Ridwan

Reflecting on life and the sorrow of losing a beloved one. This morning, I attended the commendation service for my dear brother, Chief Okey Ezibe. He was a good man who sincerely cared about others, supported people during times of need, and freely devoted himself to improving the lives of those around him. His death is a painful reminder of our shared responsibility to one another through kindness, love, and service. As I reflected on his life and the sorrow of losing someone so dear, my thoughts returned to my visit yesterday to Yelewata in Benue State, where more than 270 Nigerians were reportedly killed in a single night. I found myself contemplating the unimaginable suffering of the families left behind: husbands mourning their wives, wives mourning their husbands, parents grieving the loss of their children, and children left without parents. I thought of homes suddenly deprived of the people who gave them purpose, families whose lives have been irrevocably changed, and communities struggling to grasp the scale of their loss. If the death of one person who meant so much to us can leave us overcome with grief, what must families endure when several loved ones are taken from them in one night? What does it mean for an entire community to lose more than 270 of its members? That is why we must never permit ourselves to become desensitised to tragedy. The loss of human life must never be reduced to a statistic, nor should the suffering of our fellow citizens become something we merely read about, briefly acknowledge with sympathy, and then leave behind. Every Nigerian life has value. Each life taken represents a devastated family, a future cut short, and a nation made poorer. We must create a country in which safeguarding human life is not only a constitutional obligation but also a fundamental standard by which governance and leadership are judged. May the soul of my dear brother, Chief Okey Ezibe, and the souls of all those who perished in Yelewata rest in perfect peace. May God give their families the strength and consolation to endure a loss that no family should ever be forced to bear. A nation must never lose the ability to feel the suffering of its people. -PO