Driving to work this morning, I had a lot going on inside. My mind kept wandering, pondering over different issues, like a child nibbling on an assortment of cookies. I kept wondering why there were so much evil in this world. Why so much inhumanity? Why are there so much maltreatment from fellow human to human? Men (Not men as in male species. But Men as standing for all living beings) have become beasts; and as beasts, we devour and destroy one another.
Like always, when I had these thoughts, tears would fill my eyes. Tears I refused to let fall, not because I don't want or feel like bawling but because it would embarrass me if someone were to ask what was wrong. They were my private thoughts, so let my tears and pain remain private too.
But I weep with anguish within at the thought of the innocent victims lying in their pools of blood, the mutted voice of the poor because the wealthy ones have deprived them of speaking, the helpless orphan and children being abused over and over again, victims of rape, assassination, kidnap, human sacrifice, robbery attack, suicide bombing, dehumanization to name a few. Even the mere sight of an old man labouring under weights just to make a livelihood brings me to tears these days. A mere sight of them reminds me of my Dad. God forbid I allow my father or Mother pass through such kind of life.
Sadly, many people have come to accept living with evil as a normal part of life. This is why we feel no emotion when we hear of mishaps. Even when we see such things happening, we either turn away or pretend it's none of our business because if it wasn't happening to us, it was none of our business. But does that mean the victims of such mishaps deserve it because it happened to them?
Lets look around us. People are carrying emotional weights that are threatening to submerge them. People smile but beyond that facade you'll sense the emptiness that resounds within. We present a front that looks so garnished like a gourmet meal but within our inner room of quietness, there exist a sore so raw and putrid.
My heart goes heavy with varying emotions each time I relive the sufferings I see or hear people go through. It's like living ten kinds of evil and then going through it over again.
The scenery of the beautiful morning did me no good. I feel so nostalgic, longing for those times of old when the land was green and innocent. When children could play "kpa-kpa-nglo" or hide and seek games without looking over their shoulders, or parents living with the fear of losing their children to kidnappers and ritualists. Those days of bare feets and playing in the rain and swimming in the rivers. The days when our grand parents and elders would tell us tales of the past under the moonlight. They were beautiful times.
But the story are all so different now. People are scared to step out of their shelter beyond 7pm. Once the sun begins to set, people would start hurrying to their homes. Sometimes, you get to see the fear on people faces as night approaches, hurrying and scurrying as if demons from hades were at their heels.
The peace and quietness of the night have long been taken away from us by the evil resident among us. Even the mornings and the days are no longer safe. We look over our shoulders now and then, no longer walking confidently because in a blink of an eye, anything could happen.
This morning wasn't so different either. For two days now, I have had this angst about our environment. I often feel that way when something unusual was about to happen. I call it my sixth sense.
I drove, half listening to the music playing like always from my car sterio, humming along to the lyrics now and then. Getting to the office, I subconsciously noted a silver Camry parked a little way down behind the Office Big Truck, and faintly asked myself which of the clients could be calling this early for a job. I parked at my usual spot by the fence in front of the Truck.
It wasn't a client, neither was it someone I know as I later discovered. The car belonged to a young man murdered in cold blood by gunmen. I just couldn't believe it. I just stood speechless, goose bumps charting a course from my hairline right down to my toes. According to eyewitness accounts, the murder took place around 8pm yesterday. Just a couple of hours from our dismissal time at the office. If I had worked a little late as sometime was the case, I would have witnessed such evil too. The most painful thing was that it wasn't even a robbery attack. It was purely an assassination move.
The man had multiple holes from Gunshot. It was told that the unknown gunmen shot at him continuously till some part of his brain and kidney poured out. I felt cold all over. All I kept thinking was that it happened so close to me. I have, few times, parked right at that spot when my own parking space was taken by another. Tears filled my eyes. I thought about the man's family, his loved ones... God! How can a fellow man be filled with so much hate and evil to shoot at another being without mercy till blood and other hidden human tissues and cells poured out. Shattered glass particles, blood and even the gruesome tissue and cells were still there as testament to what happened. With the tears came also the fear of the unknown. This could happen to anyone. That young man left his home without the knowledge that in the next few hours, his life would become news and stories to others.
Unknown to me, in far away Abuja Nigeria,
Nyanya Park also burned with an Inferno of ferocious explosion. The news came right at the same time I heard the incident of the murder. I became colder. My mind began to count friends, love ones and relations I have resident in Abuja. How has a day that dawned with hope and promises of good things turned into a memorial of tears, anguish and death? Not just one death, but tens of deaths. What a horrible way to die, burning and roasting like
'Suya.' Images of screaming dying persons burning, their skulls exploding along with the bomb that claimed their lives began to flash through my subconsciouness. My vibrant imaginative mind is truly a curse in such instances.
With the images came a terror that shook my slender frame. If anyone had told these ones that the dawn of the day would witness their deaths, they would have wished for the night to continue, never to turn into day. It could have been anyone still. The people in the East are no more safer than those in the North, neither are those in South safer than those in the West. Like the Bible, the Holy Book said "Times and chance happens to them all." With this realization, I began to pray quietly in my heart.
'Father Almighty, please heal Nigeria. Heal my country. Save the innocent; Vindicate the just. Please, keep my love ones safe. Help my fellow country men who love peace, unity and love. Help our leaders. Give them the wisdom and guidance to make worthwhile decision that will steer Nigeria in the right direction and promote peace... Take away this resident evil from among us. Judge us in your mercy. Oh God, Oh God! Father have mercy upon this land. Have mercy upon Nigeria.' At this point, I broke down and wept silently in my office.
I weep for motherland Nigeria. A land that has consumed its inhabitants. A land that has drank so much blood. If a chick cannot be protected under the covering wings of the mother hen, where then is safety for it. Nigeria Arise. Like our National Anthem, please arise O compatriots. Fight. Let's fight against this
Resident Evil that
dwells amongst us. It is resident in our schools, in our offices, in our neighborhood, in our communities, in our government and even in us. Let us rise together and fight this. For in unity we will stand and have victory; but in division is our destruction.
