Nigeria: A Biting Pandemic And The Endemic Sorrow, Tears & Blood By Rilwan Adetayo

Fela Anikulapo Kuti; a man who used his talent to speak to the face of power. A man who used his gifts to call for change. In different genres, with different sounds, the messages came but never landed. It’s still Sorrow, tears and blood. And the Army arrangement is still a long haul away from keeping us a peaceful nation.

Poverty is endemic in Nigeria. It’s a disease. Like malaria, like corruption. The streets have receipts of our ills. Many are hungry, even while walking, and those feeding are hardly feeding well. Beggars are never found wanting by the roadside. They come in different grades – many official, very few corporate in outlook. An identity of a people grappling with the bitter taste of poverty, hunger, and so many more.

There’s a lockdown! An important lockdown, that has to be done to make us see even more days of these endemic problems. Coronavirus! A pandemic in Nigeria is an extreme sport. Absolutely unimaginable, and our reaction, quite impressive, contrary to public perception. But many are still hungry – wincing in sorrows and tears, yet locked in to live, survive, and have a chance at succeeding. Only the living lives to fulfill. But the stomach needs food, and a hungry people will get angry.

Soldiers are still dying, and the man who dares cry out was changed like a magician’s garb. He revealed ‘too much’. Nigerians don’t deserve to know why soldiers die. They only deserve to hear scores of armed men being run over by some blood-thirsty terrorists. The man who dares spill the burning bean will face the heat. The truth has been said, and the situation has never been clearer. A lot has been spent but resources are as lean as the patience of the gods when the truth is revealed. Our endemic problems – Corruption, falsehood, truth-mediated otitis. Our ears get inflamed when the truth comes out. We never accept, but shut the speaker up.

Major General Adeniyi led from the front and saw the real situation of things. Overpowered yet soldiering on, outmuscled yet failing to be muzzled, the truth has to be said, to cut Fela’s trilogy of Sorrow, tears and blood. If we suffer sorrows and tears, we shouldn’t, blood too.

Hunger and frustration have sent many to their early grave, and those who are defending Nigeria are struggling to live too. Or what would you make of this;

“I’m standing here with sector 2 commander. The armed helicopter has just come over our head. The instruction I gave them, anything moving they should engage it because most of my gun trucks are not moving,” Adeniyi said in the recording.

“Like I said earlier, we are with the leading embrance; three battalion are fighting and deployed, nobody is running.
“But what we have here, I will give you some estimates to guide your good decision, sir. Boko Haram has fired more than a hundred mortal bombs at us; they have fired more than 80 to 100 RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) at us in addition to more than 8 to 10 gun trucks from every side since yesterday.

“We have not run, and the soldiers are not misbehaving or disobeying orders. We have casualties; I will come and see you in person on what we need to do. But we are not running.”

“That’s one of our MRAP’s (mine-resistant ambush protected) tyres that ran flat after bullet touched it. We have used more than 20 MRAP tyres here. That’s another one, sir. We have changed close to 250 Hilux tyres due to the terrain. This is what we are facing.”

Billions quoted yearly to keep Nigerians alive, but the war doesn’t just stop. Sorrows and tears in the homes of those who die to save us, and on the other side, a pandemic that has sent everyone on their knees, in their homes, from the comfort of their rooms, but from the discomfort on their minds.

We’re fighting two wars; seen and unseen, on different scenes, on different fronts, at the same time. Will Nigeria make it? You decide!

Written by: Rilwan Adetayo Balogun.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and not of Newsone Nigeria.