End SARS; Save Our Lives

From the very first day that a woman becomes aware that she’s got a growing foetus in her womb, she begins to develop aspirations and dreams on behalf of her unborn child. The would-be mother paints pictures of preconceived ideas of how she’d like the child to look like from when he is born and even as far as his adulthood frame.

The moment the child is born, all forms of structures and mechanisms are put in place in order to gear this newly arrived human being towards the path that his well-meaning parents have mapped out several months before he arrived. Corrective measures, reward systems, disciplinary methods, and you name it - all are established like arms of government, each one intended to perform specific roles and functions, all for a sole purpose - to raise the child into the kind of grown adult that they have envisioned.

Then, life happens. Nobody asked for it, but evolution decided to drop its bomb on us. Things have moved. Really fast. And, as though a switch was flickered, we have transitioned from the Dark Age to the Internet Age. Still, “boys ain’t smiling”. As if the rude effect of that evolution was not enough, we now speak of being millennials and members of the Gen Z era. Yo, man.

The one-way traffic parents have now been thrown into a state of gangantum gagantuaga. Literally. They never saw it coming. What would normally be expected? That they would rise up to the challenge, move with the times and reinvent the wheels in order to stay relevant, right? Except that like they say, normal is overrated. So, why be normal?

Sixty years later...

The life of this promising child has turnoniown. He was assured way back in his childhood that he is the leader of tomorrow. Oh well, tomorrow never comes and never ends. So, tomorrow keeps leading ahead of him. This sixty years old baby is laden with untapped talents and resources but when has anyone ever reaped peace from sowing the seeds of confusion, conflict and discord?

This is Nigeria!

A country where the struggle and hustle of a low-class citizen is found questionable but thieves in flowing gowns, carrying glossy suitcases are celebrated, allowed to go scot-free and even serenaded with honorary titles and degrees. That is the same degree that dedicated youths are made to pay, toil and labour for!

This is our Nigeria - where just being in the mass population makes you vulnerable to attacks from the very same uniformed agents who were installed to protect lives and maintain peace and order. Which brings me to the level of absurdity I see in how the law enforcement agents have been killing people who are asking to stop being killed.

The irony!

Who takes a knife to a stone fight, if not the person with terrible, horrible ulterior motives, and is scared of losing?

But again, this is Nigeria where you are entitled to freedom of speech and expression; however, your freedom to move freely or even live thereafter is not guaranteed. Here, we have to trade one fundamental right for another. You cannot want to have it all, talk less of indeed having it all.

Thinking about it all over again and the sadness is engulfing me afresh.

How did our leaders forget where we are coming from? How? The fight for freedom sixty years ago was to deliver us from the brutal, inhumane and oppressive rule of the colonial master. How is it that our Nigerian leaders have betrayed us and reinvented themselves as democrazetic masters. Indeed, it is military rule in democratic clothing!

It is nearing two weeks since the protests commenced and our leaders have suddenly lost their auditory and oratory abilities - not so much as addressing the people they say that they are leading.

Well, well, Mr President Sir, the youths you presumed to be lazy and docile have decided to take up the challenge. Yes, lives and properties will be lost but this revolution about to take place will happen. When a goat is constantly being pushed, the moment it gets to the wall, it will turn back and fight.

We are tired of suffering and smiling.

We are done living in cowardice.

We have had enough of this disguised military rule.

SARS killings must end.

Reform the Police Force.

Revolution for Nigeria!

What is the biggest reform you are looking forward to seeing happen in Nigeria? Leave a comment in the box below and share the post with your friends.

Designed by Christianah Ajiki