Sunset in midday

This is a bitter story and heart-breaking of how a young potential youth life was wasted. The level of corruption and insecurity in our nation Nigeria is so alarming. So many young and promising lives have been wasted by various terrorist groups from Boko Haram to Iswap, bandits and kidnappers. This has made everyone lose confidence in the present government and are calling for a division of the nation.

Hardly has there been a day when there won’t be news of killings and kidnapping in our country. We started with Boko haram who claimed they don’t want western education. I call them a set of ignorant people. All in the name of going against western education, they have launched series of attacks on villages, churches, barracks and mosques in the Northern part of Nigeria and thousands of lives have been lost.

Suddenly, we began to hear news of Fulani herdsmen forming bandits, attacking, raping and killing men and women in their farms. So it grew wings and become a national problem, they began to kidnap people and request a huge ransom for the release of their victims. If the family of the victims can’t meet up with the ransom requested, they kill them. This alone discouraged most Nigerians in the diaspora, some came home and fell victim to this terrible act.

Tunde was a graduate of business administration at the University of Nigeria, Nssuka. He has a great vision of becoming a well-known businessman in Nigeria, but things weren't going his way. After his service year in Kano, he returned to Lagos in search of a job. For 3 years he couldn’t get a job to take care of himself. On one Sunday afternoon while coming from Church he ran into Janet, his secondary schoolmate. Janet was in junior secondary school when he passed out of secondary school so couldn’t recall where they have met before. She greeted him and they exchange contacts. To cut the long story short, they started dating after few months.

Not too long after they started their relationship Janet introduces Tunde to farming which she has been practising since her days at the tertiary institution. She has made a lot of profit from farming. After much persuasion, he agreed to leave the city for a village in Ibadan. After a year of practising, he realizes he can attain his vision through the farming business by exporting some of his farm produce. They both leave for the farm on Monday and returned home on Saturday.

One sad Saturday they left the farm around 4 pm and were expected to be home by 5 pm. Immediately they left for home they notice some men ahead of them on the roadside 4 of them in number, getting closer they turned out to be Fulani herdsmen. Immediately he sighted them he increased the speed of his car so that they won't stop him. On getting close to them, they tried stopping him, but narrowly he escaped. The next thing they heard was the sound of a gun, which was aimed directly at Tunde's head. He lost control of the wheel and was heading into the bush. Janet saw blood gushing and started screaming. She didn't what to do since it is just the two of them that were in the car.

The herdsmen rush towards the car, dragged Janet out of it, beat her and ask them to start running with them into the bush. They ran like 4 km away from the incident and rested a bit in the dark and late in the night. She was so scared that she did what they ask her to do immediately. The next day, they picked her phone and removed the sim. They inserted it into their phone ask her to start calling home. She called her dad and gave the phone to the herdsmen to speak with him, they told him his daughter is in their custody and if he wants her back alive he should pay a ransom of 35million Naira.

Those at home were not at rest, and Janet kept praying within herself that Tunde survives. After many negotiations, they agreed to 10million Naira. On Monday, evening which was the third Janet dad called that the money is ready. They warned him not to involve the policeman and gave him some other rules with the threat that if he breaks it his daughter will be wasted.

Not long after they got the money they released her and described how her Dad will locate her. He was anxiously waiting for his daughter. Luckily, she finds her way easily and was driven home. From there she has been asking if anyone knows the state of health of Tunde. Her dad answered that he is fine, but he is still in the hospital that she will go and see him the next day.

On getting home everyone was happy, but the happiness was not full. Her mind wasn’t at rest she requested they take her to the hospital or put a call through to him just for her to hear his voice. Her younger sister opens up to her that Tunde didn’t survive the shot, she wept and cried bitterly.

The situation in our nation has killed a lot of visionaries like Tunde. I just pray to God to intervene for us and bring an end to every act of terrorism in Nigeria.