By Denrele Animasaun

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.-Theodore Roosevelt

There is  no  better time to  applaud  the  spirit  and  stoic  determination  of  Harrison Okene, the  29 year-old man who  survived two-and-a-half days trapped 30m (98ft) deep in freezing seawater. Although  the incident occurred  in  May 2013 , it  has  only  been widely  reported in  the last  couple of  days and his  survival  has  captured  the  imagination  of   experienced deep Sea divers and lay people alike.

The video of his rescue has become a worldwide sensation, how he was able to cling on to hope against all odds. The Jascon-4 tug boat he was on, capsized on the 26 May, about 32km (20 miles) off the coast of Nigeria, while it was stabilizing an oil tanker at a Chevron platform.  What Harrison  went  through  was  no  mean  feat; For-two-and half –days, he  survived  without  food or  water and  I  guess, hardly  any sleep.

He   said of his experience: “I was there in the water in total darkness just thinking it’s the end. I kept thinking the water was going to fill up the room but it did not.”  He was hungry and the salt water took the skin off his tongue.

While  he  was  hanging  on to  life  he  could  hear the bodies  of his crew being eaten .

By  sheer  luck  and providence at  the  60th  hour, a  diving company  came  to  investigate  and  to  recover bodies only  to  be  grabbed  by  Harrison! Mr. Harrison was rescued, fitted with oxygen mask and brought to the surface more than 60 hours after the ship had submerged. He  was  spent another 60 hours in  a decompression chamber  so  that his  body  pressure  can  return  to  normal.  There  is  nothing  normal  in what  Harrison  had  experienced and although  he  has  been  rescued physically , he  will  still experience  flash backs  and  other  signs of  post traumatic  disorders for  a  long  time  to  come.

*Okene just before his rescue

Harrison described his   rescue as miraculous.  I  couldn’t  agree  more   but  his  way  to  wellness  is  long  as  he  admits  that the memories of his time in the watery darkness still haunt him and he is not sure he will return to the sea. I do hope he writes a book about his experience. I, for  one  will  buy  it  and for  Harrison  it  will be  very  cathartic.

Do we worship fears?
Life, is often said, is what we make it. How then do we take charge of our lives when we are not fully in control of all the variables; social, power, resources, religion, tribal, health and education? The incessant abuse of power permeates the way we live our lives. These and many malaise that plagues Nigerians are often shrugged off as “one of those things” and finished off with the usual resignation. Then nothing happens and then people sleep walk into another disaster and the pattern   goes on.

There has to be a limit to how much people are exposed to. The prolonged onslaught of this daily diet has got a serious psychological and physical impact on people.

This week once more, Boko Haram struck in Maiduguri. They  flooded  the  city in  the  early  hour of  the  morning  in pickup  trucks  and  on  motorcycles that they   caught  the  airbase  and  its occupants  unaware. Their frenzied raid left many people dead and seriously injured. The  five-hour  battle  that  ensued destroyed helicopters, fighter jets, vehicles, officers’ housing, workshops and regimental buildings not  to  talk of  the  greatest  costs  of  all human lives.

How  do  you  comfort  those  that  have  lost  loved ones, what  do  you  say  that  makes  sense  that some irrational  group  feel  it  has  the right  to  dictate  to  everyone  how  they  should  live  their  lives, how  to  worship? On their  warped premise  they  have  held  the whole  country  to  ransom?   Whatever they think in their warped reasoning, good will always triumph over evil.  They  are  not  representative of   majority  of  Nigerians and we  cannot  allow  ourselves to  pushed  back centuries and  into  the  dark  ages.

For those who sponsor fear, terror, and espouse hatred and division, this will not   work. Nigeria  can only  work  if  we  stand  side  by  side  and shoulder to  shoulder  and tell  these  people  that they are  not fighting  their  cause in our  name.

Much credit to Kashim Shettima, the Governor of Borno State is right as he vows that the assault would not weaken the offensive against insurgents.  That “No amount of intimidation and harassment by insurgents will make us derail from our focus,” he said. “We will never run and leave our land. In the fullness of time, we are going to triumph over evil and the satanic ideologies of the Boko Haram.” Some amongst us are hell bent destroying every visages that makes us human by hiding behind a   malign cause to justify the unjustifiable.

Those amongst us
There are four ways you can handle fear. You can go over it, under it, or around it. But if you are ever to put fear behind you, you must walk straight through it. Once you put fear behind you. Leave it there. ~Donna Favors

The trial of Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 is underway for the brutal murder of soldier Lee Rigby in London.  The two British-born Nigerians on 23 May brutally murdered an off-duty soldier.  The  gruesome  murder was  a wakeup  call  for  many  people in  the UK that there are  people  amongst us who are being radicalized and  are willfully brainwashed to  carry out their  heinous activities.  These young men have to face the family of the slain soldier, the people and the law. In the months that followed, majority of the people have made a concerted effort that the religious hatred will not be tolerated in our communities. Despite that unity, there are some   factions  on either  side  that want  to capitalize on this  heinous  crime but , well-meaning  the people  and  the government  are  working  to ensure  that wherever such extremist  activities are  encouraged , they  will act decisively to  quell it.  I  know  how it  shook  the UK  so I  cannot  begin  to imagine  how such insurgency continues to affect   thousands  of  people in Nigeria and  the  nightmare  continues.