I wonder if she had any premonition of how that day was going to end for her…  I’m sure her main focus was simply to get through the high profile night without any mishap. No doubt the organizers would have talked her through the process, and as her citation was being read, she must have been going through her acceptance speech through her head.

In a nation that rarely recognizes talk less of rewarding anything good; just to have someone acknowledge her brave act and sacrifice of over a year ago must have been enough recognition in itself.

I can therefore imagine her utter shock when by the end of her citation, Mrs Elizabeth Akande, not only had been decorated as a Nigerian hero by the Sun newspaper; she had become a few million naira richer via donations from people who were truly impressed with her selflessness.

Mrs Akande is the     Nigerian Authority and Civil Defence Corp volunteer who physically prevented fraud during the very volatile elections for the State House of Assembly and the rescheduled House of Reps elections in Ibadan North West LGA on April 26, 2011. What makes her story so outstanding was that at the time she was on a salary of   N27,000 a month, she was offered a bribe of five hundred thousand naira which she turned down and was beaten to a pulp for her trouble…

Twenty- seven thousand naira only…. Not much. Yet, she could turn down half a million without thinking. Yet we have people whose annual incomes can purchase respectable sized islands who still can’t keep their hands out of the till. Why is that? Surely that is not the interpretation of the biblical injunction which says to him that has much more will be given, or is it? I am going to have to run that by my pastor.

These are the true heroes of our not so nascent democracy; men and women who have the fire of true patriotism burning in their bellies.

These ones who do right period; whether or not there’s a ‘reward’ or whether anyone is watching and often times even at the risk of death. Not those ‘patriots’ who mobilize men and chant democratic slogans by day yet plunder and share booty by night. Bleeding hypocrites! Worse than the ruling party itself. At least they’re not pretentious!

Considering also that    this is a nation where doing the right thing is not encouraged, in fact, if  truth be told, is often punished; I like the message that Mrs Akande’s uplifting and promotion passes across which can be applied to our entire socio-political process….

It is only a matter of time… Though it may be slow in coming, justice will surely prevail. God bless all the Akandes and all our unsung heroes out there! God bless Nigeria!