I miss the South East we used to know, - Femi Adesina

 I miss the South East we used to know, - Femi Adesina

Each time I read of killings by gunmen in the South East, I go into the doldrums. I get mortified by the sheer waste of precious lives, the wantonness, malevolence and viciousness of it all. And I mean killings on both sides. The innocent law enforcement agents, mowed down in cold blood, and the misguided, brainwashed gunmen, who more often than not do not get away with their evil acts. MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction. That’s what usually happens.

I then tell myself. This is not the South East we used to know. What happened? How did grace turn to disgrace? How did young men, who used to be moved, motivated by sonorous songs and choruses suddenly become bloodthirsty hounds, not distinguishing between friends and foes, good and evil? How do you claim you want to liberate a people, after first shooting them to ribbons? How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12).

The South East we used to know had Voice of the Cross. Oh, what a group of gospel singers! It had Sir Warrior, Oliver De Coque, Oriental Brothers, and many others. They would sing, and inspire you, and transport your mind to nobler things. Now, the soulful tunes have given way to the staccato sound of gunfire. What went wrong?

Let Reverend Sisters in the Convents, with their white attires sing those Igbo gospel songs, and nobody could convince you that they were not angels direct from above. Let the men, old, young, play the drums and other musical instruments, sing in baritone, and heaven would come down, and glory would fill your soul. Let a preacher from the region take the pulpit, and he intersperses his sermon with heavenly songs, which the congregation would respond rapturously to. That was the South East we knew, and not the current killing fields.

On Tuesday, this week, a combined security team of soldiers and policemen was stationed at Obeagu-Amodu, along Amechi-Agbani road in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State. The security agents were the husbands of some women, fathers of some children, or they themselves were grown sons of some fathers and mothers. They had dreams, visions, even expecting Christmas soon.

They committed no crime. Rather, they were helping to keep society safe, keeping criminals at bay. Suddenly, like fiends from the bottom of hell, young men in two Lexus SUV and one Sienna Bus emerged, and opened fire on them. About three soldiers were said to have been killed, many others wounded, while the attackers themselves were shot in return, two were killed, and the others fled, with gunshot wounds. They would probably go home to die. Over what? For what reason? Futility. A pipe dream. Hundreds of such attacks have happened in the region over the past two years or so. Ironically, most of the people gunned down were indigenes of the area. Killing the same people you claim you want to liberate. It makes no sense.

The following day, at least five soldiers and a civilian were reportedly killed along the Umunze-Umunneochi road in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State, by gunmen who had lay ambush for them . Madness. Sheer lunacy.