DEMOCRACY IN KWARA NORTH: THE DEAD CANNOT VOTE, THE WOUNDED CANNOT CAMPAIGN, THE KIDNAPPED CANNOT SPEAK

As Nigeria marks another Democracy Day, flags will fly, speeches will be delivered and politicians will once again speak of progress.

But across Edu, Patigi and several communities in Kwara North, many families have nothing to celebrate. Because democracy means little to the dead.

It means little to the kidnapped. It means little to the widow left behind. It means little to the farmer who no longer dares to visit his farmland.

It means little to communities trapped between fear, grief and uncertainty.

A democracy written in blood

For too many families in Kwara North, recent years have not been measured by development projects or government promises.

They have been measured by funerals. By ransom payments. By gunshots in the night. By names added to lists of the dead. By communities learning to live with terror.

The blood of innocent citizens has stained the conscience of a region that once prided itself on peace. And still, the killings continue.

The graves keep multiplying

Every attack leaves behind more than casualties.

It leaves behind fathers who will never return home.

Mothers whose voices have gone silent forever.

Children who will grow up remembering tragedy instead of childhood.

Families whose lives have been divided into two chapters: before the attack and after the attack.

Long after the headlines disappear, the graves remain. The pain remains. The absence remains.

The living dead

Some survived the attacks.

But survival came at a terrible cost. Permanent injuries, lost limbs, broken bodies and destroyed livelihoods.

Psychological scars that may never heal. I call that permanent injuries.

Many of them have been abandoned to carry their burdens alone.

They survived violence only to become invisible.

Those who have not come home

Perhaps the cruelest suffering belongs to families whose loved ones remain in captivity. No burial, no closure, no certainty..only endless waiting.

Every phone call brings anxiety.

Every unfamiliar number creates panic.

Every day becomes a battle between hope and despair.

Their lives have been suspended by a crime they did not commit.

When farmlands become battlefields

The tragedy extends beyond the victims.

It reaches into every farm, every market and every household.

Across many communities, people are increasingly afraid to cultivate the land that feeds them.

Some farms have been abandoned.

Some farmers now work under fear.

Others have stopped going altogether.

The result is a region where insecurity threatens not only lives but livelihoods.

A region where fertile land is slowly being conquered by fear.

The question everyone asks

Who is next?

It is the question whispered in homes.

It is the question hanging over villages.

It is the question nobody should have to ask in a functioning democracy.

Yet for many citizens, that question has become part of daily life.

Not where is development?

Not where is prosperity?

But who is next?

The forgotten victims of our democracy

The greatest injustice is not only the attacks themselves.

It is the ease with which victims are forgotten.

The dead become statistics.

The injured become afterthoughts.

The displaced become invisible.

The kidnapped become old news.

The families are left to rebuild shattered lives while the nation moves on.

But they have not moved on.

They live with the consequences every single day.

Nupekotv will not look away 

There have been pressures.

There have been warnings.

There have been those who preferred silence over truth.

Those who believed these stories should not be told.

Those who wanted uncomfortable realities hidden behind official statements and political talking points.

We disagreed and we still do..because the first betrayal of a suffering people is silence.

At NupekoTV, we believe the stories of our communities deserve to be told.

The truth deserves to be documented. The victims deserve to be remembered. The public deserves to know.

That responsibility does not end because reporting becomes inconvenient.

It does not end because powerful people become uncomfortable.

It does not end because others would rather look away.

We will continue to tell our stories, correctly

Before The Next Attack

Before the next speech.

Before the next promise.

Before the next condolence message.

Before the next community is forced to bury its dead.

Nigeria must confront a painful truth:

Democracy cannot be meaningful where citizens live in fear. It cannot be successful where communities are under siege.

It cannot be celebrated while innocent people continue to die, disappear and suffer without justice.

This Democracy Day, let us remember those who will never see another June 12. Let us remember those still waiting to return home. Let us remember those carrying wounds that will never fully heal.

And let us remember that the true test of democracy is not how loudly leaders speak, but how well human lives are protected.

Until then, for many families across Kwara North, Democracy Day remains not a celebration..but a memorial.

Usman Haruna (Communicator)

For NupekoTV