Please note for clarity. @adeyanjudeji is an active citizen of Nigeria. Suffice to say he is a concerned Nigerian speaking for ‘Concerned Nigerians’ (No pun intended). We all know that the term criminal is loosely deployed by the state to affirm their position after a reaction.
The sensitivity around the concerns about the events leading to his arrest is as valid as the questions he seeks answers to as do we. Deji will be released, his concerns as well as ours will also be revisited & represented in a media/press conference with all stakeholders present
The citizenry must not be conditioned to believe that protesting is a crime against the state. It is not. The constitution guarantees this even without the need for police permit provided it is peaceful, the message is clear and not subject to interpretations of third columnists.
The gaping institutional gap here is the strain of the identity politics of hate that tends to divide the citizenry along political line. No citizen must be Demonized based on their choice of political leadership. Hate wins no soul except for the damned. No nation grows with this
We MUST curtail our toxic masculinity and recognize the need to take responsibility. No state functions without the people. We are Critical to Nation building and if we don’t have ownership nothing will ever work. It is time we raise the bar and jettison the Poverty Porn.
We MUST be united in our call Nationally for a free and fair election without voter intimidation using security agencies. We need not fool ourselves about the glaring handwriting on the wall on systemic rigging and vote buying. This is a Democracy & we must demand accountability.
A functional and effective system self corrects and if Deji have made mistakes in his method of engagement, we can always correct that and put things in proper perspectives. It need not invalidate his/our claims and observations in the polity. It is our duty as active citizens.
Those serving today in various capacities will one day retire and become ordinary citizens susceptible to the ills they have helped reinforce. We must always think of precedents as well as the legacy we hope to bequeath to our children and future generations. We are Citizens.
We have seen cases of retired police officers losing their wards to the very ill they helped sustain. We have seen political fanatics who cursed everyone out because of their leaning but ended up being a victim of what they pedestalized. Now they sing “I ain’t too proud to beg.”
Nigeria needs us. This is the time to meditate on the lyrics of the National Anthem and Pledge (if we still remember them). It is time to Arise my dear compatriots and break those chains of division. It is time to stand with Nigeria and fix our issues one sector after another.
It was Robert F. Kennedy who said "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a Million different centers of energy & daring; ...
...those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." We all have a role to play in delivering this country from the grasp of political philistinism.
