Injustice begats resistance
Yet, the struggle against injustice is always abhorrent to its purveyors
They cry blue murder and roll out in fury but in panic mode the instruments of coercion aiming for the jugular of the ones who dare to stick out their neck to throw overboard oppression
It is not strange, history is replete with such actions and reactions
And such will ever continue till the world comes to an end, injustice and fighters of injustice will forever abound
Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo, the one called Sunday Igboho, do not despair, neither should you be dejected or depressed
The despicable and abominable onslaught against your person eliciting personal losses in the forms of wide scale destructions of your properties, arrests and gruesome murder of your aides, friends and servants by state agents, after they failed to wipe you off personally, is a phase that will surely pass
That is the fate of freedom fighters, their life and of those around them are constantly imperilled, they suffer humongously but laughter awaits them in the end, for the withholders of freedom always ultimately break into smithereens, they have a lifecycle that is terminable
The freedom fighters’ is interminable because death cannot efface their heroics, their intrepidity becomes the water and nutrients that nurture their immortality
Igboho Oosa, you have scribbled your name in gold, you have become immortal; in the pantheon of Yoruba greatest heroes, you now occupy a place of pride, your legendary status is cast in rock, your traducers lament you transformed into giant black cats, they inadvertently have helped to build part of your myth
Generations will talk about you, how you rose, leaving the comfort of the sumptuous world you have carved for yourself, to bear the cudgels on behalf of your people in the throes of systematical extermination by some state-backed blood hounds, who diminish the peasants’ source of livelihood, who demean the peasants’ women
Among thousands of brave men, you alone felt stirred sufficiently and you are one of those standing out to stand up to the enveloping danger, incontrovertibly, the vanguard of those who plunge headlong and brazenly into redemptive expeditions, to fight and push back the terminators
A dangerous mission, daunting odds; with intimidating and insoluble forces arrayed but against the consuming flame you desultorily poked your head, against the thistles you without fetters thrust your feet, having goten overcome by angst
You are daring, you are fearless, courage is your mark, yes, but you trod where the bravest of the braves dared not tread, you aimed a dart at the veins of the subjugators, you thwarted or truncated their invidious sweeping down to the ocean, yes, your bold action was intolerable, you offended the ones who plotted to be the master race, inescapably, you are turned into a marked man, with a fatwa issued against you
Yet, amidst your people, among those who are silent in the face of extermination triggered against their people, are many that loathe you, some others considered you dunderhead for seeing hive swarming with bees and advertently jabbing your hand into it
But that is the life of a liberator, danger flagrantly excites him, imperilment is an elixir, the sufferance his people becomes vulnerable to turns into an impetus for him
A liberator can’t and won’t stand aloof while his people stand in perpetual risk of annihilation, he can’t and won’t acquiesce to his loved ones being turned into cornered rats in their homes
The little resources in his kitty he will muster up to fend off the marauders without caring a hoot for his own safety
This indomitable attitude we have gleaned from you, Igboho, though many balked at your stride and style, called you names, slandered you, labelled you a showbiz thespian, waved you off as engaging in mere theatrics to wangle funds, dismissed you as a rabble-rouser, yes, tar brushes sprang forth to deface you with ignominy
But Sunday, this trend isn’t novel, all injustice fighters suffer similar fate or why would Nelson Mandela assert: “I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.”
Do not take to heart the shenanigans of the envious band, rather, stimulate a thick skin against the rants of mockers and of the egoistically imbued individuals, adorn a cap of turn-away-your-eyes, without giving a damn, against the defeatists’ chorus of infidels who reap crumbs illicitly from the state, do not lose vim in the face of overwhelming assault from the state, the end result is what matters
Rejoice, the overwhelming majority of the vulnerable Yoruba people are with you, earnestly arming you with righteous potent prayers, that is invaluably valuable
Moses, Washington, Mandela, Jumong, Joyoung, Lisabi, Fabunmi, Luther King, Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, Charles de Gaulle, Che Guevara etc are inviolable figures who travelled the arduous road too, in different spheres, forms and theatres
One strand connects them all together – freedom, fuller and better life for their depressed and fearful people
Some of them lived long, some died in the struggle, what is of essence however is that they fought fiercely for a cause, whether the supreme price was paid or not while in the struggle pales into insignificance, because they had etched their names in history books, never to be forgotten, ever to be remembered, moreover, whether one plunges into struggle or not living forever is a mirage, so, if opportunity comes knocking to die for a cause why shy away
Contrarily, the cowardly, the apologists of trafficker of tyranny, those blindfolded from seeing the evil ravaging the land, the collaborators, the begrudgers have either of two fates – a slide into oblivion or infamy or both. The brave and fighters of oppressors will however enjoy unending living post death
Sunday, be strong, do not be broken, be the ram that beats a retreat, impossibility too is vulnerable, your heart beats as one with the people, you have the oppressed with you, you are with the majority, so, God is on your side. Victory is on the way, light always beams at the end of the dark tunnel. This moment of persecution from the state will certainly pass.
Already, you have passed into a heroic figure that will be venerated in the heart of the people forever. Be cheerful!
