NEWS that some celebrated the demise of Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, in a plane crash, shows how dehumanised Nigerians are becoming either in pursuit of religion or politics. Why would anyone rejoice over the death of another, especially in such grueling circumstances?

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger has described those celebrations as inhuman.  “No matter the religion one professes, the simple tenet is that we should sympathise with the dead and the bereaved and pray for the repose of the soul of the departed whose death is a colossal loss,” the governor, who is also Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, said.
The celebrations were in the social media.

“Immediately we start praying for our leaders to die, then we are asking that the whole society should die. We must pray for our leaders. We must go back to our faith and practise our religion as demanded by the Almighty Allah. We must talk to our children. This development shows that we are failing in the duty to train our children,” Aliyu said.

The inhumanity of the Nigerian society is evident. We do not treat our people well in life. As they age, the treatment gets worse. The children who Aliyu blames for their social media conduct are learning well from the adults, parents and guardians whose utterances promote conflicts.

It is not the children who cause pensioners, many aged, ill, bed-ridden, to line up under the elements, waiting for the pittance they are paid. It is adults who account for dead bodies that decay on our streets.

We place little value on life. Rather, we invent ways of making life valueless. Daily, Nigerians are killed by groups who believe the only way to proclaim their beliefs, whatever they are, is to take lives.

Some of us try to explain the disregard for life. We justify the criminality that has become part of parts of the country under heinous arguments that point to the new Nigerian we are building.

Aliyu described Yakowa as a bridge-builder who brought Muslims and Christians in Kaduna State together. According to him, Yakowa provided peace and tranquility. Who would celebrate the passage of such a man except trouble makers?

We have a collective responsibility to redeem Nigerians from the callous society it is turning into, while we debate measures to stem criminalities that are assuming various guises. When a people have no value for life, they build a futureless society, since all they do is destroying themselves.

Our people need to be quickly cured of the sort of wickedness that makes them celebrate the misfortune of others – it is unNigerian, it is unAfrican and no religion permits it.