#EndSARS: 20/20 VISION FOR VISION 2023

By `Sumbo Oladipo
Like other popular tweets that had trended on social media, I did not pay much attention to the #EndSARS campaign, not until my daughter came down hard on my case. As they say in Yoruba parlance, o sin mi ni gbere ipako! Literally, it means to make incisions on one’s medulla oblongata and, by interpretation, it is to apply the necessary force to galvanize one into action or to set in motion. By now, if you haven’t heard of the #EndSARS protest, we can rightly conclude that you are not on planet earth!
My intention, as I write this little piece, is not so much to glorify the protests or the youths who have taken the lead in this campaign...well, not at this point. Like Marc Anthony said in Shakespeare’s epic novel, Julius Caesar, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” So, I come to put the nail on the coffin of a government that, though it makes a show of being alive, is dead and ready to be buried. I come to bury the lazy youths who originated only in the figment of the imagination of a docile and senile executive leadership. I come to bury the insensitive, selfish, greedy, and low-lifer legislooters, who, in the midst of so much hardship and depression of its teeming populace, go a-frolicking, embracing brazen debauchery, without a tinge on their consciences, nay, they even steal more to add to their already over-sized treasury loot. I come to bury their lordships, who, like the biblical wicked men, take bribes under the table, showing nothing but contempt for justice. I come to bury the old and already fading away generation, who have not only thrown in the trowel in the face of such tyrannies that befall our nation but, would also, attempt to inject the present generation with their sleeping drugs, to keep them in a coma while their ilk continue business as usual. Sadly, it is to that generation, of the old and fading, that I belong! But not anymore. A few days into the protests, my daughter injected me with an energy liquid, asking me the famous question Joshua posed to the strange Man he saw in the midst of his battle with Jericho, “Are you for us or against us?” My pertinent answer to that was another question; “Is there really another side?”
For six decades since independence, we have fluttered and stumbled as a nation. We have continually sought this Messiah, who would turn the kingdom to the hands of the faithfuls and we have prayed (our most visible activity). We have talked and debated on end – I cannot count the number of morning magazines I sit to watch daily on my screens. I go on radio once a week also, to lend my voice to these burning issues. We have marched sometimes, with very few persons identifying with the cause but most of them doing so for a selfish motive – politicians, labour leaders, CSOs, actors, artists, religious leaders, just to be seen and to foster their real motives – a free platform for the promotion of their businesses. And we have all been blinded to their plots.

20/20 vision, according to the American Optometric Association, is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. This concept was articulated more by the recently demised Johnny Nash in the lyrics of his popular song, “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.”
“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright, (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day…

Alas, a new dawn is upon us. “Here is that rainbow I’ve been praying for.” A new breed without greed. A sleeping giant that has gradually woken up from its slumber and from the hexes pronounced on them by ancient devils and diviners, to not see with their open eyes, to not hear with their open ears, to not articulate with their minds and to not be enabled to give in to necessary action. But all that is in the past now. The tongue of the dumb has been loosened so that they can all soro s’oke, such that there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their sound has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Even the deaf hear. The blind can see the crowd like the gathering of the clouds ahead of a torrential downpour. The lame wo/man is leaping and forging ahead to take the prey. Nigeria, the die is cast!

Oh, we had it coming as a nation. This wine has been left to ferment for years. In times past, there have been attempts to pour it out but being poured into old wineskins, it has torn it to shreds with its potency and both wine and wineskin have been destroyed and the wine spilled. A wasted generation they called it. But, behold the hour, behold the moment. The wine has found a new wineskin, finally! And with the excitement of one who has waited so long for its salvation, the wine is being poured out with the gush of a bladder that can no longer hold its water in check, unto a ready wineskin, that has equally awaited this moment with the thirstiness of a parched tongue searching for an oasis in the desert. And didn’t they say, that when the horn of Samuel finds the head of David, the anointing will flow?

Long ago, in the erring nation of Israel, the prophet prophesied. Suddenly, a prophet approached the king, “Have you seen all this great multitude?” Of robbers, of murderers, of oppressors, of kidnappers, of cultists. “Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will deliver them into your hand today and you shall know that I am the LORD.” The One who truly reigns and rules in the affairs of men! The king responded with only one question, “By whom?”

By whom? A fully-loaded question, nay, more than a question but the confusion of a king, who knew the compromises of his Gehazi/Achan troops. By whom? These reckless and lily-livered rogues? These pot-bellied men in uniform who have forgotten or perhaps never even learned the art of war? These cowards, who come under the title of SARS, , Rapid Response Team, Mobile Police, Anti-Riot Police, Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Customs, Immigration and whatever other nomenclature by which wo/men in uniform are identified, and who, rather than go to Sambisa forest to dislodge Boko Haram, or visit the ailing cities of Kaduna and the North East, would rather, unleash their venom and turn their guns on the necks of ordinary, innocent and harmless Nigerians going about their businesses to survive in a nation under siege? By whom? The mentally deranged legislators who would rather show off their 200+ wristwatches, with monies stolen and acquired by the sweat and taxes of the poor? By whom? These judges who upturn the judgement of the poor just to feed at the table of wicked men? Alagba, wahala wa o! Prophet, you sure say you hear well so? You sabi wetin you dey talk? But listen to the response of the prophet to the question; “Thus says the LORD: ‘By the young leaders of the provinces.’”
Aha. Lobatan! Oro re o, oro re o, oro re o, repete. The young leaders of the provinces? Same lazy Nigerian youths? These tyrants whose little fingers are thicker than their fathers’ loins? This generation of Yahoo boys and Hushpuppies? “Eskisir, beeni!” Check out the generations of great warriors, whether in Bible times or secular history. They have always been the dregs of the society. The despised, the unknown, who end up being the sung because God is always in the business of using the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Why? They are street wise. They are baked in the fire of suffering and oppression. There isn’t much to their names or their lives. They have nothing to lose and they love not their lives unto death. And the privileged are wise enough to join them. After all, what is life in GRA, Ikoyi and Banana Island without the spice of the ghettos of Moonshine, Ajegunle and Aja Isale-Eko (apologies to Femi Odugbemi of the Brethren fame? Oh, did I tell you that he gave me the first break in movie writing? Respect sir?).

20/20 vision is here. Vision 2023 is loading, live on the streets of Nigeria, unto the cities of Europe, Africa, America, Asia, all over the world. I hope these lazy youths have the patience to wait till then to embrace the change to take us to the next level! Oga presido plus the rest of una wey dey Aso Rock, e don happen o. No wonder rere run (Abami eda sounding from the grave). This is no longer business as usual. E soji! E wok jo. Now, permit me to praise my Caesar, our Caesar!
The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
If it were so, it was a grievous fault…
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious
And Brutus is an honourable man.
O judgement! Thou hath fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare

The noble leaders have told us the youths are lazy. And that indeed, is a grievous fault. But the lazy youths are the ones weeping for the cries of the poor in the land. They are the voice of the voiceless in the land. Ambition, indeed, ought to be more macho, moving about proudly, with six packs and high shoulders. Yet, the leaders are honourable…the asses in NASS. The leaders are excellent …the ex-convicts in the government house and kings’ palaces. The leaders are lords…the traitors in the lower, higher and supreme assizes. Judgement did fly to brutish beasts, and men lost their reason. But let there be a loud, resounding noise in the land, for the Ark; of justice, of power, of truth, of change, of redemption and of renewal, is back in the midst of its people. The lazy Nigerian youths have done it. Change is here!

I salute the future of Nigeria! I salute the vibrant Nigerian youths. I salute the dawning of a new day.

#EndEverythingEndable!
#ChangeIsHere!