13/03/2021
EULOGY FOR CHIEF DR. TERKULA SUSWAM
BY PROF. IYORWUESE HAGHER.
Let me begin my eulogy from the beginning. In the Bible we are told of the first assassination that took place in human history. It was Cain that was driven by envy to kill his brother Abel. In Genesis 4: 10, God, who witnessed the murder of Abel then, as he witnessed the murder of Dr. Terkula Suswam now, asked Cain, “ What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”
The same God, that asked Cain these questions, is asking the young men that stalked the unarmed, Terkula, and shot eleven bullets into his body, the same question, “ What have you done?” God, is asking all of us here in Sankera, Benue and Nigeria: What have we done to kill, aid killing, stop killing and create a climate of peace? What have we done?
His assailants must have known that he was a man of peace and of un- common lofty pursuits.. Chief Dr. Terkula Suswam’s layered accomplishments were in; politics, academics, community organizing, entrepreneurship, peace-building and leadership. Terkula, had the guts to do the things that mattered to his Sankera people.
His, Ashi Waves FM Radio Station, provided him the megaphone to lend a voice, to those who were not being listened to. He was a sizzling combination of industry, wisdom, compassion and rib-cracking humour. He had courage to face adversaries to negotiate peace, like the time, he went out empty-handed, to meet armed Fulani militia, and persuaded them to lay down their arms and come to play football with Tiv youth at Anyiin.
Even though Terkula was very cosmopolitan in outlook, for the sake of his people, he veered against cosmopolitan city values, and promoted rural living, where he threw himself on the line for progress and peace. To all and sundry, he had a differential demeanor.
Chief Suswam, was totally fearless. He refused to be ruled by fear that Sankera was unsafe. He lived his life completely everyday. When the as- sassins threatened his life, he said that if he had to die for peace to come back to Sankera, then, so be it. His death is not just a loss to his family, generation, and Sankera, his death is an irreparable loss to all humanity; especially to those who put themselves in the firing range of man-made catastrophes for peace.
And now that they have added Terkula’s name, to the long list of men and women, in this o**y of violence, Sankera has become an open gaping wound on the conscience of all our people.The killers and all of us who by our actions, inactions and our speeches and silences, helped to create a criminal ecology of senseless bellicosity for our reactionary youth, have acted without wisdom. Our youth have become untamable, as they kill without respite, and refuse to be cautioned by anybody! And God is asking what have we done?
With this, one- death -too- many, the country is sadly put on notice that the roof of the food basket, and Nigeria’s food security has caved in and fallen. Famine is staring at us, as we are now living in a moral wilderness, where perverse power shows itself in uncontrollably eccentric shadowy tentacles. We see democracy peeling away and yielding its relevance to non-govern- ability: violence has spiraled out of control.
It is my hope that the aftermath of Terkula Suswam’s death may not leave in its wake disastrous unforeseen and unforeseeable consequences. I know that God is asking of us; what have we done? And I know that our brother, Chief Dr. Terkula Suswam’s blood, has a voice, and it is calling on all of us to end the senseless bloodshed, which has turned our young men in Sankera to monsters, and his beloved Sankera constituency, to a jungle whose inhabitants are living in fear, hunger, dejection and deprivation.
The voice of my slain, younger brother, friend and compatriot, Chief Terkula, is calling on us; the youth, political and traditional leaders alike, of Sankera, and Benue, to be responsible for peace, and to shun any acts, by the things we say, and do, that escalate violence. His blood is saying loudly and clearly, that we should never have permitted our differences to the point when they became mutual hatreds that result in killing. Never again.
Let us make no mistake; where democracy is problematic, scarcity is more certain and chaos follows scarcity. To the bystanders that laugh and gloat at Sankera, beware your chaos point is nearer than you think. There was a time when Sankera, ate pounded “gbangu" yams and cavorted to drums until the drums were silenced by the staccato of the AK 47. Make no mis- takes, the distress of Sankera today, is already exerting a destabilization influence on the rest of our neighbors in Benue State and beyond.
As we ponder on the sacrifice of our brother’s life for peace, we can build on this tragedy, and from it, achieve redemption and peace, through forgiveness. We can all forgive one another and march forward or senselessly go for revenge and invoke, the Old Testament’s, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, and death for a death! Soon enough, we will all be blind, toothless and dead. God forbid!
We have no alternative. We need to forgive one another and resolve to desist from actions that provoke; like bragging and competition, and instead choose our words carefully to co-operate rather than cut throat competition, and to show compassion and love through unconditional forgiveness. For without forgiveness there is no peace and no life! May God Almighty help us all!
God Bless Sankera. God Bless Benue State.
Amb. Professor Iyorwuese Hagher.
