The Killing Fields
I borrowed this title from a movie about the deathly dangerous rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia which resulted in the death of over a million people. While I am desperately hopeful that we will never see anything like the sort of numbers registered by that reign of senseless bloodletting, I simply cannot think of Nigeria without seeing in my mind's eye the gory images of the mutilated corpses of victims of bandits, hired killers, terrorists, kidnappers and sadly, the Police. The picturesque tranquility of remote locations is rudely ruptured as Southern Kaduna, Birnin Gwari, Lagos, Katsina, Benue, much of the North East and pretty much everywhere in Nigeria really, degenerate into killing fields. I realize I have painted a grim picture but believe me it is in fact understated as the reality is much worse in terms both of spread and severity. What is more? There appears to be no end to the blood-letting and it has become normal to hear of such incidents daily; no news broadcast is