I do not think it was the postponement of the elections earlier scheduled to hold on 16th February, 2019, precisely last week Saturday, that shocked Nigerians I think it was the audacity of cancelling it right in the wee hours of the election day. Immediately, normalcy returned because even my own cleaning woman that I had earlier rescheduled to come the next week due to elections showed up on my door step that very Saturday morning. According to her, whether or not the election held, it did not in any way affect her own livelihood. She believes she does not derive her sustenance from the government. Just like her, business resumed its normal pace but the market in my area was a bit slow because there had been a very severe panic buying on election eve.
If life resumed that very morning as though nothing happened, the situation was a different ball game on social media. The inferno raged, with the Independent National Electoral Commission receiving the bash of its life, and parties and their respective supporters dishing blames, conspiracy and angsts in truck loads.
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One of my younger friends on Facebook expressed his rage at how life could go on normally. He was angry at the apathy displayed by Nigerians. For him, the reactions should have been stronger. May be placards should be out. Protest should have been erupting everywhere across the country. He was both furious, tired and disgusted.
And then I told him that if there was so much online-anger, then the youths should begin the needed change by coming together to crystalise it by voicing out their concerns. Press releases should be tumbling on each other released by youth groups. I told him that the youths of today are so sophisticated that all their venom of anger finds itself on social media and it ends there. Our strength lies in the comfort of our bed and cosy chairs with our smart phones or iphones held by dainty fingers and typing out both good and poor grammar as we continue to express our thoughts.
We are lions, tigers and charging bulls on Facebook, Twitter, etc, as we fight each other making enemies of ourselves as we continue to rage over government policies and other electoral shenanigans but in real life, we are a disillusioned people, so badly psyched that we cannot tell our right from our wrong. It is so hazily mixed and we continue to punch ourselves over leaders who brought us to this sorry impasse.
There have been protests in the history of this country, when it was held by the jugular as pressure groups came out to challenge unfavourable government policies and bad leadership. The titans of our struggle were beautiful to behold as that spat into the face of unpopular. It was not an easy fight as many were hounded into exile, imprisoned, tortured or even killed. Heroes are not easypeople; hence they do not have easy lives. They are weird, strange, tough, resilient, brave, mercurial, intelligent and hopeful. They carry scars and are never fully whole. Sometimes they live nursing their scars and eventually die from their battle wounds. But they are happy and confident of the cause they are fighting for. Theirs is a life of threat and intimidation, of escapes, and runs, of arrests and punishment, of living in fear and apprehension. Where are these heroes? Dead, old, frail, committed to other causes or retired. They have given their all to a country that does not really appreciate the worth of its heroes.
So I told my young friend, it is an absolute waste of time to think those living legends will come and help us chase our demons. They have done their part. Our vision now should be how to consolidate upon their legacies which we cannot achieve in the confines of our bedroom.
Our mission begins by studying the lives and times of our heroes and villains because both groups have a pivotal role in the future of our nation. Sadly, the average youth has become disillusioned and many are leaving the nation by the droves seeking for better options and greener pastures in both legal and illegal ways. My young friend knows that for a true change and development to be then, there are lots of rivers to cross and powers to unseat and believes even though there are bold people who are willing to fight, the country is not one that truly preserves the times and memories of its legends no matter the sphere in which they operate. He concluded that this is the reason why the youths are apathetic towards the Nigerian project.
I paused to review his comments which hit loudly like a gunshot. Is there still a Nigerian project? Or is it all a farce? Have we all become disillusioned, depressed and incurable? Both madmen and specialists?
and then