So That The Inferno Does Not Consume Us All
Evidence suggests that the peaceful #EndSARS movement has been hijacked by other elements with different agenda.
The accusations and counter accusations have thus exposed further the fault lines in our fragile unity as a country. Whether in Lagos, Abuja or even in some parts of the South East and South South, you can see the ethnic and religious cards playing out, mixed with rage, frustration and poverty as experienced by Nigerians living below the poverty line.
The situation has thus become a dangerous cocktail. From New York, to London, to Awka and other places, we have seen Nigerians rise and speak up in unison, against SARS, police brutality and against other socio-economic and political challenges. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice paying with their lives. I’m talking about those that were slain at Lekki Tollgate, and in some other parts of Nigeria. The body count is rising.
We should not be so consumed by rage such that we now allow the worst of us take over the best of us. We witnessed the horror that played out at Ogidi, Anambra state yesterday where unknown persons beheaded and burnt a police man. They carried the burnt head around in a motorcycle like a prized trophy. We saw some young persons destroying property at UNN, Enugu Campus. We have seen them destroy precious monuments, Otigba junction sculpture at Enugu, DMGS roundabout monument at Onitsha and several others. We have seen our brothers’ and sisters’ shops and businesses being looted. Banks and other places where our brothers and sisters work and earn a living with which to take care of their families are not spared.
Do these destructions not point to our going back to post-Biafra war era? When we were forced to start all over, but this time ‘anyi na eme onwe anyi’.
If we surrender to such sadistic and animalistic behaviour, it will drown the genuine clamour for change.
If we don’t quench the fire now, it will snowball into an inferno that will consume us all.
Uche Nworah Ph.D wrote from Awka, Anambra State.