By Fidel Ozugha
States are being dismissed and displaced from unenviable position in the on-going mock version of the Cup of Peace Competition (CPC). The states playing seriously in this Week 3, June 2025, are Benue, Osun, Kaduna, Anambra, Rivers, among others.
As is well known, about 100 people were killed in Yeletawa, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, Middle Belt, Nigeria, by suspected herders who invaded the community on Friday night and continued killing till Saturday morning. With 100 people killed, the total marks to be shared are 1000 (100 X 10). The people to be held responsible for the bloodshed are the state governor who presides over the affairs of the state, the President who is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, the Vice President who is the second in command to the President, and the Senate President who heads the Legislative Army of Government.
The sharing formula to use in the marks garnered for the ‘spoil’ is the ratio of 4:3:2:1. That is; Benue loses 400; Osun, 300; Borno, 200; and Akwa Ibom,100 marks respectively from the seed mark (SM) of 1000 for each of the states. Their MRs are 600; 700; 800; and 900 respectively.
Extending the turmoil in Benue State, some rights activists had a demonstration against the killing of men, women and children. They were tear-gassed by the police.
The demonstration, which lasted a day, makes Benue to exclusively lose 10 marks as sole host, and for tear-gassing the demonstrators, another 10 marks will be inclusively shared among the top elected ones in the country in this ratio 4: 3: 2: 1.
For the one day demonstration, Benue also loses 10 marks for hosting the demonstrators, and another 4 marks she gets for the application of tears on the rights activists by the police. On three count charge, Benue has lost 414 +10 + 4 = 438 which is ML. Thus with the formula of SM – ML = MR, Benue with SM 1000 – ML 438 = 562 MR.
Osun, the state of the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with SM of 1000, and ML of 303, has MR of 697.
Borno State where the Vice President, Kashim Shettima comes from, loses 2 marks for the one day demonstration that took place in Benue. Thus in all, Borno with SM of 1000 ML of 202 and has MR of 798.
Akwa Ibom State that gave the country the Senate President in the person of Godswill Akpabio, lost 100 marks in the massacre in Benue State, and one mark for the application of tear gas on the rights activists on demonstration. Thus, with SM of 1000, her ML is 101, and has MR of 899.
The interconnectivity of the Benue massacre tells us that what affects one affects all. The loss is to the entire humanity and not Benue State alone. Late Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu wrote a book and titled it ”Because I’m Involved.” Directly and indirectly, every Nigerian is involved, both the led and the leaders. The world mourns the huge loss. May the desire for peace be always in our minds.
