Thread by @Wizarab10

INTERNATIONAL TWITTER MEN'S DAY

Inaugural Address - 9th April, 2021.

My fellow patriarchs:
I tweet here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the cosmic trust on our masculinity.

I am thankful for the sacrifice patriarchs before us who through hard labour, minimum wage, indefatigable zeal and will power to leave behind a better world than they met, built economies, changed the global order, protected our women and ensured the continuation of mankind.

For months on end, we have been plagued with accusations as oppressors, labeled as misogynists and asked to emasculate ourselves for a set of people who need a victimhood agenda in place to feed and sustain their relevance.

But you don't have to emasculate yourself. The greatest tragedy of mankind is the absence of strong men.

Masculinity is a thankless task but we accept the responsibility that comes with it - to protect our women and children, to promote and respect the equality of all people...

to ensure justice and uphold truth, to build economies, to protect the territorial integrity of our nation if the world ever goes to shit again and above all, to remain honourable in a world forcing you to be politically correct and pander to feminine rhetoric for validation.

A man is a man and being a man is enough. For all the wrongs and imperfections made by men, the best of men are still men. We live in a time where political correctness is a proxy for truth and where being male is being a culprit - no thanks to the media & social media exponents.

As soon as outrage becomes the driving force for editorial decisions, truth will never prevail because the end goal is a confirmation bias of forced narrative. It would be risible to think the media do not have a punch and that is why as men, you must always stand up for truth.

Question every belief, every dogma, every value, every study, every tradition that easily besets us and are repugnant to natural justice and good conscience. Learn to ask questions in a world that wants to silence you unless you are pleading guilty.

You are not responsible for the wrong committed by another man or other men and never apologise for it. Stop apologising for being a man - without you, the world would not exist. I am very much grateful to know you exist because one can never have enough brothers.

The greatest responsibility entrusted into your care is family - to love and to cherish. More than anyone, you understand the responsibility that comes with it. It is even harder being citizens and residents of Nigeria - a country that desperately tries to oppress and repress you

Learn to help a brother. Their needs are often genuine and pressing to help self or to serve dependents - including women and children. It beats me how you cough out money to people who feel they deserve it for their sexual appeal while you ignore those who actually need it.

Unlike the trickle down narrative that men are privileged and have access to political and economic might, you know men are not given anything. They fight and hustle for it. The political strength of Saraki and the financial might of Dangote does not empower me because I am male.

Do help a brother struggling.

While men and women experience the world differently, the world is not divided between men and women.

Men and women are equally important and while we understand that "guys moments" are absolute fun, we also appreciate the fact that we have women to share the world with us and we acknowledge that the world is in much better place because we have them.

Stop going under thirst traps to embarrass yourself. There is no trap worth losing your esteem over. There is no trap or beauty you will see today, you will not see tomorrow and there is certainly nothing posted you have not slept with before.

It is the appeal of novel bodies that blinds because the body craves what it hasn't tasted. Your crude comments does not in anyway exalt you in their eyes, it only builds their ego so till they are big enough to approach/attract desired men.

Secondly, it helps them shoot up the price of the commodity for which you freely marketed. Please pay for sex if you must, but be reasonable. Understand that even though you are paying, you cannot rape and the service provider can pull out of the agreement any time.

Respect men. Respect women. Protect children. Honour parents and the elderly. Give due respect to whom respect is due. Do not pander to concept creeping and victimhood narratives. Do not be overcome by emotion on sensitive issues always ask question, seek truth and uphold justice

Protect vulnerable people in the society and ensure no one is maligned based on their faith, tribe, back ground or such other diversity open to malignance. Never mock the poor. Understand and respect the days of little beginnings.

Be thankful for the rich, because of them you have a visual perspective of how to dream. Be thankful for the poor, without them you never know how large your heart could be.
Please open up about your struggle to trusted brothers. We need each other to survive.

Be faithful to the woman you covenanted to love. Raise your children strictly on your personal, moral and religious conviction and not in conformity with western standard because in the end, family is all that matter and you can't afford to fail.

I will leave you with the words of Rod Stewart - “You go through life wondering what it is all about but at the end of the day, it is all about family.”

I am persuaded that we will emerge from this crucible of our time as better men who would leave the world in a much better position than we met it. Please, do accept the assurances of my highest esteem. Thank You.

Peace, Love, Mankind and Humanity 🍷