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The death had long been expected. It was a miracle that the country lasted for so long. The diagnosis and prognosis had been contested and controversial. The remote and immediate causes of death stemmed from barbaric practices associated with ancient civilizations. The evidence was overwhelming. The proof was incontrovertible. The demise was imminent and inevitable. We all saw it coming. No one was surprised to learn about its demise.
After a long excruciating struggle for years, and being on life support most of its existence, the combined lethal terminal diseases of corruption and terrorism finally claimed a country once proudly referred to as “Giant of Africa.”
The death had long been expected. It was a miracle that the country lasted for so long. The diagnosis and prognosis had been contested and controversial. The remote and immediate causes of death stemmed from barbaric practices associated with ancient civilizations. The evidence was overwhelming. The proof was incontrovertible. The demise was imminent and inevitable. We all saw it coming. No one was surprised to learn about its demise.
The immediate cause of death of the country of over 200 million people was brought about by the daily slaughtering of its citizens by Book Haram and Fulani terrorists and bandits. Videos showed how the victims were tortured like no other in the history of humans. The victims were killed in such a way that they were able to witness their own torture before their lives were terminated. It was a gory, senseless, cruel, and frightening scene to watch.
Here’s a graphic scene from one of the many videos that contained the signature torture and terror of the terrorists: The victims were dragged naked to the stakes. Piece by piece, their bodies were meticulously decapitated. Their intestines were clinically harvested in front of their own eyes. Their hearts were ripped from their chests. While still beating, they chopped off their heads. Part by part, their bodies were butchered into sizable chunks. Amputation and mutilation of hands, ears, noses, private parts followed. The body parts were spread around a bon fire while the terrorists raised up their guns with popped champagne in celebration while security agencies – police and the military – joined in the macabre ceremony.
All the pre-existing conditions of a failed state were too vivid to deny. The federal government had collapsed. The political collapse was evident in all areas of governance. The economic and social decay defiles definition. All the features of a statehood had been obliterated. Nigeria had ceased to exist as a sovereign country.
Widespread corruption and poverty ran the country underground. Citizens could not be protected. It was everyone to himself, God for us all. Democracy and the rule of law had been erased. Nigeria had succumbed into quasi authoritarianism. Freedom of speech, movement, association, and dissent had been expunged from its federal system of government. Elected officials did not reflect the will of the people. The institutions were weakened, compromised, and corrupted.
The central government had lost control of its territories to the terrorists. The state could no longer enforce its laws within the country and at its borders. Nigerians had lost faith in their government. The institutions and other apparatus of government had gone into comatose. The government had failed to provide basic services. The government had lost total control. It was apparent no one was in charge. It was a free fall. The end of the protracted malady was a matter of time.
Morals and mores had become extinct. Life was brutish, nasty, wicked, and hopeless. The corrupt ruling elite had become conceited and inebriated by power, greed, selfishness, and wickedness. They had no plan or program for the army of unemployed youths who made up the majority of the country. Young girls and married women were forced into prostitution to eke out a living. Young men became ravaged monsters. The youths had reached the end of the road. There was nowhere else to go. For their parents, their lives had been wantonly destroyed. Gloom and doom were everywhere. No one was safe or spared from the imminent death of the country.
As the funeral rituals of the dead country entered its final days, the remnants who survived the cataclysm were busy making preparations for a state funeral that no one will attend. The epitaph was succinct: “Here lies the remains of a country devoured by lions, wolves, and hyenas. Good bye Nigeria and rest in peace!
