When?

“If a leader limps, all others start limping too.” African proverb.

Tucked deep in this paper two days ago was a report on a group of villagers who are now sheltering at Jibia Central Primary School in Katsina State. Until a few days ago these villagers, now Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had lived with frequent attacks from bandits, during which young women would be raped, sometimes by a gang, or abducted; men would be beaten mercilessly and those who resisted killed; and belongings carted away or vandalized afterwards. A young lady, Rabi, said eight men were killed when bandits invaded their village, including the village head. “Almost every middle-aged lady was raped in our village that night, either by one person or by a group of the bandits. They have beaten our men including even younger ones and took our foodstuff away...,” she narrated to the reporter. The villagers were quoted as saying, ”We are in a dire situation. We cannot continue to remain here (in the school) and we cannot go back to our former place if the situation remains like that.”

When are stories of villagers that have acquired new status as IDPs after undergoing horrific crimes shock us enough to do something about them, and about  millions of other villagers who are as exposed to criminals as these villagers near Jibia were? Apparently there is no time frame. We hear daily about new and additional deployments of the military and police. At the same time, we also hear of audacious forays of bandits into villages and now,  even into towns and cities. We hear of encounters and killings of bandits from the air and of double-edged activities of vigilantes. Then we hear of chilling stories of atrocities of bandits who have the run of forests, rural roads, highways and entire territories. We hear of positive outcomes of negotiations for payment of ransom and release of kidnapped and abducted people, and of people who are murdered even after ransoms are paid. In truth, we do not hear of majority of kidnappings and assaults on villagers, as citizens have learnt to pay ransom quietly or bury their dead and learn to live with indignities and humiliations without recourse to the state.

When are women in particular going to raise voices against the dehumanization of quite possibly thousands of women who are raped right before parents, husbands and children? Where is the anger that trailed the abductions of the Chibok girls? Where are those voices that were heard all over the world after the abductions? Are they tired, or do they not care anymore? Where are care-givers, people who understand what it is for a woman to tell a reporter that she was gang raped along with half the women in the village in one night? Who is talking to men that ran and cowed before wives and children and are stripped of all dignity before being made to share bits of a primary school with raped wives and daughters? Who speaks to these IDPs, gives them assurance and attends to the sick and the traumatized?

When is all this going to stop? Who supports bandits with cover, communication, weaponry, intelligence, fuel, food, medication, drugs and spare parts for motorcycles? Who should we ask for answers? Do those who know the answers give them to those who need to have them? What do leaders do with answers? Communities are told not to fight back because that will merely provoke the bandit. They can and do raise vigilante, but these get blamed for inviting 200 motorcycles with 600 armed bandits to leave behind stories that will be told in whispers for many years to come. Young men who dare stand up for communities are fished out and murdered, and the story goes round that they were exposed by local informants. So everyone submits. Raped wives and daughters walk around with bowed heads and crushed spirits. Men are shamed and humiliated before wives and children. Villagers suffer wounds that will take many years to heal, if at all.

When shall  we stop asking questions? Would it be when peasants who have born the brunt of poor leadership for decades are pushed hard enough to stand up against criminals in a manner that pits illegitimate violence against illegal use of force? Will it be when citizens are pushed to a point where  they rise against leaders that are comfortable with blaming each other and retreating until there is no further space or excuses to offer? Will young men whose wives, sisters or mothers are raped take up arms against armed criminals, or will they join the  criminals to rape other peoples’ relations and plunder  other communities? When will women stop crying, and men walk with some dignity? When will farmers resume farming, and women stop begging for food to feed crying children?

When will this nightmare stop? Will it be when President Muhammadu Buhari finally figures what he can do differently? Will anybody be held responsible for lapses, collusion, subversion and incompetence? Does any Nigerian in leadership position  feel responsible and accountable for circumstances that leave poor defenceless citizens at the mercy of bandits, kidnappers and sundry criminals. Do leaders remember that they swore to protect citizens, and that they will stand before God to be judged for neglect and indifference over the fate of people they led? Do leaders realize the gulf that exists between them and citizens; the levels of disenchantment with a political process that produces leaders who amass more power and wealth and leave citizens poorer than they were; and the fate of the democratic system that breeds only hate and anguish?

When will the nation hear from President Buhari whether it should resign itself to living with more IDP camps, more raped women and murdered and humiliated men, more gangs of armed criminals and wider spaces available to the criminal? When will he tell the nation what he will do that is new, if he intends to do anything new? When and how can we give governors and citizens powers and responsibilities to protect themselves? How much can parts of the nation tolerate before they begin  to question the utility of sharing the same roof with regions that have suffered from an insurgency for a decade; banditry, kidnappings and armed robbery for nearly a decade; an unstable arrangement to keep a lid on militancy, piracy and kidnappings as parts of routine existence for longer than a decade; crimes that abridge the freedom of citizens to move even outside  homes; corrupt law enforcement that is more liability than asset; and leaders who assume power under thoroughly questionable circumstances?

When will the IDPs at Central Primary School Jibia and many other locations go home and resume the humdrum of wretched existence? When will President Buhari visit an IDP camp, any IDP camp, to let citizens know that he cares? When will the nation raise its voice to atrocities in many villages in the North?

When will bandits be made to stop raping girls and women; stop beating up and humiliating men; stop stealing everything poor communities have kept; and stop behaving as if there are no governments in Nigeria?

When?