Dear beloved,
If you are reading this, then the ultimate has happened. We have laid
down our lives for the cleansing of the land, we call home, upon the
the ground we were birthed and one whose prosperity clenches the vein of
our
heart.
Our death was never planned, all we wanted was the chance to stay alive.
Forget what some may say about us. They may call us anarchists or
revolutionists.
Be careful of history classes for those who record us as insurgents and
the mob were weaklings and betrayers who lay in bed with politicians and
power-holders when the throats of their brethren and kinsmen were
slit by police officers and agents of the regime.
You see the sanity you enjoy today: the constant electricity, water,
good roads, proper education, people-oriented government, accountable
police system, and a booming economy? We died for those!
While some stood silent for fear of losing their access to power, when
some took decisions via the prism of partisanship when some allowed
religion and ethnicity to becloud their demand for a better life for
this country, we stood firm amid raining bullets and teargas while hot
water cannon descend on us and batons dot our behinds.
We were never violent. We stood for decades as government and
politicians deny us our basic rights and amenities. At every turn they
take away all that we laboured for, we did nothing. They pushed us to
the wall and we broke it to create a path. They stole our treasury and
live in affluence and pride while we toil day and night to make ends
meet.
When we got tired, we took to churches and mosques praying for a
miracle. We did nothing.
Our children became beggars and life became unbearable. Our doctors left
the country in droves and the little that stayed were told to become
farmers when we complained. Our teachers lived in penury and our economy
they cornered for friends and cronies.
But in the midst of all these, we sought for a way out. We lost our
pride and did menial jobs. We slept day and night cursing providence for
making this nation our lot. Those who could afford it sold properties
and vacated the country, the rest of us? We stayed, fasting and praying,
hoping for a miracle.
Comedy and humour became our coping mechanisms. When they flog us and
make life unbearable we make comedy skits and drawings to cool our
souls. While many die, we laugh at our own misery.
This country you see today became a wild west then, it was all man for
himself. It wasn’t a life we were proud of but we lived to survive. And
like the resilient people the world knows us to be, we survived indeed.
Everything, we created for ourselves. The government did nothing for us
but we still pay taxes.
But like every human, there is a limit to endurance. There is a breaking
point and while we hide it for decades, the government found it.
The police who were meant to protect us became armed robbers. They
accost us on the road and demand for our phones, they take us to cash
points and collect our hard-earned money. They look us dead in the eye
and tell us to make a transfer to them or they will shoot and nothing
will happen.
Indeed, many they killed and nothing happened. They end the lives of
many at the slightest argument and maim others just because they could.
They separate husbands from wives and slaughter. They take away children
from mothers and torture to death. We screamed but no one heard us.
So we had enough. We took to the streets to demand an end to the
brutality and killings but instead of doing anything, our government
descended on us. They opened fire and killed many.
We were peaceful but they framed us for crimes so they could stop us
from speaking.
We asked for nothing special. We didn’t demand accounts of the
billions they were stealing, we didn’t ask them to do right by us and
give us meaningful country. We only asked for the right to live.
Beloved, today we have lost many comrades, tomorrow, we may lose many
more. Our lives we have concluded to give to this country so that yours
could have any meaning.
As they shoot and bury our bodies in unmarked graves. As bullets we pay
for pierce through our bodies and skulls, remember our pains.
With my last breath, I write this. I hope our sacrifice bring the
desired change. If it does, please cherish this and honour our memories
but if they won and the battle rages on, rise and fight the evils so
your generation doesn’t fail like ours.
Take up the flag of this glorious nation and wave it in hope. Spread our
ashes on the Atlantic and let our soul rest.
We died as patriots beloved, never forget that!
_Boladale tweets via @BoladaleAdekoya _
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