Nigerians were at the mercy of the callous colonialists. Our progenitors couldn’t cogitate by themselves. What a reprehensible epoch! They yelled in agony, clamoured profusely for freedom from the shackles of the whites.
The song of sorrow was sang thus: Oh, my home; oh, my home; when shall I see my home, when shall I see my native friends; I can never forget my home.
Fortunately, the music changed, the light chased out the obscurity, and the Nigerian flag of independence was raised on 1st October, 1960.
Abraham Lincoln, an American lawyer and statesman, in one of his quotes, said: “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves and in a just God, cannot long retain”. It is unfortunate that we still live in the country with proverbial chains tying our legs together to deprive our movement. Do our leaders deserve divine freedom?
We are being subjected to many quagmires. Our fundamental human rights are denied, injustice is the order of the day, bequeathing impunity to a particular set of people is of no perimeter, unemployment of employable youths is immensurable, not to talk of epileptic power supply, embezzlement of government’s funds, comatose security, low standard of education caused by incessant strikes, to mention but a few.
When shall we gain absolute independence? Our rulers possess lackadaisical attitude about the lugubrious pickle of the gentle masses. The good ones at the corridors of power have also been influenced.
The Yorùbá apothegm which states; “We are satisfied, concerned not about the wretchedness of others” is their guide. We are indubitably in a second wave of colonialism.
We expected change for good in 2005, yet it was not achieved. We were still bamboozled in 2019, yet we haven’t found none. 2033 is fast approaching, should we expect good change? Is this how Nigeria, the acclaimed giant of Africa, will be moving like a snail or crawling like a baby in terms of development?
Nigeria, rise and move fast, never crawl again, you are lagging behind.
Olayode Inaolaji,
Ogbomoso, Oyo state
[email protected]
