Thursday, June 21, 2012

How many will die in God’s name?

I am sure by now we all know without need for argument that we have two kinds of terrorists in this country, Boko Haram and our politicians. The latter have actually killed more; imagine the man who stole 2 Billion Naira from some poor pensioners, do you have an idea how many innocent and hardworking men he has killed?

As much as killing a fellow human is against all my beliefs as a human being, I also know and acknowledge the truth that the human history is laden with a plethora of blood shedding campaigns and strife. That said, we Nigerians as a people have come thus far, with a fight for independence, a civil war and a bloody wrestle of power from our own military as experience, we have come to realize that beneficial changes requires sacrifices which sometimes mean loss of lives.

I have always known and said that whenever we are ready to move this country forward each and every one of us must be prepared to lose our lives and that of those dear to us, do not forget how difficult this present government has found it to expose a singular thief/terrorist. Does this mean we do not have the needed human or technological wherewithal to prosecute these men? The answer is no, we have all the needful to send them all to jail, all we need is what we lack and that is the will, the passion to want to do it right. Alas this passion is lacking in the leadership and it has ultimately cascaded to the followership, how did we manage to have all our past governors walk free today despite the level of decay in every public department and their extremely brazen flamboyances?

As it is we may make bold to say that this present kingdom suffereth violence and the violent may be able to take it by force; meaning a desirable level of normalcy will never be restored by the asking, it will definitely take some violence, believe this, the people in charge of our woes are not willing to leave— Farouk Lawan and Maina’s drama is an apt example of what obtains and there is no end to the injustice and terrorism perpetrated on our commonwealth by these very few. Now when some of the naïve youths who are passionate for a change in their situation unfortunately play into the hands of a waiting opportunist, one, who has seen their pains, need and anger and readily provides them with an option of dying for God. They happily embrace the idea of death not because they love to die but because death is a better choice than the repugnant living condition foisted on them by the past and present terrorists we call leaders. Thus the work of the man shopping for young men to unleash terror on the entire populace was made easy!

It automatically follows that a hungry and vulnerable man whose living condition is more gruesome than dying in God’s name will take up arms against any given enemy, real or imagined, in his state of hopelessness a little brainwash is necessary to make him yield.

Let me state clearly that I am against the idea of Boko Haram actions and I will never for any reason advocate killing innocent men as a means to any end. Whatever the end may be, there is no justification for shooting randomly and throwing shrapnel at unarmed individuals. If we are tired of our leadership we may want to learn from the Libyans and or the Egyptians, we can learn from their experiences before, during and after the uprisings.

As I said earlier the days of an impending colossal awakening are near, we cannot continue this way, it is absolutely unsustainable. It is either Boko Haram shuts this entity called Nigeria down like they did Kaduna in the past few days or some of us for lack of what to eat, where to sleep, cloths to wear and water to drink, arise to say we prefer an uprising to this ghastly living condition and join hands to chase our number one enemy, the politicians, not only out of power but out of town.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

DEATH, Once Again!


For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good. ~Socrates.



Death forgetting that he has taken several lives over the weekend once again struck at the gate of my office this morning.

It could have been me or any of my colleagues that died at about 7: 00 a. m today June 6, 2012 at the office entrance, I was thinking of my lateness and in my worrisome mood suddenly stumbled on a couple of women wailing uncontrollably in anguish. First I was shocked, jolted and in no time I learnt that a car just rammed Joshua a guy who works in the next office, into the power pole at the gate and killed him instantly.

Like an average human, a silly thought crossed my mind to say “thank you Lord I was late” because if I had come earlier it could have been my blood being covered with sands and my shoes scattered about the ground. I instantly think again and knew better; that death comes to all it was Joshua’s time this morning and his death does not mean he deserves to die more than any one of us discussing the incidence. His death does not call for a thanksgiving service from any one of us that narrowly missed the accident, it most certainly calls for soul searching, sober reflection and a total introspection as to why we do the things we do and how we do them.

I am not sure I have seen Joshua before as all the descriptions of him were lost on me, one thing today is sure that those who know him will talk and talk about him but his legacies, what he stands for or did not stand for will live after him.

Socrates in his last speech, the apology, said “The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death” we can run from death all we want (albeit, stubborn death will catch up), the catch is in avoiding unrighteousness. I don’t want to sound like your pastor but my calling is to let you know that while you are alive and here, do all the good you can and avoid all the evil you can.

Ultimately I told myself that death comes to all; mine is lurking somewhere and so is yours, smile today, play with sands if you have to. We have lost a soul too many in the past few days and we shall continue to lose them until it comes around, in the meantime the little positivity we can foster will echo into the future of humanity and be a reason to smile for us when the time comes.

May we live till our dying day and may Joshua’s soul rest in peace. AMEN.