By Prince Ejeh Josh.
Ladies and gentlemen of the oppressed. Fellow abandoned Nigerians. My dear compatriot proletariat. The stage is set for the volcanic eruptions. Indeed, the volcano is already erupting. Before our eyes is the hurricanic revolution. Nigerians’ patience have run beyond the stretch of ethnic primordiality and tribal sentiments. Poverty, hardship, frustration and despondency lack tribal expression. All these nonsense from our political leaders and their cancerous cronies must stop with immediate effect. The time for the oppressed class to rise up and demand what rightfully belong to them is now.
Power is not given, it’s taken. Power is fetched by force. There must be action and reaction to produce a friction. Nigerian masses are angry. They are hungry too. Those that trek for six miles a day to places of work and pretend it’s an exercise are running out of patience. Those who are hungry and couldn’t afford a square meal per day but call it fasting without adding it prayer are now thinking out of their shell. Sure, triggered by accumulation of hunger, frustration and poverty, they are now ready for the uprising.
The battle line is now drawn between the oppressors and the oppressed. There’s, indeed, anger in the land. I belong to the oppressed class. I belong to the talawaki’s class. There is no time to check time. The time to act is now. Let the great Aminu Kano be an inspiration. Let the philosophy of Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu be our revolutionary guide.
Let me quickly say this: as a Lawyer and War Strategist, I understand the distinction between revolution in law and revolution in fact. We shall be occupying our minds with the working definition proffered by Political Scientists, Marxists and Strategists. It’s indeed a form of revolution that combines intellectual and physical exercises to demand power from those holding Nigeria at the jugular. Nigeria must be taken back by the people. This ongoing revolution is our own struggle for independence. We all must first die to live.
Dying for what you believe in is the greatest honour to mankind. It’s this type of revolution that the Sahara Reporters’ publisher and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore, called for. It’s this type of revolution that Mr. Fani-Kayode has been calling for. The type that our own Human Rights activist, Femi Falana, has been envisaging would trigger off in the country. The sort of revolution that would purge the country of political criminals and armed robbers decorated in offices. Corruption is a euphemism for heartless and ruthless stealing of Nigeria to blind by politicians.
Why must we pretend to be afraid of death when we are all dying? Why must we hide under the mask of believing that the present set of political leaders would savage Nigeria when, at the very depth of our mind, we know they are not only corrupt but are worse than kidnappers and armed robbers combined? Why must we remain cowards in the face of unbearable injustice: injustice to our country, to our children, to our future, to our youths? Aren’t we like sinking men holding on straws? We must wake up, challenge our oppressors and swim against the tide. Like Martin Luther King Jr. rightly noted; we start dying the day we begin to keep silence in the face of injustice.
Nobody loves Nigeria more than the deprived man on the streets of Ilorin, Enugu, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos. Another name for Nigerians is poverty. Poverty created by those in power. Poverty created by our governments. Poverty created by the All Progressive Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party. Call them by name. When you’re killed by their security agencies, your ideas will continue to resonate. We shall continue to speak out from the grave. Nigeria is not working. The people piloting the affairs are bereft of ideas. People are dying from the insensitive attitude of government.
Governments have become our enemies. You and I are poor, unable to feed, to pay school fees, to cater for our needs and family because our oppressors are still in power, guarded by battalion of security agencies. If they are not the architects of your woes, then why are they afraid of walking down the street without moving with security agencies?
The question is; who are they afraid of? Afraid of the kidnappers they created out of joblessness? Afraid of being beating by the hungry masses whose destiny has been destroyed by government’s mismanagement of our commonwealth? Afraid of the thugs they hired to torment their opponents during elections and thereafter abandoned? Afraid of the armed bandits they smuggled into the country during elections only to be told they were on their own after using them to achieve their self aggrandisement? The chick has come home to roost.
Do they love Nigeria more than us, the deprived, the despondent, the abandoned, the homeless, the vagrants, the vagabonds, do? Do you know you’re poor because of them? Do you know that the living and non-living natural resources in Nigeria belong to every Nigerian? How come they are rich and you’re extremely poor? How come they don’t want you to come around them? How come the only time you see them is during election period? How come you’re trekking and they are driving multi-billion naira vehicles? How come they are entitled to billions of naira while they tell you that your entitlement is only ten thousand naira? How come after spending four years in power they primitively acquire everything money can buy, but for you, after serving the state meritoriously for 35 years, you retire with an empty bank account, and your meagre gratuity is not being paid let alone your pension. For record purpose, your pension is that money you saved from your salary for 35 years. Now, why are they denying you your right? When those in power step down, they retire to mansions and for you, a common man, you retire to village to die. Now, between you and them, who loves Nigeria? Fellow proletariat, you have been maligned and mangled to the corner Frank Fanon called slum for the wretched of the earth.
Sadly, the father of medical tourism in Nigeria who abdicated his duty for months and wasted millions of dollars of Nigerian taxpayers abroad was seen recently talking hard against medical tourism. He doesn’t believe in the Nigerian Project yet he said he could lay down his life for our country. None of his kids schooled in Nigeria but in some of the world’s best institutions yet he said he was poor. And where were the tuition fees coming from? From the pit of his toilet? Hypocrites are all we have in power. Our oppressors are replicating and recycling themselves in power.
Once your father has no name, or you’re a son or daughter of one Mr Okeke, or Mr Rasaki or Mrs Adelana, regardless of your competency and qualifications, forget it, as you will be going no where. You need someone that knows someone who knows someone that could present your case before our purported representatives. It’s a government of the cronies, by the cronies and for the cronies. If they are proving to be crooked, why not vent the crookedness in you for a true liberation? After all, we have nothing to lose since our oppressors have taken what belongs to us by brutal force. Can you still continue to trust them with your life and welfare? Can you still trust them with our commonwealth?
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DISCLAIMER: All views expressed on our opinion page are those of the writer and do not represent the position of INSIDER or any of its reporters/editors.