“SILENCE!” THE STRENGTH OF THE OPPRESSOR

​"The man dies in him who remains silent in the face of oppression." I might not be a fan of the prolific literate and Nobel laureate holder, Professor Wole Soyinka whose words I just quoted; I nonetheless affirm the accuracy of his statement.

Keeping silent is not a bad thing. It is the best answer to a fool. It also comes in handy when one is trying to avoid a very annoying and quarrelsome person. Silence could placate an angry mind since it is very common for angry persons to retreat to a secluded place where they wouldn't have to look or speak to anyone until their rage subsides.

However, when it comes to oppression, silence can be interpreted as cowardice. Silence is the strength of the oppressor. It is the fuel that keeps oppression alive and it is the incentive that motivates the oppressor. Silence in the face of oppression is weakness, fear, timidity, reticence, and a whole lot more. If silence is all these to the oppressed, then I needn't say what it is to the oppressor. You only need to apply the popular expression - vice versa

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I have hitherto searched my mind and for as long as my memory could backtrack, Nigerians have been languishing in oppression. It has become part of our history. We studied it in school as colonialism. Now we are part of it as spectators. Perhaps, we only had a moment of respite after the declaration of independence in 1960 to a couple of years after, during which we reveled in the euphoria of "freedom."

For approximately three decades of military rule with flagrant, unapologetic violation of human rights, political victimization, and unimaginably blatant corruption to say the least; oppression became part of our lives. Even after military rule, oppression did not stop. The system of government changed but reality remained unchanged. Oppression continued. It grew even worse under the purported democratic era in which we have been living since 1999.  Oppression became our custom. It became our culture. We live in it. We eat in it. We sleep in it. We wake in it. We laugh in it. We cry in it. We even labour in it.

Having dwelt in oppression under the British, military dictators, and now under elected lunatics, haven't we had enough? We have been slaves to foreigners and now our fellow countrymen? Slaves? Of course! There's no better way to put it. How different are we from slaves or how different is our condition from slavery? Politicians go home with millions of naira every month while you and I work without pay - slavery. Politicians live exorbitantly and can afford just about anything they want while we the masses barely enjoy the basic needs of life- slavery. Yet they take from us in the name of taxes and revenue leaving us impoverished by the day- slavery. Their children attend the best schools and ours the worst- slavery. They enjoy human rights and the protection of the law while we don't- slavery. They sit on our future and we stay quiet- slavery. They slap us on the cheek and we stay silent- slavery. They ram us with their cars on the streets and we stay silent- slavery. They loot from the national treasury meant to pay salaries, provide basic amenities, and pay pension and we stay silent- slavery. They come out and say nonsense like 'the country is broke,' 'I don't know when the recession will end,' 'we cannot pay ASUU,' 'Nigeria should not qualify for world cup because there is no money to finance their participation- slavery'. Yet we say nothing- slavery.

I could go on and on but you already know these things probably more than I do. Many of us know about the problem, can even analyze the problem more than I can. Yes, everyone is complaining, fixing the blame; but no one is fixing the problem! Writing about the problem is not the same as solving the problem. It amounts to a mere complain like dogs that bark and can't bite; empty words without actions. Many of us have become like media houses that promptly disseminate information but do nothing to fix the problem. Many even decorate their social media pages with beautiful essays about the recession, the bad government, the legislooters, the injustice, just to enjoy the likes and comments and feel good about themselves. That's the mentality of a slave.

What do I think then? I think we are not ready to come out of slavery. I think we are still enjoying the oppression. At least we still have money to buy good phones, subscribe regularly, and upload lovely pictures on the social media. We are comfortable with our facade. We look okay on social media. Are we really? You don't have a job, you don't know what to eat tonight, you haven't paid school fees, you don't even have a car but you have a picture of you in a suit or dress, lovely shoes, lovely hair and leaning against a Range Rover Sport. O I think we are just okay.

When we are ready to get out of oppression, we will start acting like it. I remember when fuel subsidy was removed under the Goodluck Jonathan administration that things became so unbearable. I recall as Nigerians left their homes and dwelt on the streets. It was a moment of joy for me because we were finally united as a country. We were able to force the hand of government to reverse its decision. We acted like people who were ready for change but soon after the government reversed its decision, we abandoned the fight and went to our separate homes.

It dawned on me that we were still driven by greed. When will ASUU realize that their struggle is not only theirs? When will the Doctors realize that their struggle is not only theirs? When will the civil servants realize that the struggle is not only theirs? When will the pensioners realize that the struggle is not only theirs? When will the students realize that the struggle is not only theirs? When will the teachers realize that the struggle is not only theirs? It is clear that no one wants to fight for the other. When no one fights for the other, we will all lose.

We are not ready for liberation. If we were, we would be thinking about a revolution. We would have shut down the entire country and push for change. We would make life unbearable for the politicians. We would shut down the ports, the airports, block the roads, shut down power, shut down all offices, shut down the banks and all financial institutions, shut down all institutions of learning, disband the National Assembly and houses of Assemblies by disrupting their meetings, say we no longer want them, do the same for all other levels of governments, kick out PDP and APC and other corrupt parties and so on. Only when we have shut down the entire country will our evil leaders know that we have been pushed to the wall and that we will no longer take their nonsense. As long as we remain passive, the men will die in us and there will be no hope even for generations yet unborn. As long as we remain silent, the strength of our oppressors will continue to increase.

​I know many reason along this line. If you are one, the time is right. We need to act now. Enough is enough!