ell fire has descended in our country Nigeria. It is now raging precariously. In fact, there is fire on the mountain. Run! Run!! Run!!! Where are we running to? There is pandemonium here and there. Who will extinguish this consuming inferno? Confusion is the order of the day. Hardship and hunger are chasing everybody around. Many have died. Many are dying. The vultures are hovering around to consume unburied corpses.

During the democratic rule of the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, we were crying of hardship and insecurity. We prayed that his ill-fated administration would come to an end, so that we can breathe in fresh democratic air, in anticipation of a political messiah. Hardly did we know that we were languishing in purgatory. Eight years came and gone, President Buhari left office without achieving much.

Presidential election was conducted in 2023. It was marred with violence and irregularities. The Independent National Electoral Commission was compromised to announce a nocturnal presidential result which produced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC). Many raised eyebrows over the ambiguous result. The INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu asked the aggrieved presidential candidates to go to court. From all indications, it was a planned deal. Thus Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) went to court to challenge Tinubu's purported victory. The Judiciary was also compromised to confirm Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the victorious President. Consequently, he was sworn into office on 29 May 2023.

Standing on the rostrum of his swearing-in and inauguration, President Tinubu with a wave of the hand shouted, "Subsidy is gone!" This single outburst produced instant destructive economic earthquake nationwide. Fuel pump price skyrocketed from N220 per litre to N660 per litre. Likewise prices of essential commodities and transportation rose beyond the reach of the masses. The fuel pump price continued to rise to N700, N800, N950 per litre. Then it rose from N1000 to N1300 and goes higher and higher on daily basis. The price of every other commodity also rises higher and higher. The masses are crying foul. Extreme hunger and hardship have crossed the red line. The poor masses are wailing and dying hopelessly.

As excessive hardship and hunger are mesmerizing the masses, insecurity is worsening. The former President Buhari promised to crush the initial Boko Haram terrorists within the first six months of his administration. We thought he would use his military background to flush them out easily so that Nigerians could sleep with two eyes closed. Unfortunately he couldn't. Instead Boko Haram gave birth to more terrorists groups which include bandits, cultists, ritualists, fierce kidnappers and secessionists groups. These bloody groups kill, maim, rape and extort innocent Nigerians going about their normal daily businesses. Travelers on roads became easy prey for kidnappers for ransom or for blood. Bandits go to the extent of abducting students from their schools and residents from their homes, many of whom have lost their lives in the process. Nigeria is currently under bloody siege.

President Bola Tinubu promised during his inaugural speech to continue from where Buhari stopped. In other words he would follow his predecessor's abysmal failure in tackling insecurity. So far innocent people killed under Tinubu's one year administration are uncountable. People are killed like fowls by non-state actors or terrorists almost every hour of the day nationwide. I thought that President Tinubu, as a matter of priority, should have declared a state of emergency on insecurity, because the primary duty of government at the federal and state levels is the protection of lives and properties of her citizens. It is unfair that the Presidency and politicians are already planning for 2027 general elections when the masses are dying of hardship, hunger and insecurity. Probably they will elect themselves into power by then, when the electorates might have been killed or died as a result of hardship, hunger and insecurity.

Alhaji Dangote built a refinery to refine crude oil locally so that the price of fuel pump per litre can be reduced. Unfortunately, the powers-that-be are sabotaging him. Few days ago some journalists accosted him and asked him how much he would sell his fuel. Being caged, he looked up and down and replied, "The NNPC will determine the price." This answer indicates that there no hope that the locally refined fuel will be sold at a cheaper rate, because the cabals in the Presidency and NNPC are benefitting from the present hardship and hunger affecting millions of Nigerians. Indeed our recovery is far-fetched.

In my last write-up, I reiterated that our country Nigeria and her poor citizens were about to die due to some terminal illnesses like corruption, nepotism, insecurity, hunger, anger, bad governance, et. The die is cast! Many are dying on daily basis. Suicide is on the increase due to extreme hardship, hunger, insecurity and despair. The Lagos lagoon is full of corpses of despaired Nigerians who took their lives. One of the suicide victims left a note at the rail of one of the Lagos lagoon bridges, which reads: "I am taking my life because of the extreme hardship and hunger in this country. It is better I perish and go to eternal hell than to live in hell fire while alive. Please my wife and children, I am very sorry for taking my life. I am living in hopelessness. Don't worry about my burial because the fish in this lagoon will bury me in their bellies. We shall meet again in the next world. Goodbye for now."

The worst is yet to be heard. A certain distressed man few days ago rose with the left hand from sleep. He was married with two wives and fourteen children. He could no longer feed and care for them due to the economic hardship and extreme hunger in the land. His business failed and he was bankrupt. Consequently he had no means of sustaining his polygamous family of 17. On that fateful morning, he was inspired by evil spirit to commit bloody family mayhem. When his two wives and the fourteen children were still in bed, he drank one bottle of schnapps and smoked Indian Hemp. Under great intoxication, he loaded his pump action gun with bullets. Then he tiptoed into his wives' rooms and the children's room one after the other and shot all of them dead. They died in cold blood. At last he inserted the gun nozzle into his mouth and blew his head off. His anguish temporary ended in Nigeria's hell fire. The Devil rejoiced to welcome him into everlasting hell fire. The option he took is condemnable before God and man. It is really senseless to escape from a lion and be crushed by a leopard. May the souls of the innocent victims he murdered rest in peace!

Life in Nigeria nowadays is not so much different from what is obtainable in the eternal hell fire. Any Nigerian who dies and goes to hell will not border himself or herself so much. Satan is the Commander-in-chief in eternal hell fire while his agents are commanders-in-chief in the various sectors of Nigeria polity and economy, who make life difficult for the poor masses. The dividends of Democracy in this country are beyond the reach of the masses. The Book of Proverbs said it succinctly, "When the righteous is in power, the people rejoice. But when the wicked is in power, the people groan" (Proverbs 29:2). Are Nigerians rejoicing or groaning? The answer is in red. No wonder we are no longer arising as compatriots, but rather we are hailing the hellish condition we find ourselves into. Instead of ascending into heaven, we are descending daily into hell. We look forward to God to rescue us from this man-made hell caused by corruption, election rigging, bad governance and worsening insecurity.