Patriotism is earned, not. extorted
Now, look at Nigeria. If that airman were ours, the government would have spent the first 48 hours distancing itself from “culpability”. While facing nothing more than ragtag, heroin-fueled terrorists, our “brass hats” would shamelessly sermonise about how these vile mass killers are “misguided children” who deserve rehabilitation and pampering.
It is a sickening irony. We watch as our finest and brightest are hunted like prey. Within just the last few months, we have seen the tragic losses of Brigadier General Musa Uba and, only days ago, Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah, killed in a coordinated assault in Benisheikh. These were not just names on a payroll; they were high-ranking symbols of our national defence. And what is the state’s response to the murder of its Generals?
In America, the death of a General in the hands of terrorists would trigger a tectonic shift in the war; in Nigeria, it triggers a press release. We are served a pathetic script of “condolences,” “platitudes,” and “propaganda,” while the killers continue to post videos of their exploits, mocking the very sovereignty our fallen heroes died to protect. It breaks my heart to live under this setting, where our lives don’t matter, but those of our murderers do.
How can a state drool over the “repentance” of monsters who have slaughtered its military leadership, while the victims and their families are left with nothing but “renewed hope” slogans? The President promised security to the people of Plateau State; hours later, the bloodletting resumed. A week later, the killers struck again, emboldened by a state that seems more interested in 2027 than in the burials of 2026.
Our politicians are experts at “capturing the state” for self-preservation, but they are ghosts when the people they ‘lead’ are being led to the slaughter.