Ukeoma Ikechukwu
Obinna Okpokiri Ukeoma Ikechukwu, on his facebook page, made a recommendation to his friends. He urged them to watch the video: “A Soldier's Silent Night”. In his words, it is a “very heart-wrenching video everyone should see”. It is the touching story of an American soldier observing Christmas in a lonely world far away from friends and family—in the service of his fatherland. Well, Ikechukwu is dead. He was murdered in cold blood by rioters who said they were protesting against the results of last Saturday’s presidential election. Ikechukwu was wasted in far-away Bauchi: lonely, terrified, kilometres away from friends and family—in the service of his fatherland as a youth corps member. It is a heart-wrenching story everyone should hear.
His last phone calls were described as coming from “someone in distress”. His last post on his facebook wall was on Sunday, April 17, a day after the election, at 6:48am, via mobile web. He wrote (unedited): "Na wao! This CPC supporters would hv (have) killed me yesterday, no see threat oooo. Even after forcing underaged voters on me they wanted me to give them the remaining ballot paper to thumb print. Thank God for the police and am happy i could stand for God and my nation. To all corps members who stood despite these threats esp. In the north bravo! Nigeria! Our change has come."
He was reported missing that day by friends and finally confirmed dead Friday, with thousands of tributes flowing across the social network sites.
He was not alone. Six other youth corps members were confirmed killed in Bauchi, where the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, polled 1,315,209 votes (or 81.69 per cent), defeating President Goodluck Jonathan (of the Peoples Democratic Party) who scored 258,404 votes and did not even hit the 25 per cent mark. The corps members were reportedly chased to a police station where they sought refuge. But the rioters, who were said to be chanting “Sai Buhari”, overran the station and killed the young Nigerians.
The story of Obinna Okpokiri is as heart-wrenching as Ikechukwu’s. The 27-year-old was butchered and burnt to ashes—in the service of his fatherland. Okpokiri’s own circumstances were as gruesome as they could be. He had reportedly run to the Corpers’ Lodge as the rampaging rioters targeted the youth corps members who were the polling officers recruited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the general election. As death loomed, the young Nigerians contemplated fleeing to the barracks, the only sanctuary in times of mob insanity. But they were not lucky enough. The rioters caught up with them, beat them up, slaughtered the ones they could and set them on fire. Human beings. Future leaders on the last lap of fulfilling statutory requirement before starting their careers. Slaughtered. Sliced. Soaked in petrol. Scorched. Reduced to ashes in the most callous fashion.
Okpokiri could have been in the United Kingdom savouring life some other way and living in the safety of a society that would go to any length to protect its citizens. He chose to return to his fatherland after acquiring a post-graduate degree in the UK. He chose to do the mandatory national youth service. He chose to obey the posting to Bauchi State, as against the mass hysteria of changing posting.
And, as it were, he chose to die.
The story of Ikechukwu and Okpokiri, mowed down in their infancies, is re-igniting calls for the scrapping of the NYSC—a body created in 1976 ironically to foster national unity. The corps members always appear to be the primary targets in ethno-religious riots in some parts of the country. There is now an online petition being mobilised to ask for the withdrawal of youth corps members from violent states, while some are calling for the outright scrapping of the scheme in the interest of safety and protection of the lives of the young graduates.
According to his profile, Ikechukwu worked at His Grace Network Limited as a manager, and studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka between 2006 and 2010. He did his secondary school at National High School, Aba, from 1997 to 2003. His favourite quote, according to him, was: “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost but when character is lost, all is lost.” His choice of music was “anything inspiring” and his favourite book was the Bible.
He seemed to have a strong religious bent, listing among his interests Dr. Tunde Bakare whom he called “Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”. (Ironically, Bakare is Buhari’s running mate.) He also listed House on The Rock (his church, it has turned out), Pastor Sunday Adelaja, The Experience Lagos (a yearly Christian music festival), Myles Munroe, and Pastor Bimbo Odukoya among his “interests”.
An anonymous writer wrote on Okpokiri in a blog Friday: "Let's all give a moment of silence and think about the senseless loss of Obinna Okpokiri, 27 years of age, Estate Management graduate, Abia State University, butchered and burnt in Bauchi state. Can he be brought back? No, never, not ever! ...I did not know Obinna directly but we had mutual friends here in London. Until recently Obinna was here in the UK, at his family expense, to pick up a post graduate qualification. Obi, as I will call him for the rest of this write up, like every young man had dreams and hopes and one of such was to go back and complete the mandatory NYSC. As a result he packed his bags, paid his way back to Nigeria to serve his fatherland in Bauchi where he was posted to do his National Youth Service.”
For Ikechukwu and Okpokiri, it is silent night. It is a heart-wrenching story.
For Ikechukwu and Okpokiri, it is silent night. It is a heart-wrenching story.
STILL ON THIS STORY
The Murder Of Obinna Okpokiri
I did not know Obinna directly but we had mutual friends here in London. Until recently Obinna was here in the UK, at his family expense, to pick up a post graduate qualification. Obi, as I will call him for the rest of this write up, like every young man had dreams and hopes and one of such was to go back and complete the mandatory NYSC. As a result he packed his bags, paid his way back to Nigeria to serve his fatherland in Bauchi where he was posted to do his National Youth Service.
As you might have guessed by now Obi is one of the Youth Corpers, reported glibly by the media, killed in Bauchi in the last few days. I don’t know if it is because it has happened so many times or what, but the media in Nigeria have become very blasé about such killings and no longer view such as worthy of further coverage. Obi was a person, he had a life, he had a family that loved and sacrificed for him. Obi as you can see from his picture was a good looking young man full of life.According to friends, Obi had run to the corpers lodge to seek refuge and was worried enough to contemplate running to the barracks. But before he or any of the other corpers in the lodge could actualize this; death arrived in the form of a CPC murder squad.
The terror Obi and the rest must have felt can only be best imagined.
They were forced out and beaten up and not quite done, the baying crowd of CPC fanatics slaughtered them and set their bodies alight. It is not the kind of death you will wish on your enemy. Let no one try and palm this off on the usual suspects; the Almajiris. Yes there must have been street urchins amongst the killer squad but these were CPC and Buhari loyalists who were out to sort out “the opponents” of their leader. It did not matter to them that these young people were on a National service, as far as they were concerned, if they were not one of them, then they must be the enemy.
There are parallels between the killing of Obi et al and what happened in Kenya at the tail end of 2007 when Kenyans went to the polls in a bitterly fought election. The incumbent Mwai Kibaki’s reelection was disputed by the main opposition leader Raila Odinga. In no time Kalenjin militias in the Rift Valley fanned out in a murderous search of Kibaki’s supporters and kinsmen. They burnt down their houses, looted and killed Kikuyus who were seen as Kibaki’s supporters. Kibaki’s Kikuyus soon retaliated and at the end of the orgy of violence, over 1,100 Kenyans had been killed.
Just like we have seen in Nigeria before, the Kenyan government sacrificed justice at the altar of political expediency. The Kenyan Government made feeble attempts bring to trail the perpetuators without much success and the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague was forced to step in. Charges have now been filed against 6 politicians, ex head of Police, a radio DJ and Government ministers for inciting the violence
The killing of Obi in Bauchi won’t be the first time people have run amok in the North. Far more people have been killed in Plateau state alone than in Kenya. People are killed at the drop of a hat in the North and Middle Belt and the Government appears helpless. We must now call on the ICC to intervene and try and break this cycle of the mindless slaughter of the innocent people in the North. The facts are all there, just as in Kenya; people were incited and primed to wreak maximum havoc in the event of results not favoring them. Even after the elections we had the likes of Alhaji Buba Galadima of the CPC still going on BBC Hausa service to spew hate. I have previously written about the climate of hate that surrounded CPC rallies prior to the elections and frankly it is no surprise that violence broke out. What is surprising is that yet again, the security forces were caught flat footed. How could they not have known that CPC supporters were going to embark on an orgy of violence?
It is doubtful if President Jonathan has the political spine to bring the murders to book. I suspect the killing of Obi and that of many others in this latest orgy of violence will be swept under the carpet by the Government for the sake of political expediency or “national unity”. We need to tell the government that there is no more room under the carpet. The blood of Obi (and others) is calling for justice. It would be most disappointing if appeasement rather that justice is pursued by the government, killers must be brought to book and not rewarded. If the Government feels this is beyond them, they should then allow for the ICC to step in.