Tragedy unfolds in Nigeria, a real-life tale of biblical proportions, by Emmanuel Aziken

A haunting biblical tale, that of the Levite and his concubine in Judges 19, has been making rounds, leaving a trail of sorrow in its wake, as it forces a painful examination of the darkest depths human society can plummet to when authority disintegrates and moral fibre is abandoned.

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This grim narrative, set in a time when "there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes," is a brutal reminder of the devastating consequences of moral collapse, as a travelling Levite, seeking refuge for the night, is hosted by an elderly man in the town of Gibeah, only to have the night descend into horror.

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A mob of homosexuals surrounds the house, demanding to violate the visitor, and in a shocking attempt to appease the attackers, the host offers his own virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine, leading to a moral collapse of staggering proportions, as the Levite himself pushes his concubine out to the mob, resulting in her brutal assault, abandonment, and ultimate death.

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This story of cowardice, leadership failure, and a society that had lost its moral compass disturbingly resonates with present-day Nigeria, as evidenced by the widely circulated video of a University of Jos student, brutalised by bandits along the road between Plateau and Kaduna States.

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The young man's cries, helplessness, and the utter absence of rescue encapsulate a reality that many Nigerians now live with daily: bandits on rampage, abducting, beating, and sometimes killing citizens, not by foreign invaders, but by criminal elements operating boldly within Nigeria's borders, raising the troubling question: is there truly a government in charge?

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In the biblical account, the chaos was explained by the absence of a king, yet today, Nigeria has a president, governors, lawmakers, and a vast security architecture, but in many parts of the country, now described as "ungoverned spaces," the authority of the state appears either absent or ineffective.

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Bandits and insurgents impose their own rules, extract ransoms, and determine the fate of citizens, a stark parallel to the Levite's abandonment of his concubine, as Nigeria's ruling class is perceived to have similarly abandoned the citizenry, leaving ordinary people exposed to violence while those in power remain insulated.

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The symbolism is stark, with the citizen becoming the concubine, sacrificed to appease forces that the state either cannot or will not confront decisively, a perception reinforced by the timing of the UNIJOS student's ordeal, which coincided with Senate President Godswill Akpabio's suggestion that insecurity in the country is being exaggerated or orchestrated by political opponents ahead of the 2027 elections.

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Akpabio's stance is not just dismissive, but dangerous, as it reduces the suffering of citizens to a tool in political contestation, rather than prompting the legislature to provide oversight, interrogate executive action, and ensure government responds effectively to the needs of the people.

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Downplaying the scale of insecurity risks normalising it, and when leaders begin to rationalise or politicise suffering, the line between governance and abandonment becomes dangerously thin, as evident in the story of the Levite, which is not merely about violence, but about the failure of responsibility.

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Nigeria today stands at a similar moral crossroads, with the continued existence of territories where state authority is weak or non-existent undermining the very essence of governance, as the Constitution clearly states that the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people.

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When citizens cannot travel safely within their own country, that mandate is fundamentally compromised, as seen in the cases of the abducted schoolgirls of Chibok, Leah Sharibu's long captivity, repeated kidnappings in Niger, Kogi, and Kwara States, and countless unnamed victims whose ordeals never make national headlines.

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Each case reinforces a growing sense that Nigerians are being left to fend for themselves, yet even in the bleakness of Judges 19, the story ultimately provoked outrage that led to a reckoning, forcing a nation to confront its own moral decay, a lesson Nigeria must now embrace.

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Beyond political rhetoric, there is an urgent need for a reassertion of state authority, a restoration of public trust, and a clear demonstration that the lives of citizens are not expendable, as security is not a favour, but an obligation which President Tinubu must assert and with it leave a positive legacy that his leadership is not about comfort but about responsibility.

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He should show that responsibility to enthrone a positive legacy, rather than seeking adulations from present-day fans like Akpabio, who, like many political actors, would shift to the next government in power.