By Wenona Russ
I have been watching the regional sociological climate of A few places here in Nigeria since talks of this protest began over a month ago.
In Abuja, I noticed more and more blackouts and increases in standard living products and transportation. Abuja is extremely hot even in this rainy season, so living with the realities of what Abujans have had to endure – only a few kilometers from where their ‘Commander in Chief’ resides – is quite a dichotomy.
I had the pleasure of visiting Millennium Park a few weeks back that’s right next door to the incomplete construction of the home of VP Shettima. It is spacious and looks like it is going to be quite a luxurious home.
I was in Benin City when Edo State Senator Monday Okpebholo and police escorting him, their convoy was ambushed with gunfire as they left the Benin City Airport. I actually saw the convoy rush by not stopping to turn. I remember saying to myself “Wow! That looks important…” as I rode in a car.
I didn’t realize what I was looking at! Or what had happened!
I visited the museum in BC and saw a naked man walking, out of his mind and probably hungry. No one on the streets was shocked at his nakedness in broad daylight. No police stopped him to inquire why he was in such a state.
I kindly walked the other way to avoid crossing paths with him…I remember thinking in light of the history I had just beheld at the museum that BC had been a glorious place at one time.
Ripe with royalty and warriors. Men who carried themselves with dignity and covered their women and children with honor and courage. What happened to BC to make it a shell of what it once was, I pondered.
Before I could answer the question, I was off to Lagos. I had been in Lagos in 2021. I remember it being hustling and bustling with entrepreneurs that looked like me all over the streets.
Making a living for themselves and their families -I was SOO PROUD! Where I am from, Black owned businesses are practically non existent and HEAVILY monitored and sanctioned by the U.S. government. Couple that with lack of patronage from the Black population and it equals far and in between success for MOST African American businesses.
So to come here and see my people making it happen made me SO proud. I think I wasn’t fully aware of the realities of living IN Lagos.
I stayed in Lagos this time around for about a week. And I was saddened with what I saw. Yes, I still saw the Nigerian owned businesses, the hustle and the bustle of the people.
But I saw struggle, too. I saw bad roads, barefoot children, mothers with babies tied to their backs while driving bikes to feed their babies.
I saw queues that spanned kilometers waiting to fuel their cars. (I saw this regularly here in Abuja as well). I had never seen such in U.S. only in the aftermath of hurricanes do Amerikkkans live under such conditions.
• Lack of drinkable water
• Long lines to fuel cars
• Hungry people (but at least in U.S. when folks are in disaster mode, agencies come to supply food, diapers, toiletries, water, meds etc.
• No electricity for days
These are the conditions I have witnessed and experienced in Nigeria.
If Amerikkkans are without lights, water, food and the such due to a disaster, the GOVERNMENT steps in and HELPS their citizens…AND ALL IMMIGRANTS TOO!
And as the world has witnessed, when Amerikkkans don’t like what’s going on in Amerikkka, Amerikkkans protest. Most of the time PEACEABLY.
What happened in Benin City is what is happening in Abuja. What is happening in Lagos. What is happening in Jos. As well as what is happening in other parts of Nigeria.
Nigerians are being forced to live and have been forced to live in DISASTER CONDITIONS for DECADES.😓
And have been threatened time and time again by the very people who are SUPPOSED to protect, serve and take care of them to NOT complain and to act like everything is ok.
And I applaud you…I applaud you, Nigeria..
You have endured conditions NO ONE should gracefully. Prayerfully. Compliantly.
And because you have, YAHUSHA ALMIGHTY has BLESSED YOU with a spirituality I truly believe exists NOWHERE on earth!
But I tell you. I cannot advise you to protest or NOT to protest. This is YOUR country.
YOU know what your forefather endured. What YOU have endured!
I visited Badagry Lagos to take part in the Badagry Slave Trade Tour. I saw the Point of No Return…and I wept BITTERLY as I approached the last African soil our ancestors stepped foot on before boarding those slave trips and being kidnapped in the millions eons ago.
I heard their cries. I felt their pain. They were SO LOUD! I just couldn’t help it.
Those cries aren’t just at Gberefu Island. Or at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Those cries are in Abuja. In Benin City. In Jos. In Lagos. In Enugu, Cross River and in Ebonyi State.
How long will a people be forced to live in DISASTER/SURVIVAL mode and their cries stay IGNORED by their leaders???
YAHUAH. ALLAH- HEAR THE CRIES OF YOUR PEOPLE & ANSWER US SPEEDILY!!!
WE NEED YOU TO INTERVENE ON OUR BEHALF!
PROTECT US. FAVOR US. FIGHT FOR US. DISPATCH ANGELIC HOSTS ROUND ABOUT US AND DELIVER US FROM THE WICKED PLANS OF THE ENEMY!
CONTEND WITH THOSE THAT CONTEND WITH US AND SAVE OUR CHILDREN!
HEAL THIS LAND, FATHER DEAL WITH WICKED LEADERS. SEND TRULY GODLY LEADERSHIP THAT RULES RIGHTEOUSLY.
CONFUSE ALL WICKED DEVICES OF THE ENEMY. SHIELD YASHAREL AS YOU DID IN THE BIBLE DAYS.
WE EXPECT TO SEE YOU MOVE MIRACOUSLY IN THIS HOUR!
