Youth Corps Members As Fallen Heroes

Daily Independent (Lagos)

2 May 2011

editorial

It is only fit and proper to advocate from the outset that the same national honour accorded any fallen national hero should be extended to members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) whose lives were cut short in their prime in the course of their service to the nation.

They had performed a crucial task as adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some parts of the country particularly in the North during the April 16, Presidential election won by Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In the aftermath of the unfortunate sequence of events which followed, it is now very clear to all Nigerians that it is not only soldiers who lay down their lives for the national ideal; youth corps members and journalists also do so. But it is unfortunate that Nigeria, like a demented hen, is sucking its best eggs due to its internal contradictions.

The election that was held on April 16 under a peaceful atmosphere was largely devoid of rancour and acrimony as affirmed to by local and international observers. Yet, when the result started filtering in, heavens were let loose in some parts of the North.

In place of the contentment and orderliness consistent with the outcome of any game of chance, pandemonium held sway; in place of felicities and conviviality for Nigerian youths who have played a crucial role as the midwives of a new dawn in our electoral history, swear words, battering and lethal discharges from bombs and other offensive weapon characterized the atmosphere.

Media accounts of the sad primitive reign have it that thugs hired by politicians, armed with dangerous weapons, stormed the polling booths and hostels where youth corps members were accommodated looking for young blood to waste with reckless abandon. The hoodlums and their sponsors viewed the announcement of Jonathan as the winner by INEC as an occasion for the demonstration of dissent and raw, destructive energy.

But the real victims are not the youths who have been tied unto a stake by a backward social order intent on holding Nigeria to mediaeval servitude; the real victim is a nation which cannot free itself from a contencious past. Neither commonsense nor simple decency nor the physical presence of armed policemen and other security agents could check them, as they shot their way through, burning houses and churches, killing and maiming non-indigenes and corps members on sight. It was unnerving in the extreme watching on a television screen the spectacle of policemen in full retreat from the assault of raggedly outlaws. It was far from the kind of experience that could bolster public confidence in the capacity of the State to guarantee the security of lives and property. The Jonathan administration should see in the killing of innocent Nigerians including NYSC members an unflattering commentary about its capacity for security control.

In fact, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, provides in Section 33 that every Nigerian has a right to life, and that no one shall be deprived, intentionally, of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty. A court in this sense includes a legally established tribunal. The same section also provides that a person shall not be deprived of his life in contravention of the same section if he dies as a result of the use, to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by law, of such force as is reasonably necessary – for the defense of any person from unlawful violence or for the defense of property, in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; or for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny. It is therefore right to say that any killing of a Nigerian that violates or contravenes Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution is unconstitutional and unlawful. Such unlawful or criminal killings coming under the rubric of homicide include murder or manslaughter (when committed by individuals) and extra – judicial killings (when committed by the state or agents of the state).

Commonsense dictates that it is the state of a country’s infrastructure, human capital development, and its internal security mechanisms which need showcasing to skeptical would-be investors abroad. But when the youths who are the future leaders and constitute specially nurtured human capital are murdered with gusto, what further hope is left for such a country?

In the case of the murdered NYSC members, there is a groundswell of opinion emanating from the southern states that the scheme be scrapped due to the level of casualties and the frequency of the occurrence of unprovoked killings of southern youths in the north.

This reaction is understandable. On our part we believe that the school of thought that believes that corps members be spread within contiguous states, where their safety can be relatively guaranteed is worthy of consideration. We call on Government to ensure that the families of the victims are adequately compensated.

Any reflection on this unfortunate events will make it apparent that we must now come together to discuss the bases of our continued existence as an ‘indivisible country’. This is the only sensible way to achieve ‘peaceful co-existence in one country’. However we must stress that the police and other security agencies must unmask and bring to book the sponsors of this despicable act sooner than later. May the innocent souls of these youths rest in peace.

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