By Donu Kogbara

I ALWAYS feel melancholy on Good Friday because it is an extremely painful date in the Christian calendar – the day on which my Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and subjected to unimaginable anguish. Today, I am experiencing immense sadness for an additional reason, being that I cannot get Nigeria’s tragic underbelly out of my mind. So many horrible things have been done and said by so many people before, during and in the immediate aftermath of the elections.

We are wallowing in unpleasantness and failure. I feel as if my homeland is doomed to stay on the wrong track ad infinitum. And I am grieving. Deeply. Grieving for the great nation Nigeria would be if we were not being ruthlessly held back by conspiring criminal cabals. 

I am so full of paralysing despair about the status quo and seemingly bleak future that I can hardly lift my head from my pillow every morning or clear my head and sit at my laptop to write. So let me just share a powerful article that a friend sent me via WhatsApp. The article was written on March 16, by a gentleman called Austin Okeke Esq and it says so much that needs to be said. Excerpts:- 

We created the monster, we are it 

All of us are to blame. No exception! The monster we created and nurtured has now matured beyond containment. We participated, supported and fostered evil and allowed criminality to fester in our society. The chickens have come home to roost. As we are trying to reclaim the society, the monster is fighting back and vehemently laying claims to our society, because we abdicated our sovereignty to it. The monster says “it is mine; I built it”.

In truth, the monster took over the reins of power whilst we happily applauded as lame ducks and onlookers. Paying little heed to the destruction of our culture, the entrenchment of mediocrity, fraud and corruption. We looked away as if it was not our business when our society became a killing field to satisfy the egos of those who think they are born to rule.

Criminals hold the mantle of leadership. Upright men have become pariahs in their own country. Yes, our society worships money no matter where or how it came…The Ozo and other title holders in Igboland, the Otunbas and other title holders in Yorubaland, the Serikis, Mallams and other title holders in the North with sources of wealth that are unknown have somehow become primo. A society that (sometimes) relegates its best to third class positions.

The monster indeed took over our society and pillaged it, whilst legitimate citizens were bought over with a fraction of the loot from our common resources. They received meagre wages that can hardly feed a one-man family. Yes, the monster weaponised poverty, so that the hungry will always be its tool to continue in power. Yes, the poor citizenry acquiesced, celebrated, elevated and extolled the monster as the best thing that has ever happened to humanity.

The monster lays claim to our society. It decides who plays what role. It hobnobs with the international community who look the other way because of the benefits they can get from the monster. The monster is on the prowl, destroying and consuming all and any obstacle in its way. Who will remove the chains the monster has used to chain the real owners of the society? Who will bring succour to a helpless society? Who will emancipate the people from mental slavery? Who will move a blessed society with every known resource on planet earth from its paralysis? Who can bring back the song of freedom, redemption song?

Please don’t tell me there is a monster out there, don’t tell me to beware of the monster. No! we created it. We are it.”

Graveyard talk

The malaise I am suffering from is called WRITER’S BLOCK. It happens when professional scribes go through phases of being so mentally, emotionally or psychologically exhausted that they struggle to put their thoughts down on paper or on computer screens. Writer’s Block is caused by different factors. And I don’t know when my own block – which is making me feel ill – is going to disappear. In the meantime, here are some searing and thought-provoking words that are contained in a video I recently watched and asked my PA to transcribe for me and Vanguard readers:

The narrator is a man who is standing in a graveyard.

“I am here to ask one question; this is the graveyard. Who was the richest man here when you people were alive? Who was the best footballer when you people were alive? Who was the most beautiful girl when you people were alive? Who was the minister, the engineer, the lawyer, the doctor? Who was the richest businessman when you people where alive? Now you see, in this place, they are all equal. Such is life. Lawyer, doctor, engineer, footballer, minister or MP, beautiful lady, handsome guy, pastor, mallam.

Listen to me! No matter how your position is when you’re alive when death catches you, this will be your end. Calm down. You see this place, there is no lawyer here, there is no manager, there is no president here, there is no beautiful woman, handsome guy, there is no big-time minister you will bow to. You see this place, if you are Queen Elizabeth, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Princess Diana, when you come here, you are all equal. Nobody salutes to anybody, nobody bows down to anybody, nobody worships anybody.

Whether you are TB Joshua, you are what and what not, when you go down here nobody salutes you. Here both the master and the servants are equal, both the president and the security here are equal. No matter who you are when you come here, you are all equal. Calm down because this is the end of life for every mankind. Show love, respect mankind, and treat all men equally. Today you may reign on earth, but tomorrow, this will be your end.

You see I am asking them, but nobody got mouth to answer me. The greatest, the toughest, the strongest, the boldest, the bravest, none of them. This is the end, calm down no matter who you are, calm down no matter what you have gained, calm down no matter what you have achieved, calm down and respect humanity. Let me tell you something, relationship is greater than money. Respect humanity. Relationship is greater than money because when you are down, money cannot save you, but your relationship with people will bring them around to help you. No matter what, remember life will end.”