A failed state

There are some who call me choice names such as “alarmist”, “doomsday prophet” and “naysayer” for pointing out the many issues in Nigeria. I’ve accepted that cross. Nothing will change if we all console ourselves that “it is well” when things are clearly getting a lot worse. State failure in Nigeria is real, and I’ve been writing about it since 2011. As time goes on, it becomes more evident. How else do you explain this story that just came to light that a female magistrate was arrested and thrown into a cell by the police for just doing her job.

How?

And for those who may say that this is not possible, or that it’s a rogue unit, I present this story from 2018 in Ngor Okpala, Imo state. The police arrested three men for armed robbery and charged them to court. There, the lawyer for the three suspects pointed out that the police fucked up the charge, likely because there was no evidence (knowing the police they probably just picked the three guys off the streets). So he, reasonably, asked the court to discharge the accused.

So here is where it got interesting: the magistrate listened to the arguments of the defence lawyer, and then said he would rule on the issue two days later. At that point, the policemen went mad, and then attacked the magistrate, beat her up, and then beat up and arrested the defence lawyer.

I’ve just recounted what happened, I won’t add any opinion to it. If anyone can’t see where all of this is going, well, na you know.