If you love entertainment and also want to understand why killings by bandits (terrorists), the type that happened in Plateau State of late, had not been contained in Nigeria, you should watch a new NETFLIX movie I will recommend here.
I will tell you a short story to help you understand a few things before you watch that movie.
A few years ago, at the heat of Boko Haram Activities, I, Williams Osewezina, had gone to Borno on journalism assignment, but I was not sure of what my life would be like after I landed in Borno Airport.
From that point, my safety was in the hands of the military and of course, myself.
I had lodged in one hotel that provided the military home and I felt safe.
The next day was our visit to Benisheik, a community that had become popular after what the media described as a massacre.
So, on the next day of my arrival in Borno I began a journey to what could barely describe the reason fighting Boko Haram had appeared like a rocket-science-adventure.
The Conspiracy
For years, Nigeria consistently fought this very low terrorist group in the world, Boko Haram.
We had arrived Benisheik after Bama from Borno’s capital, Maiduguri.
Little did I know that I could have ‘fallen’ that evening if we had stayed later than when we left Benisheik.
Unfortunately, I was not aware there was a clear instruction – Return to base before 6:00 p.m.
We were very few minutes to finishing what we came for, when the NGO I travelled with insisted we must leave.
What? I asked innocently.
We must begin to return before 4:00 p.m. If not, the security cover we have would no longer exist. “Anything you see, you take” was all I could hear from the tone of that directive.
I felt strange and different.
So, in my own country, I cannot travel to a place and stay beyond a particular time and I am still asked to be patriotic?
A patriot without safety in some locations?
What in the world is this place. But as a Nigerian, often smart anywhere in the world, I saw it was “better to tell the story than be the story”.
I quickly packed my tools and thanked God for being there.
In fact, I had noticed there were no securities at IDP camps all the period I was there. I could imagine how safe I was.
On the flip side, however, why is it that it is barely ever reported that Boko Haram attacked IDP camps. They don’t have security personnel, yet no attack happens there.
The Power Of Money
You see, one of the things that Boko Haram had resorted to after they were no longer funder by their benefactors was going to communities to extort them of their little money.
I had met a blind man, Baba Lagali, at the IDP camp, and I decided to interview him.
He had moved from being a tailor to being blind in few years because of the affliction of the dissident group. Sadly, at some point, he sold his sewing machine to pay his part of the money demanded by Boko Haram.
He kept selling his belongings to buy the evil day and the ‘tax man’ kept coming.
They drop a notice of extortion day which they demand must be fulfilled or the poor residents will lose their children and eventually their own lives.
It was a terrible evil to allow – degrading a younger population ‘generously’.
So, I knew that there was more than Nigerians knew.
Can the military stop them? Yes! they could, but there is a clog in that wheel.
After we left Benisheik, I began an experience that I will never forget.
I was sitting in the passenger seat in front, being the only man (apart from the driver) siting in that car of five passengers.
The driver knows the road like the back of his hands. Basically, his job was to move on that road, taking passengers to those communities without many worries at the end.
The Greed
I felt safe at the mention of this amazing testimonial before we left.
So, as we made our way back to Maiduguri, I was busy wondering why he was running so fast being that we were returning ‘home’.
Meanwhile, earlier, while on our way to the IDP camp, we had passed several JTF checking points.
I could see searches happening as we passed several points, with our driver moving with confidence, because he knew he would never be stopped.
So, why run this fast when that road was secured by those men with guns.
When I could no longer hold my peace, I asked why he was running so fast, with all of the checking points.
He responded. “You see those JTF personnel, they will be gone by 6:00 p.m.
Aha! I muttered. At that point, I could hear clearly and see better now.
Afterwards, I held my peace and wished I had an opportunity to add my foot to the turtle.
The Night Attacks
I looked back, and like now, the Nigerian budget had also been passed and a huge sum was penned down for security. This characteristic, the 2024 budget also portrays.
And then I wondered. How? Can’t the army secure the evening? With that huge amount of money voted?
At the point, I remembered that night time was the usual time the dissident group attacks.
It either comes as darkness sets in or before sunrise.
There were no securities at these periods, so the road was free for movement by dissidents.
I looked to my right from the car window and could see miles away from me; far beyond the point a sipper’s bullet could travel.
Can’t the military have something to wear to see clearly at night so they could see oncoming enemies before they get close?
Can’t some of the monies voted handle this purchase?
WAR
Sadly, again, I saw that the greed in the heart of man may walk that purchase only to the papers and never to the armoury.
We arrived way before 6:00 p.m., and thanks to the driver whose engine was ‘raving mad’.
As I watched a new NETFLIX movie, I could see tussle for power, money and greed and love all play out.
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I could see the relationship with what I saw in Borno.
Also, as I pondered on these things, I remembered a former military chief who was dragged for a huge sum of money.
Alex Badeh was later murdered or even assassinated, as street commentators will say.
Indeed, he was beginning to spit some real deal before he died.
But money had gone down the drain.
So, recently, this NETFLIX movie I saw – War: Wrath and Revenge – to a great extent, was born out of research, even though fiction showed up to tie the plots together.
Entitlement, money, greed, love and conspiracy that sit deeply in the hearts of politicians and in Nigeria and the security agencies all placed bare on a platter.
Again, one thing was clear and right in this NETFLIX movie – the Nigerian lives sacrificed on the alter of politics and a desire for power.
The heart of man is desperately… Who else has seen the NETFLIX movie?