Dear Brethren, permit me to say that with due regards, I dare to say that I take particular exception to the article or material asking for the protest to be put-off, without any viable alternative. It is an affront and a further trauma on the hundreds if not thousands that have been brutally treated in recent times by our wicked, despotic and oppressive leaders. Are any of our children among those who were killed or missing at this time? If your answer is yes, will such statement of restraint, which I consider as callous, especially because of its timing and circumstances, bring you any consolation? What a shame to see that we who have abdicated our responsibility of ensuring justice, righteousness and good governance, will come again and deal a fatal blow on the psyche of our children who have taken it upon themselves to demand an end to extra-judicial killings! What these young ones need at this time is not such write-up that I consider as cowardly and compromising; for giving their resources and even life to deliver us from the brutality that has been visited upon us since colonial era, and made worse by those who put themselves over us as leaders; because WE DID NOT CHOOSE THEM! These young ones don’t even need us, because we are of no use to them! And if we are going to do anything, it is to help them strategize, regroup and re-launch and gain freedom from the tyrannical despots and brutes that have made themselves leaders over us!
All those making this call are of the mold of the 0ver 70, who in 2019 wanted to be president in a country with established political parties, because for them, it is business as usual – to loot our treasury!
I think that we should be more sensitive at a time like this no matter our persuasion. Yes, some of us are passive, easily compromise, and even great prayer warriors. But others are in the mould of Elijah; Jeremiah; Isaiah; Micah and John the Baptist. We can co-exist as long as we respect our boundaries.
Where in the history of mankind have we seen that negotiation works with despots and dictators? Especially when they have cornered and hold tenaciously to the wealth and resources that do not belong to them? Did even Nelson Mandela go into negotiation without protest? Is it protesters who should ask for negotiation? Our leaders know only how to do evil and not good. Therefore, evil will come upon them and consume them! In civilised societies, governments provide law enforcement agents to guide and guard peaceful protesters, and post same to guard important installations and facilities; not shoot at sight and kill unarmed and defenceless children!!! This is an abomination and anyone who is not offended and will rise up and take action, I dare say needs some psychological treatment!
The horror of these last few days in our country, calls for not just deep rethinking, but also appropriate actions to end despotism in this country. All these compromise and rationalisation have brought us as a country to this level of depravity; oppression, corruption; extortion and killings, which have become the order of the day, and we are asked to praise those who do these horrible things to us? We have kept silent since the death of Dele Giwa, what have we gained? What did we get from the “Insha Allah” (or whatever) of Babangida? the negotiations with Abacha? – and where is Abiola the focus of the negotiation? The list is unending as you and I well know.
Have you, your children or anyone close to you been seized on the road and made to empty your bank account; and where you do not have money get tortured and go missing? SARS have Raped, Tortured, Extorted, Killed, etc; and have just displayed their stock-in-trade by mercilessly and brutally murdering our defenceless children, and you are preaching detent? May God have mercy on us indeed! This way of thinking is the result of the level of impoverishment of mind; emasculation; betrayal; traumatisation; and being beaten into a state of comatose; that has been visited upon us by our self-imposed leaders for years since independence. It must STOP WHETEHR WE LIKE IT OR NOT!
To continue to tolerate this evil is suicidal. Even the Lord Jesus Christ did not for once tolerate evil. He spoke out against it wherever He found it; calling the religious leaders of His day “Brood of Vipers”, who will not escape the condemnation of hell (Matt.23:33)! The peace and salvation that He brought for us was not on the Platter Of Negotiation and Passivity! From where do we get our doctrine? Check history; nothing good and worthy has been achieved without blood, much as I (we) will not want any bloodshed. Great men and generals give their lives for the safety, peace, and the good of their people and nations. And generals are not made in the barracks, as we find in Nigeria! I say without any equivocation that it is this type of teaching and persuasion that has made Christianity to be seen as the “opium of the weak”; compromised; and part and parcel of the oppression and the evil that befall humanity. This has also driven people for whom Christ died away from accepting the redemption bought at such a high price for them.
Can we as Christians, especially in Nigeria stand up for once and be counted for what is good; noble; and righteous? The directive to us is not to join the evil people to commit evil. We are to be the salt and light of the world; and to prepare people for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Exd.23:2; Matt.5:13-14; 28:19-20; Rev. 22:12-14)! Can we for once, begin to live up to these calling upon us by our Lord, and stop this indecisiveness; rationalisations and the brutalisation of people’s psyche? Our prayers – an act of faith – without actions are useless as the scriptures say (James 2:20, 26)!
And so I join the cry from the womb of the mothers and fathers whose children have been brutally murdered to cry to the Almighty God, to whom vengeance belongs; who also promises to take vengeance on our behalf (Roms.12:19; Heb.10:30), and invoke the words and curse of the Almighty God on our wicked; heartless; merciless; and despotic leaders and their allies: “Now I will rise up, says the Lord. Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.” “For he (they) did not think to show kindness, but pursued the suffering, needy, and broken-hearted in order to put them to death. He (they) loved cursing – let it fall on him (them); he (they) took no delight in blessing – let it be far from him (them); he (they) wore cursing like his (their) coat – let it enter his (their) body (ies) like water and go into his (their) bones like oil.” Now, because you have done all these things, this is the Lord’s declaration – I will banish you from my presence…” “I will destine you for the sword … you did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not delight in … you will be hungry, you will be thirsty, you will be put to shame; you will cry out from an anguished heart, and you will lament out of a broken spirit. You will leave your name behind as a curse… and the Lord will kill you;” This is so “Because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.”(See Isaiah 33:10 CSB; Psalm 109:16 NLT; Jeremiah 7:13 NLT; Isaiah 65:12; 1Peter 3:12 CSB. Emphasis and paraphrase mine).
And I say a resounding Amen; even if you will not join me!
Thank you.
Dickson @passionate.Forthright.
