And how did I end up being your citizen?
How did you fall from being then Lion of Africa to a tamed Lamb sporting a toothless mouth?
A country presumably foreseen to be a land to flow with Milk and Honey but now flows freely and daily with the blood of the injured, the maimed and the slain, A country with enough thorns to tear our human skin to shreds, a country where we smile halfheartedly because we know that nothing good lasts the night here.
The local trader in the market in Osun State has nothing to look forward to, nothing worthwhile to do, no food even under her table, the only thing in her bank account is her account Number, the woman who woke up this morning with high hopes that the day would end well, the woman who woke up with 500 naira in her pocket and went about her daily hustle to put food on the table of herself and children but came back with 100 naira and tears, the Woman who eats HOPE everyday and feeds same to her Family, How did she become a Nigerian?
The local laborer at Ogbo Mmanu Onitsha, who has over 6 children and a wife to fend for, who sleeps with the cries of hunger ringing from the lips of his children and wakes up to the incessant nags of his frustrated wife. A man who toils day in day out to send his children to the local schools in the vicinity and still they get thrown out almost every term because their father could not pay the mandatory 200 naira PTA levy imposed on them not because he isn’t a caring father but because the means isn’t there, How did he become a Nigerian?
The robber on the streets of Lagos who’s the 8th son in a family of 12, without an education and a single skill, who decided to man up and seek greener pastures on the street of Lagos only to realize that the only place green in Nigeria is the national Flag. Now left with no choice than to seek “Arms from his brother in Alms” and off he goes killing and maiming not because that was what he choose for himself, but because that was the only available means of survival, how did he become a Nigerian?
What of the fisherman in Niger Delta, the one whose water in which he fishes for his daily bread has been repeatedly and permanently polluted by the reckless activities of the Oil companies and have been left with little or no means to fend for himself and feeling neglected and frustrated by the nonchalant activities of the government have resolved to picking up arms and militating everywhere for their voice to be heard, How did he become a Nigerian?
How did the Military man, who is sworn to defend the nation but then go about bullying , intimidating and
How did the herdsmen, those who go grazing on the farmlands of sustenance farmers because the feel that they being of the Elite favored tribe are invincible and when challenged by the owners of the land take up their grazing tools and annihilate a whole community and nothing is being done to them. How did they become Nigerians?
The pregnant 21 year old lady in Abia state who is contemplating Aborting her child not because she wants to, but because she feels the future of her child is already in danger for being a Nigerian, How did she become a Nigerian?
What of the conductor who was killed by the police man at the checkpoint for not giving bribe of 20 naira and the case was hurriedly hushed up because he it wasn’t the death of an Elite but a “Nobody”, How did he end up being a Nigerian?
#NOW WHAT OF
The Politician in Imo State, the one seen roasting corn and picking ujp filthy children from the gutters once every four years when the power of the PVC is needed and the voice of the masses is prominent, the one who killed a little boy while demolishing a market and named a street after the boy, How did he become a Nigerian?
The erstwhile Oil minister who within a couple of years of heading the oil sector siphoned billions of dollars from the nation without due process, thereby enriching her herself and family lineage to the 20000th generation, how did she become a Nigerian?
The senator in the federal house who’s wardrobe allowance alone is enough to feed the whole of the nation and whose car allowance is enough to reshuffle positively the state of the economy but then they keep enriching themselves to the detriment of the masses, How did he become a Nigerian?
What of the Law enforcement agencies who daily arrest and confiscate millions of naira and then recycle the money straight to the coffers of the almighty at the top, who have no respect for due process and the constitution and who feel they are invincible to the happenings of the poor masses, How did they become Nigerians?
Me right now, studying hard to better myself and gain more qualifications in order to compete with my peers and get a well paid job which sadly already has been reserved and rationed out to the high and mighty since time immemorial, How did I become a Nigerian?😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
How did You Become a Nigerian??
Written by
for
Association of Baeless/Booless Persons in Nigeria [ABPN].
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