One day – Vanguard

The world says: You have needs satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Dont hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more. This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder. Fyodor Dostoyevsky

By Denrele Animasaun

We often take our citizenship for granted, we automatically assume the privilege of being a Nigerian is ours for the taking and that we can jolly well use it, discard it at will, when we choose or when it pleases us. We should know that with these privileges, come responsibilities. And we should take our responsibilities seriously if we value the privilege of truly being a Nigerian. We should do more and throw away these assumed feelings of entitlement. We feel that we are owed this for being who we are. Actually, we are not. If everyone feels this way, then who are we expecting to deliver these entitlements and privileges? So in the meantime, we are squandering our birth-right and not fully recognising that we are custodians and that we have to hand over this responsibly to the next generations like those before us did. History will tell if we did our duties as custodians.

When I was growing up, the values and responsibilities of being a Nigerian was very much instilled in us; we strive to be a good person, we guarded our family names so proprietorially and, with pride, we are told that with hard work and pride in what we do, we will make it in life. We were told by our elders and those in authorities that it was important to truly be responsible and neighbourly; that it was important to truly give back and we did for the general good and not for ourselves and the privileged few. We did coin the adage that: it takes a village to raise a child didnt we? So when and what are you doing to help raise decent Nigerians?

There was a time we were compassionate to one another and it did not matter if you were from one tribe or another or you were from another religion or a different political party. We were then all Nigerians and that was all that mattered. We obeyed laws and had the confidence that the rules and laws were safe in the hands of our hallowed institutions and establishments. We knew the law was there to protect us as citizens and took our responsibility very seriously as we knew failure to do so had consequences. We took pride in the green, white, green; it was the colour of pride, real pride and privilege. It sounds simple doesnt it? But how many of us can truly say that we do our best as Nigerian citizens in the true sense of the word?

Do not worry about what others are doing, what are you doing to be a good Nigerian? Remember what you do is reflecting and will reflect on your children and their offspring. We have often used the old chestnut; that everybody is on the take that is why things are the way they are. I have got news for you: you are either the problem or the solution. You are a Nigerian after all, so you choose. So I ask you, what makes you a Nigerian? Before you answer, make sure that you have proved your worth to be called a Nigerian I believe a good citizen makes a good country and it is time we act as we deserve the right to call ourselves Nigerians.

Evans got caught

Funny how Nigerians express shock and horror whenever some new disaster or criminality is unearth in Nigeria. Let us be clear here, Life in Nigeria is far from normal. The yardstick of normal ceased a long time ago when the moral compass was broken. Majority of Nigerians are always looking for ways of making money quick and no matter how depraved or dishonest. Not many want to make an honest living. There lies the problem and our present dilemma of seeking money by all means necessary. One of the lines of current criminal activities are: kidnapping, human trafficking, drugs trafficking, baby making factories, of course, politicians.

In the last couple of days, police have nabbed the notorious kingpin kidnapper called Evans. They got him in his lair, in his ill-gotten wealth; he had made millions in kidnapping rich people for ransom and has done so for many years.

People claim they were unaware of his criminal activities in spite of living amongst ordinary people. Some have got as far as to seek for his release! No one knew what this guy did and his wife now spins a tale: that she was not aware of her husbands criminal business as she defends this by telling all who would listen, that he couldnt be that bad because he reads Psalm.23!

Of course, she said that they go to church! So this makes it all right, as far as she was concerned, he was religious. Those things do not absolve him off his crimes.

Uchennna Onwuamadike, wife of notorious kidnap kingpin, Chikwudubem Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, expects the Nigerian authorities to spare the life of her husband because of her children. Does she understand the horrors that her husbands victims have had to endure and she has the gall to plead for clemency on his behalf?

According to her, He reads Psalm 23 a lot. Even his phone, he sets alarm for 12 noon to read Psalm 23. He took part in our daily prayers in the morning, evening and night. He used to lead us in prayers. We attend Anglican Church. He has never given them money to show off. We used to give N5000 or N10,000 and the highest we have given so far was N50,000 when we baptised one of our children, she said. So what happened to the victims? For seven years, he has been peddling his brand of crime and his victims have been living a nightmare. Can someone explain to Evans wife, that his victims have families too and what gave her husband the right to kidnap innocent people, abduct them, torture them and then extort money off their family with menace and threats? Kidnapping is not a victimless crime, and for seven years, he was building his evil empire and living the life of OReily and he has the gall, to want to die because he feels that the police would not give him a fair treatment because of his crimes. He is looking for a cowards way out.

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One day - Vanguard