By Moses Darah
Since the tragic incident that claimed the lives of 16 soldiers on an alleged peacekeeping mission, the Okuama community of Urhobo in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State lies in ruins. The town has been flattened. Homes reduced to ‘kalukalu’ and ‘ikelekpen’. Leaders held for over a year without trial. Survivors are scattered in makeshift ‘itughe’, their lives stripped of normalcy. Children wander without schools, the sick have nowhere to turn, elders have no one to lean on. And the politicians, who should be the voices of protection, come only during elections, carrying a few bags of ‘irosu’ and a camera, leaving behind nothing but empty promises.
Fear has seeped into every corner, even the leadership of the UPU. Instead of standing boldly for their people, the PG, Olorogun Barr. Ese Gamaliel Owe and his Executive Committee hide behind a “court case,” letting bureaucracy mask the injustice glaringly obvious to all. Silence has become complicity. Indifference has become the norm.
Okuama’s suffering is not an isolated tragedy, it is a reflection of a nation in pain. Across Nigeria, communities are attacked, abandoned, and blamed. Violence strikes with impunity. Judgment comes without truth. Suffering exists without justice. The cycle is relentless, unforgiving, and all too familiar.
Nigeria has happened to Okuama, and to millions of Nigerians. Insecurity gnaws at the weak, distrust erodes the social fabric, institutions crumble under neglect, and leadership freezes in paralysis. The vulnerable are punished; the powerful are protected. Step by step, the nation mirrors the very communities it abandons.
Until Nigeria chooses protection over 2027 politics, truth over deceit, and justice over fear, more communities will suffer Okuama’s fate. More families will mourn. More children will grow up in terror and neglect.
Okuama is not just a wound on the map. It is a scream. It is a warning. It is a mirror showing us what Nigeria is becoming and what it may yet become if we fail to act.
