By Prisca Aniemeke
Each morning when I wake up, I feel guilty for falling asleep. How can I sleep when somewhere someplace, a woman is still mourning the death of her child who was killed by a stray bullet? How can I sleep when someone somewhere lost a parent to the shootings at Lekki Toll Gate?
My heart aches because the people we have put in power to represent us, do not even want to hear our voices. They just want foolish and docile citizens that will take whatever it is they give us. They don’t want us to speak, it makes them restless. Or what other explanation can there be to their unrest since the protests began?
Two weeks ago, I was so happy that the youths of Nigeria came to together to fight for a common cause. I was happy we had discovered our unified voice. I was happy we dismissed religious, gender and ethnic differences. I was happy to see patriotism in our tweets, chants and protests. I was happy the protests were peaceful, fun and had massive turnouts.
I was really happy and most of all, I was confident that the government was going to hear our cries and accept our simple request to end police brutality. That was going to be the first step and after that was done, we were going to come together once more to protest against bad governance. In my mind, everything was going to go smoothly.
But I guess I was wrong. Guess? No, I was wrong. Our government is not only bad but broken. Beyond repair? I don’t think so. But the government of now is filled with terrorists, thieves and liars disguised in agbadas; selfish men and women, who have sold their souls in exchange for power and riches.
They aren’t even accountable! People were starving and suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic, people begged for food, people did things out of desperation and people worked odd jobs and lost their lives in the process. The fact that the government had palliatives stocked up in warehouses still baffles me. For whom did they keep them?
You know, accountability is very essential in leadership, at any stage whatsoever. And, it is saddening that almost all leaders across Nigeria lack this quality including religious and educational leaders.
When I was in S.S.S 3, my class was asked to contribute money to buy a gift for the school (as is the ritual of the graduating set). Each student was to pay four thousand naira and we were over thirty in the class. Together with our class teacher, we deliberated on what to buy or do for the school and we considered equipping the Physics lab or getting new ceiling fans for some classes. We felt we could do something really grand and trusted our class teacher to make this possible.
To our very surprise, on our graduation day, when we were dressed in white laces and green head gears, our class teacher presented wooden stools for the Basic Technology lab to the school. I don’t need to tell you how bad we felt that day. Over a hundred thousand naira and you buy wooden stools? What was the rest of the money used for? If that isn’t unaccountability then tell me what is. I’m sharing this story to point out that even at the lowest levels, the country is corrupt.
But why are people so cruel and self-centered? How do people just think only of themselves and the profit they can get from every little thing? Like I said earlier, I was happy when the protests began because I thought it was the beginning of the end of the corrupt practices of those in power.
Now, I think of how the government is doing their best to silence us and instill fear in us the way they did to our fathers. I think of the people who have made up their minds not to protest anymore. I think of those who have changed their display pictures from the “#ENDSARS” that was there last week because they think we’ve lost the fight already. I think of those who make tweets like, “I thought they messed with wrong generation” and accompany it with laughing emojis. And lastly, I think of those who have died.
Did they die for nothing? If we are going to quit, what was the point of them losing their lives? This isn’t some movie where people just die on camera. People actually died! People lost family members! Or were they just props? Pawns in the game? This is not a motivational speech or anything of such, it’s just me putting my thoughts in words, trying to clear my head.
Since the 20th of October, I’ve been thinking about those who lost their lives at the Toll Gate, I’ve been thinking about Jimoh and Oke and, I’ve been thinking about the others whose names I do not know. We call them our fallen heroes and indeed they are. But I ask myself, why don’t we seek justice for these people? Why don’t we fight for this cause? Why don’t we raise our voices and keep raising our voices until something is done?
I’m not saying you should go out to protest and I’m not saying you shouldn’t. Honestly, I don’t know what the next step is or what it should be. I am really confused, that is what this country does to me. However, what I do know is that I don’t want us to succumb to defeat.
I don’t want us to look back at those two weeks and regret them. I don’t want the government to think that they have won.I don’t want the heroes to have “fallen” for nothing. I want that you-messed-with-the-wrong-generation spirit to come back. I want to see hashtags about ending bad governance in Nigeria trending again on Twitter and not hashtags about wigs and the EPL. Again, this is not an inspirational message, I’m just transferring my aggression on these words, hoping they will wake one or two people up and wake me up as well.
On a final note, let’s even take a moment to imagine the events of the past weeks to be scenes of one big drama. And let’s imagine the October 20 incident as the climax of the play. Now, where is the resolution? How does the story end? If not for anything, we should finish this so we can have a complete story with a happy ending to tell our children and grandchildren.
