THE PROTESTERS, THE HIJACKERS, THE HOODLUMS, THE HUNGRY AND THE HANGMEN: A NOTE OF JUDGMENT AND MERCY.
Ocholi Okutepa Esq.
A Nigerian.
No matter your tribe or religion, it will be living in denial to argue that NIGERIA is not in dire need of change. Even the rich and privileged know this; especially that they travel out and see what it means to have a society that works. That we are backward cannot even be breaking news.
So, while you may hide under any sentiments to avoid a direct endorsement of or participation with those who stood where we should all have stood to peacefully demand an end to SARS, Police brutality and all the ills of this Nation, your heart knows the truth.
Those who marched the streets with an honest intention to see a New NIGERIA are heroes. Those who lost their lives in the process, martyrs. Those who do not see this fact, with respect, cowards.
The protest did more than awaken us to the fact that our slumber was deep and our long-suffering inordinately long. It quickly highlighted and revealed the rot of our uneasy union.
What every NIGERIAN should be proud about quickly became about hidden agendas of wicked and unholy men and groups. Propaganda filled the space and everyone had a conspiracy theory of why, where and how a genuine protest began. These wicked people began to plot how to take advantage of everything and to push their wickedness.
Then, very quickly too, the youth generation was hit with the harsh truth that even amongst us, we have critical mass who are far from the orientation with which we are to emerge in a New NIGERIA. The number of those whose grieviances could be channeled through destructive means or whose entire intention was to take advantage of the protests and loot is staggering. From North to South, they began to burn, loot and do the unimaginable.
Before I go further, there are still those whose folly is so deep, they blame the peaceful protesters for all the mayhem, as if to say that the oppressed should never cry out because wicked men will on occasion of that cry do wickedly.
Then, within the ranks of the youth are the fools whose god is their belly and whose orientation is so below par. These ones for monies ranging from as low as N500 were hired to be hoodlums and hijackers to scuttle an honest agitation for their own future. They pallied with their own hangmen to to execute themselves slowly but surely.
Then we have the Hangmen, the ones who have blood on their hands. A little about these guys because Nigeria has become so accustomed to stealing through corruption that we have made heroes of common criminals. What we fail to note is that for every accident on a bad road, the blood of the death is on the hands of the ones who missapropriates the funds or builds a substandard road. You can travel through all the sectors and trace who has blood on his hands. That is why we have needless deaths and so much pain in the land.
Then the Hungry. Attack those finding pallatives warehouses and helping themselves all you want, we should first of all be ashamed that covid reliefs are still warehoused long after lockdown. It is particularly insane to argue that they were only just received in states in September. Wickedness always has an explanation.
I pity the Hangmen! They know nothing. The day is coming and it may be here already that the hungry will feed on them. This is why the peaceful Protesters are heroes. If society works, vices will be lowered and the rich and privileged will live with less fear.
I pity the Hangmen! Their children will soon not have a country to call home. Many of them will live in shame because of the legacy of wickedness they inherit. Money won’t cut it, social rejection will be smeared in them and another man’s country will house them, not because they wanted but because they are on the run.
I pity the Hangmen! They are already not able to live a normal life. They are more afraid than a human should. With their escorts and security, their sleep is shallow and their blood pressure hits the roof. The havock they have wrecked on our economy and the insecurity that follows have made them a bunch of fearful creature always looking over their shoulders and running out of the country every now and then to breathe.
To the hoodlum and hijackers, I pity them. They have embraced death and have surrendered to destruction. Many do not know better and a lot are foolish, selling their birthright forsake peanuts while they continue to live as OR below the peasant class.
To the Peaceful Protesters, I symoathize you. Your heart must be heavy. Do not despair, change doesn’t look like it when it kick-starts.
You have send shockwaves into today and an alarm into tomorrow. Make no mistakes, the music has changed. Some hoodlums caught sense. Some hijackers are repentant and the Hangmen for once are keenly aware that they may soon hang on the same gallows on which they have executed countless.
A New NIGERIA is emerging. Choose your side carefully.
