A country called NIGERIA
There is a country, the well-known giant of Africa but all it does is take, take and take. This never gets old or out of style. I happen to be from this place but with the rude awakening news I wake up too often so frequent, I am numb and distraught that I am part of this chaotic clime, leaving me most times in a position of having been lost between being proud of where I come from or I should indeed bury my head in sand like an ostrich.
History tells us that we live in a democratic era, a world where we are free to exercise freedom of expression, right to life, freedom of movement, right to a fair hearing and it goes on and on, but oftentimes, all I see is witchery and oppression in a jungle where justice is farfetched, failed leadership and a slow daunting economy is the order of the day.
Oh, my country, what did we do to ever deserve you? We’ve seen abnormal things that are way beyond what our normal eyes should see. In recent times, fear is a litmus test as nowhere is considered safe and the outlandish irony of everything is that no one ever knows who’s next. Next in the sense that you wouldn’t even expect if today is the day you get to be brutalized or harassed, people walking on thin thread to feel safe in their little way while others hold on to their faith, hoping and praying that the country never happens to them. It is no longer news that if you were to travel by land, you will most likely be kidnapped and if it were to be a train? You are of a higher chance of getting bombed or wait even if you decided to be patriotic, be 100 per cent sure you’ll be massacred.
Oh, there’s a country indeed, ruled by a vicious circle of men and my family has encountered its fair share of evil. The evil they keep sharing around its citizen’s door post. Let’s take a little detour yeah, it’s a Wednesday and as usual, a working day at that. People are up and about looking for their daily bread and fortunately, my mom was one of those people. It was around 1:45 in the afternoon, the sun was hot and bright, people going about their business, market men and women selling, stores open and women hawking. There she was in her newly acquired 2001 Toyota starlet that was meant to serve as a mobile bookshop. She checks her watch and its time to pick up her kids from school, she proceeds to head in the direction of the school when her attention was drawn by people running helter-skelter and trying to draw her attention to the already brewing chaos that had ensued in that side of town, she’s in her thoughts thinking of a best possible way to get to us and in proceeding to take a turn, she’s already trapped in the chaos and surrounded by angry mobs who had joyfully claimed the lives of innocent citizens.
In her will to escape death, the car still in motion she proceeds to jump out of the moving vehicle without a single thing other than her life. To date, she insists it is a miracle as she said she saw machetes of different sizes that she’s never seen in her entire life. As she took to her heels barefooted under the scorching sun in search of help and refuge, she sees a police van and tags along sides them, heading to a soldier’s camp. In her bid to ask for help and inform them all about everything that has preceded, they follow her, just to see her car destroyed and all up in flames. From a distance, she sees buildings halfway burnt to the ground and in those minutes she accepts her fate of having to lose her life’s work. If you know me personally, you’d know how much of an integral part my mum plays in my life and on this faithful day she escaped death just by a whisker. Not so many people were as lucky as she was, and today they are only just remembered by the pain that pierces the hearts of their loved ones.
Oh Nigeria, a place filled with so much potential, blessed with all its resources you could ever think of, yet so impoverished and infested with greed. A country weaponised with poverty filled with cultural and religious decadences. We are so blessed with talents and bright minds which are being taken away from us every passing day. The life of man is given no regard as it can be taken with no iota of respect for humanity. The reality we live in now is not knowing if it will be me or you but with our hands held up high, believing in our faith, it is everyone’s prayer that may Nigeria never happen to you and your loved ones.
Do not forget 20–10–2020 just as Burna Boy our African Giant sang “Nothing you go talk wey go justify the case of their murder”. Don’t forget the Owo killing, don’t forget southern Kaduna, don’t forget the Jos religious crisis, and don’t forget people who lost their lives to police brutality. GET YOUR PVC & NEVER FORGET
