The folly of Sacred Cows

In the pursuit of identity, man will stop at nothing. Crime and its variants are mere grievances. 

The Jungle has matured.

There was a time in this country when it was unthinkable that a Nigerian will strap himself with a bomb only to detonate same to take his own life and that of others. Things are no longer what they used to be. It is a dawn of a tumultuous era. Our jungle is about matured. There are things we would rather not talk about for fear of being singled-out. Nobody wants to be tagged controversial. The title Prophet of Doom is not one desirable even by the most notorious. In that self-same spirit of not wanting to ruffle feathers, we simply let the sleeping dogs lie. Hypocrisy reigns; it lurks in the deepest of places; the human mind.

Violence and its variant vices are all grievances.

It was Marshall McLuhan; a man well ahead of the thinkers of the day who asserted that violence and crime are grievances. Grievance is a motivation for all human actions whether Good, Bad and Ugly. In his analogy, he opined that every time, a comedian stands in front of people to crack jokes, he is in a position of expressing his grievances. Same for a man who detonates his bomb. This principle; that the quest for identity is what drives us is not a popular convention. In fact, it betrays most contemporary wisdom but it it true. This understanding explains why Boko Haram and its sister organizations unlike many others are deeply rooted in fundamentalism. The Boko Haram insurgence in the same vain as others like it are pursuing an ideology. They are defending an identity. This is why they won't accept handovers and go as far as turn down Amnesty offers.  The will stop at nothing to prove a point. Human life and suffering means nothing to them. Understanding the psychology of this group is key to solving the menace of modern day international terrorism. It is a tall order but one thing is clear. Military or police action is the least of solution. Even if it reduces the insurgence, it remains a boiling magma. Its eruption will be more devastating. 

 

There are no sacred cows

I don't know about anyone else but the events of recent times has proven one thing and that is that in the pursuit of identity, man will stop at nothing. There will be no sacred cows. The Nigerian history is full of aggression of varying forms. We have seen it all. Talk of ethnic wars, religious madness, political vendettas, economic riots e.t.c. Innocent lives have been lost and continue to be shed. The high and the low have paid with blood on the altar of aggression. There is nothing emotional about it to ask "Where next?" and "Who is next?". It is in this country that a Senator was killed in a communal clash. In this same country thousands of civilians have been wasted without any affirmative action. In this same country men of force (the Khaki boys I call them) have become highly endangered species. No one is safe. No one is immune. This is a reality. I am a Christian but also a risk intelligent soul. 

Latency is the enemy of man

Far from being a merchant of vanity, risk management is what I do for living. Its gospel is what I sell and implement. Risk is anything that can go wrong. The theory of latency explains why humans defer evil. It explains why we prefer to wish away evil. It is why an average human would rather underplay his weakness and hype his strength. We prefer to deploy faith but suffer the fate. I am an optimist but I refuse to be a servant to latency. Anticipation is the ultimate sophistication in risk management. In the words of one sage "If a random bolt hits you in the middle of a field, that feels like a random event. But, if your job is to perpetually stay in random fields, shouldn't you anticipate perhaps a little more robustly the risk you are faced with?"

 

Is Lagos and its variants sacred cows? Are there really sacred cows?

So to those questions that we don't like to ask. What will happen if Lagos is hit? What will happen if Shoprite or any other public space is hit? What will happen if the third mainland bridge comes down collapsing during a major peak period of vehicular traffic? What stops Boko Haram from attacking Lagos or anywhere for that matter?

What will be our response?
The Bible records in the new testament how Herod stretched forth his hands into the Church and began to kill God's people. At first, the people did nothing than lament and wail. When he reached out for Paul the beloved minister, then they began to pray. The moral of the story is that what you do not resist, you cannot conquer. The enemy is gunning for the soul of this nation and there is no question about this.




What will be our response?

Image Credit: Google