BADOO ATTACKS; The Irresponsibility of the Government and the nonchalant attitude of the Residents
By Sobona Adekunle/ “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist; then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist; then they came for the trade unionist and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me”_ Martin NIEMOLLER
First they went to Ibeshe, we kept mute because we are not from ibeshe. Then they went to Agbowa and we kept mute because Agbowa is not part of Ikorodu division. Then grew wings and flew to Eruwen, igbooluwo, Ogijo, odogunyan, Owode onirin and then we all started shouting and feeling it.
Ikorodu central and by extension Ikorodu Division has now been turned to camps where we have bonfires every night. I didn’t even know how bad it was till I went outside Ikorodu central and still saw traces of bonfires and I asked myself, why now? How long can we keep this up. Will we keep burning tyres while the police keep arresting badoo suspects at parties or we come together and strategize.
Guys in my area are already finding it hard to find tyres on the street and am sure it’s the same every where. What now happens if there are no more tires to burn?
Am not too certain of why our leaders are silent. Maybe it’s because they felt they are not directly affected, they feel it’s not happening in their region, they are clueless on what to do or they simply don’t care since their own houses have burglaries and they can afford to get personal security for their selves and their families. Who knows if they are part of the problem as it has been rumored in the past.
George Santayana once postulated that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. It’s certain that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and I always ask myself if we have not had enough to learn from in this part of the country.
Boko Haram started from a village in the extreme North and we from the south felt it’s not our problem. They started enlarging and it was until they started destroying properties and taking lives outside their region, notably the iyanya park blast, that people started taking them seriously but at the end every part of the country lost one or two things from the menace and we still failed to learn from it.
Kidnapping started from the South South and we felt “Sebi it’s expatriates that they are kidnapping and they are fighting for their right and moreover it’s not our business ” then we moved on. They enlarged and kidnapped a royal highness in Southwest and we started shouting but didn’t do what we were supposed to do and they continued. Their latest victims are the 10 students kidnapped in school uniforms and yet to be released even after getting a 10million ransom from their parents and the government is either not doing enough or just clueless on how to to recover the victims. Reason is not farfetched, its simply because the past victims had always been released after paying their ransom and the police had done close to nothing in recovering anyone without the money being paid. Forget about what the media says, money must exchange hands before anyone is released.
All these things happened in our country and we still failed to learn from it. It’s still not certain what the problem is, maybe we have clueless leaders or those that don’t care but whatever happened to us down here as a result of the actions of those up there, we are to be blamed because we made them what they are because we choose to care less by being careless.
We know for a fact Now that the gang do not carry dangerous weapons and thats why every Tom, dick and harry have the “liver” to always run to any place where they hear the word badoo but what happens when they start defending their selves? What happens if they start acquiring weapons? How many people will be able to keep night watch then?
If the rumors are anything to go by, a man who gets #500,000 for a killing will comfortably afford to get a weapon in an environment like ours. Their sponsors can even get it for them but then do we have to wait till that happens?
These people are not ghosts. They are people like us and recent discoveries have it that they don’t have any super powers. They only attack soft targets They are someone’s neighbor, another man’s cousin and just like Evans they have a family too. They live among us and can be found if the government truly wants them found. I am not trying to teach the police their job but these people are human and they make mistakes. From recent discoveries it has been unveiled that they use a particular chemical and finding the source of that chemical alone will go a long way.
I still don’t understand why a government that can afford to use drones to cover events (notably the one lagos fiesta and other events) cannot afford to get a standard surveillance drone,which literally costs less than the surveillance choppers we have around, to move around these places. We know Kidnappers don’t do bank transactions, they get their money from drop zones, can’t there be a drone that will tail them unknown from the pick up to their accomplices? Why spend wastefully when we can maximize what we have or are these not part of the dreams of a Mega State. What is the essence of building infrastructures when the lives of those who will use it are not secured? Why worry over the wants when the needs are not being met.
Personally I won’t be amazed if the government we have now decide to put a call through to the gang to drop their weapons and get amnesty. Then we will choose a place like the town hall, take pictures with them, call clerics to pray for them, get their names, probably give them money or empower them, get them visas to travel for courses abroad and the likes and the ones that are law abiding will definitely learn something from it.
Yes it might stop the act but till when and at what cost? They did it before with militants, kidnappers, cultists and presently boko Haram repentant members and am sure it will be done again someday. Maybe then we will have Southwest Development Commission just like we have in the Northeast, south south and as presently being worked on in the South East or maybe our leaders are envious that some of our common wealth are not being spent in this region and before you think otherwise just know that someone somewhere is already counting his gains and what he stands to gain from it.
What we need now is sincerity of purpose from everyone involved. Just like Boko Haram, oil bunkering and kidnapping the terror that started in ibeshe is spreading and If they can do this and get away with it in lagos State just tell me how it will be in a place like osun or even oyo state.
It’s not a curse but these things will never end until a man on lagos island starts seeing the problem of a man at Ofin as his own and it will never cease to happen until we start speaking up and stop looking away because its not affecting us directly.
Without the sincerity of purpose of the government, the security operatives, our leaders and everyone involved and these things will not come to an end.
Like they say, security is every man’s business and the entire dwellers of Ikorodu Division should be very vigilant and proactive. We alone decide the bulk of what happens to us.
History will remember it started in a place in Ikorodu and history will also remember we did nothing about it and that’s why it’s spreading.
To those tagging it to Ikorodu I will want to surprise you that till the last count none of those who had been apprehended are from Ikorodu and that still doesn’t rule out the fact that there might be an insider involved. If you feel it’s not your problem then you are wrong.
Today it’s the turn of Ikorodu. Tomorrow,if you don’t do anything about it today, might be yours and there will certainly be no one else to speak for you because then it will be “our Problem”.
Sobona Wasiu Adekunle is a public affair analyst and can be reached through Sobonawasiu@gmail.com
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