard-built bridge of peace and harmony between two communities, ethnic groups, religious factions, countries among others which amount to absence of ecstasy, anaesthesia and lifelong integration between the people.
A man of knowledge was asked: “if you found yourself in a position where your task alone is to proffer a lasting solution to an ongoing blazing war, how will you achieve that?” The man, first of all, gave a deep sigh, grasped a fresh breath and said: “within the smaller frame of my knowledge, I’ll just muster up courage to consult the leaderships of both the two Warring factions and preach peace to them.” Huhn! “It’s just as simple as that.” Smiles;
Another sociological Analyst was asked the same question just as the first person and he muttered few words which goes thus; “If only the war has not become a full-scale one can I, as an ordinary person, decide on what could be done to stop the war from getting even worse than bad.” This clearly shows the power and how immensely difficult it is to put a stop to an already escalated war.
A fire that dances in the chimney after being lit is easier to put out than a burning flame that has already engulfed the farmland.
In most cases, the root cause of all war is from deprivation of a person access to their certain inherent properties, specifically a bequeathed feudal right upon a community by their forebears (peculiar to African countries). The fight over a borderline (a demarcated location indicating the land polaris between two neighboring communities) is intimately peculiar to the nature of African localities starring the usage of violence as a method of solving a conflict while seeking emancipation for the people of the societies and lots more. In this, consternation is always attached!
Even though self-defense is not considered a crime, it can still wreak serious havoc between two parties and cause it to last a longer period. Telling someone who is never interested in making room for peace that “The best form of defense is counterattack” is like throwing human flesh, in batches, to a lion inside its den and expect it to give up on feeding on human beings. That’s ironically insensible!
I would like to tell you a story from the past so you can savor a imaginary understanding of the whole missive. Long time ago in Yoruba land, there existed two neighboring communities that shared a very tiny borderline. The communities are Koroade and Asaoke kingdoms. The forebears (sometimes referred to as founders, ancestors) of the two communities had lived together in the same piece of pod as one. There was complete absence of disintegration, war, rift, pandemonium between them. Everything was going in order until a very ominous moment of consternation came in to the scene of breaching the Age-long peace between the two communities.
(At this time, generations had already passed and new generation had surfaced)
It all started when one village indulged in large farming system and the other lived off of it. Koroade kingdom had young, vibrant and promising youths who worked hard for the prosperity of their kingdom, while Asaoke cultivated little, but never sufficient farmland and enjoyed very little harvest period.
As time passes, Asaoke kingdom grew to develop jealousy and hatred for their neighboring village, Koroade. They wondered if they were suffering from a spell of dry land or probably being neglected by their ancestors that begets their suffering from lack of surplus farm produce. This had them wondering about the kind of sin they could have possibly committed to their ancestors for a long time and after they couldn’t pinpoint any potential possibility, they resorted to waging war against Koroade community.
They began to claim Koroade’s good and fertile land as theirs and tag the people of the community as vandals and usurpers who had come to usurp their land from them. Koroade kingdom was too hesitant and reluctant enough to fireback at Asaoke for being scandalous towards it. It was during the kingships of Oba (a king in Yoruba land) Alemokako and Onikunmekun that this turmoil began.
The illegal and provoking proclamation went on for years, purely without any form of physical attack. Yet, the spirit to instigate a war was manifesting in the people of Asaoke kingdom. After they could no longer stand the sight of their neighbor enjoying their hard-earned fortune, they began paying onslaught visits discreetly to the people of Karaoke at their respective farmsteads. Killing, seizing and looting the farmland and its properties from their rightful owners was the hoodlums’ watchwords. They took solace in seeing buildings burning down to ashes and people covered in cold blood. What a wickedness that was!
The Karaoke people, after being pushed to the wall, could no longer stand to be taciturn and tolerant of being trampled over by their enemies, then decided to counterattack and seek freedom for their society and the people Living therein. Permit me to define ‘WAR’ as the absence of peace. And that was how the war escalated across the two communities. Invaluable numbers of innocent lives were sent to heaven in the most brutal way possible, including the lives of young children and promising youths who were considered to be the future of the kingdoms.
Even though it is forbidden for the king of a kingdom to brood, the Onikasa of Kasaoke kingdom could not stop regretting and beating himself in the butt for his unscrupulous action. So did the Alasa of Asaoke kingdom could not have a peaceful night rest, brooding, sobbing, and pondering the possible ways to quell the upheaval. If only the two kings could meet and have a dialogue on finding a way to stop the ongoing war, there could be a higher chance of them succeeding in the course.
The truth of the matter is that, the war had gone beyond fighting over mere land and freedom alone. There was a group of people investing and benefiting from it unknown to those taking front in the battlefield that they have been caught in the line of puppeteers, dancing to the music they set them to and that they were nothing but marionettes in the hands of the people controlling the war from behind the cloak of anonymity.
Another obscuring truth of the matter is that, majority of those fighting over the land, especially Asaoke soldiers, had no knowledge of the real cause of the fight. They were only told stories that the Karaoke forebears were vandals who fled their ancestral homes to settle on the land they had amassed to themselves. They regarded the people of Karaoke as their kinsmen, weaklings and cowards.
Moreover,the fight went on for years before the perpetrators fueling the flame of war were discovered and nabbed. Many people had been killed, children had become parentless, husbands lost their wives, many women had turned to widows in both Warring communities. That’s why I said earlier that, a war is easier to start, but to stop it is a herculean task.
Surprisingly, the perpetrators that were apprehended were the right handmen to the two kings. They supplied the soldiers with firearms and assorted ammunitions to make the war unstoppable, while they also took charge of the commercial activities and farmlands of the towns. In the end, they got arrested, quizzed and subjected to the law of the land which orders the killing of such perpetrators by body dismemberment.
It is imperative to make it clear that this act of violence in the name of fighting and seeking liberation is still taking a toll in Africa. And beyond Africa, it’s still reigning in almost all the parts of the world. Russia/Ukraine unending war is a typical example to be considered in this regard.
Nevertheless, it is very appalling that, Africa is being looked at with streams of tragic historical events. I am reminded of Somalia, Sierra Leone, Gabon and Niger Republic (where military coup dêtat have just taken place) and the remote history of Biafra. Were they to have power and means, they would protest in the most violent way possible, about the terrible fate that has become their lot. It is clearly not by their own design. No! They are the casualties (Talking about the people of two Warring factions). When ammunitions are being distributed, it is merchants that smile to the banks.
At this juncture, let’s be sincere with ourselves. Are we being fair to our society, family, children? In this era of the world, the answer is NO! We really are not. Family threads are broken. Considering the so much abundance of small arms all over the sub-region of West Africa, killing and maiming innocent lives. What exactly is wrong with Africa that we can not embrace peace in our midst? When out of greed and love of power, we turn brothers against brothers, and force people that hitherto have been Living together in peace and harmony; we turn them into sworn enemies.
What do we want history to say about Africa? What legacy do we want Africa to be remembered with? In everything we do, the children who are regarded as the future of the continent should be put at utmost priority.
To Nigeria political leaders, let’s try to hearken to the calls of the suffering citizens as they cry out to us in their loudest voices and help them heal the world and make it a better place for them to live in.
Apparently, we have nothing to profit from war. When the first fire is shot, no one knows when the battle will end. We should come together as one to wage war against ethnic, religious and tribal division.
Red is never the freedom road. We should embrace a clean white space and make room for peace to reign!
God bless you all, God bless Nigeria and God bless Africa!
Disclaimer: The story portrayed in this article is Fictional. All the names mentioned in here are, in no way, pointing to any specific individual or a society.
Toheeb Omotayo is an Ilorin-based writer. He can be reached via +2348139703167 or toheebomotayo12@gmail.com
