For how long, Nigeria?
The Journey to The Extraordinary Issue 10–2020
It’s Friday, October 23, 2020. I am reflecting on the day as well as on life itself in the last couple of days, while also praying deep within for the uneasiness in my stomach to subside so I can get some sleep. Not too long ago, a friend encouraged me not to waste my emotions. Whether it be joy or sadness, all should be maximized. So here I go, I am in front of my laptop now.
The past few days have not been the best for me as a Nigerian. My country broke my heart and left me in the cold with no balm. Actually, it is really not Nigeria herself, but the ones in the helm of her affairs at the moment. They literally gave us the middle finger with no empathy or remorse.
Ironically, if I had written this memoir this time last week, I would have written so many sweet things of how proud I was to be called Nigerian, how holding the Green-White-Green filled me with so much love, hope and excitement, how I was going to join others to pray on the streets of Nigeria for the soul of my nation, etc. You needed to see me with my little flag on Friday night, I was beaming with smiles as a little girl told of the return of her papa. I was really excited, an emotion I knew I hadn’t expressed until then for my nation. There was this spark of hope for a better country. Even after straining a nerve from the National Prayer Walk, I really did not mind, in Nigerian parlance, the love of country was ‘sharking’ me. The #endSARS protest seemed to be giving a beacon of hope. Nothing could evidently go wrong.
Sadly, all that went to the trash by Tuesday, October 20, 2020. Everything happened so fast. By mid-day, the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, declared a curfew starting at 4 pm. What?! How was that to work in a city where people work and live at opposite ends of town? Why did you allow them to set out when you knew what you had planned? Were you trying to trap your citizens? Please, educate me. What exactly was your aim, sir? By the way, this curfew was announced on the guise that protesters were violent. What a joke!
The world witnessed the #endSARS movement raise funds for food, legal and medical fees, security, sanitation, etc. It was overly organised, nothing went missing, everyone looked out for the other. These same people maintaining order with no leader are the same people the government claimed caused mayhem? Hey there government, put the blame on another, but peaceful protesters.
With the curfew came a very dark cloud, one we hoped was all a bad dream. The Lekki Toll Gate, famous for inhabiting the peaceful protesters had blood all over it. Soldiers or men dressed in the Nigerian Army’s uniform (since the military denied involvement) stormed the site killing and wounding many. A place that was full of life and singing in the morning now hosted lifeless bodies in mourning. Evidently, there was foul play. Why were they killed? Who indeed gave the order? These and many more, certainly, not too long from now we will find out alongside many dark secrets of Nigeria’s past.
It is also quite unfortunate that the governor denied the deaths at the Lekki Toll Gate, then the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, wrote: “My heart goes out to all the victims of the Lekki shooting, and also the policemen and all other men and women who lost their lives in the past few days in different parts of Lagos and other states.” I thought there were no victims. I thought no one died.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the President, Muhammadu Buhari. He gave a speech two days after on Thursday, October 22, 2020, paying no attention to the massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate, but gently issuing threats to those who decide to still protest. I mean, what does “This government respects and will continue to respect all the democratic rights and civil liberties of the people, but will not allow anybody or groups to disrupt the peace of our nation” mean when a people are grieving? Obviously, he holds affiliations with Jon Snow and will be banished to the abyss of our painful history soon.
At this time, when it is evident that all traces of our horrific Tuesday evening is peddled as fake news I must write and keep this memoir for those coming after me to know that Tuesday, October 20, 2020, wasn’t fiction. Nigerians were indeed murdered, Nigeria bled and those murdered still cry out for justice.
