On ToriPost today, we focus on a tragedy that the world – and more importantly, the Nigerian government – continues to ignore. This past Sunday, while the streets of the West were filled with the celebration of Palm Sunday, the streets of Jos, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, were flowing with blood. At least thirty people were murdered in cold blood.
But if you look at the official response from Abuja, you would think it was a minor traffic disturbance. This is the “Look Away” policy of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and it is a case study in how a state fails its people.
THE ANATOMY OF A FAILED STATE
When the APC took power over a decade ago, they promised “Change.” They promised to crush the insurgency. Instead, they have presided over a transformation of Nigeria’s security landscape from a localized conflict in the Northeast into a nationwide epidemic of terror.
The massacre in Jos is not an isolated incident of “farmer-herder clashes,“ as the government likes to sanitize it. It is part of a systemic campaign of violence that many international observers are now calling a genocide against Christian communities. Yet, the APC government remains paralyzed by a profound, perhaps intentional, apathy.
Why? Because in the cynical calculus of Nigerian politics, acknowledging the religious and ethnic dimensions of this terror is “inconvenient.” It is far easier to label it “banditry“ than to admit that the state has lost the monopoly on violence to sectarian militias.
THE MILITARY’S POLITICAL QUAGMIRE
The most damning indictment, however, lies with the military leadership. Under the current administration, the Nigerian military has moved from the barracks into the boardroom. We are seeing an unprecedented level of political irresponsibility among the military chiefs.
- The Budgetary Black Hole: Billions are poured into “security,“ yet the boots on the ground are often ill-equipped and underpaid. The money vanishes into a nebulous “security vote“ that lacks any democratic oversight.
- The Loyalty Test: Promotion in the upper echelons of the Nigerian Armed Forces now appears to depend more on loyalty to the ruling party than on the ability to secure the borders.
- The Reactive Doctrine: The military has become a reactive force. They arrive to count the bodies, not to prevent the killing.
The ToriPost Take
What is happening in Nigeria is a warning to the world. When a government prioritizes political survival over the protection of its minority populations, it doesn’t just fail; it becomes an enabler.
By refusing to confront the terror in the Middle Belt, the APC isn’t just looking away – it is signaling to the killers that the cost of murder is zero. Until the military chiefs are held accountable for their tactical failures, and until the presidency stops using “national unity“ as a shield to hide religious cleansing, the blood of Jos will continue to stain the conscience of the continent.
The Giant of Africa is bleeding out, and its leaders are too busy counting their political chips to apply a bandage.