When Snakes Are Let Loose -By Kene Obiezu

Nigeria’s breathless romance with tragedy shows no sign of letting up as scandalous leadership failure at the highest level spills over, threatening to smear everything in a country scarred by heartbreaking human suffering.

In one week, two more families—states and situations apart—have been thrown into turmoil, cut by Nigeria’s giant blades of chaos. First, on April 25, 2026, at Shagari Estate in Dei Dei Abuja, soldiers, citing an armed robbery attack, barged into the home of 24-year-old Abdulsamad Jamiu, a serving corps member. At about 2. AM, his life was brutally snuffed out. While the Nigerian army, in its characteristic but callous haste, said Abdulsamad was caught in a crossfire between soldiers and retreating armed robbers, his family has since credibly disputed that version of events.

The charabanc of state-sponsored deaths soon swiftly departed Abuja for Delta State, where Mene Ogidi, a 28-year-old man, was killed by a policeman as he begged for his life in Effurun on 26th April 2026. The video has since sparked outrage, evoking the police brutality that triggered the ENDSARS protests of 2020.

These deaths of innocent Nigerians at the hands of security personnel at a time of heightened national tension further alienate a demographic that is critical in the fight against insecurity in Nigeria. For many young Nigerians who have long nursed frustration and desperation at the unraveling of their country, it is simply too much to witness the killings of young unarmed Nigerians at a time when red carpets are rolled out for so-called repentant and deradicalized terrorists.

When snakes are let loose in the chicken coop, there can only be a rain of feathers and death. When predators are primed as guards, it is only a matter of time before sweat congeals into blood.

In 2020, protests erupted across the country over police brutality. For weeks young people poured out into the streets across the country in a defiant message to Nigerian authorities that guardians should not be killers. Shockingly, it took the Lekki Toll Gate massacre to quell the protests. But the truth never dies, even if, for its survival, it can sometimes afford to lay low.

No Nigerian citizen who has not been convicted of any crime by a court of competent jurisdiction should be made to grovel on the ground and beg for their lives. No citizen of this country should be treated with such callous indignity and still have their lives taken.

Nigeria is at a time when it is facing unprecedented security challenges. Terrorists as ruthless as they come have practically taken over the forests of states like Kwara, ,Niger, and Maiduguri, from where they are threatening the country. While the bravery of Nigeria’s security personnel in engaging the terrorists must be commended, the overzealous among them must be advised to channel their energies toward the real enemies of the country instead of inexplicably turning arms purchased with taxes on taxpayers.

Nigerians already beg for light, food, water, security, healthcare, and everything else that makes for dignified living. Should they also be made to beg for their lives from state and non-state actors?ASP Nuhu Usman, who fired the fatal shot that killed Mene Ogidi, said to be a member of the defunct SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) whose heavy-handedness sparked the ENDSARS protests of 2020. The unit may have been disbanded, but it appears that the bloodlust of some of its former commandos remains insatiable.

Now that cobras have been let loose in the chicken coop, Nigerians must beware of their fatal bites.

Kene Obiezu is a lawyer,writer, and social commentator. He can be reached at keneobiezu@gmail.com