iyeyemi:
Yea bro I hear all that...but you still miss my point. Bottom-line...this piece of his is a statement. Heartfelt, emotional...I write as well so I can tell. Can he do more? Sure he can. We all can. I have seen many e-activists on nairaland, if it was just by spitting venom online we would have been far better than the US or something. But at least he has opened up his heart and effectively opened up a channel where people can also experience the need for change. Without the spark, there can never be a flame. Jean Jacques Rousseau was a writer, but his book on social contract has been referred to as the the textbook of the french revolution. I never heard of him going on the streets of paris or marching to versailles to protest, but his writing was just as potent.

shymexx: These clowns stay writing 'pieces' when the country is in abyss...

Are there no activists in Nigeria?? If African Americans were writing 'pieces' during Jim Crow laws and civil rights movement - there would still be segregation in America... Fight for your country and your future, and stop writing nonsense... We know you can write, we need action... Get busy, or shut the fvck up...

Go hard, or go home..

violent:




MI was kind enough to have dedicated "all of 10 seconds" of thought to it! He even wondered "briefly"!!!

Most people, me including, probably spent a couple of minutes after watching the video, with our hearts in our mouths and our eyes agape whilst screaming silently "OMG, how could this have happened"

In MI's case, he dedicated "all of 10 seconds".

10 seconds!..after which life went on as usual. I woke up this morning not remembering how 4 young boys were beaten, and forced to watch their death coming in a most gruesome manner in the hands of a mob who are so eager to see their flesh roast up in flames. Their human flesh roast up in flames!

Perhaps I'd take a different stance from MI on this. The hope was never the worst part of it all! The lack of humane feeling is!

A corpse they say, is just a corpse until that corpse is your pops! While the families of these boys will have to go on with the rest of their lives with the realization of how the lives of the people they cared for came to an end, MI and I (and perhaps many others) have simply spared '10 seconds shedding a tear' and then moved on with our lives only with an occasional reference to the incidence and some faith that Justice will be served.

In a much civilised environment, the public will be outraged by this singular act of savagery, so much so it may threaten the stability of the government of the day. People wouldn't just sit back and wonder...and curse...and hope...and pray...and write fancy notes and then move on with lives. In those communities i described, there's a genuine humane feeling, borne out of the realization of the knowledge that we all share a common heartbeat.


The story of April a girl of 4 who went missing in the UK comes to mind. The immediate community reaction was forceful, hopeful, urgent and pronounced with hundreds of people volunteering to help the police in their search. This is a community where true humane feelings are found in the minds of people. In my own country, where four men were beaten to a pulp and burnt to death by their own friends, people simply dedicate "10 seconds of full thought"...then curse...then wonder...then hope...then pray...then life simply returns to normal!

#ashamedtobeNigerian!

berem: bros the thing tire me o! As im write finish wetin come happen now? Nothing! O ga o!

berem: bros the thing tire me o! As im write finish wetin come happen now? Nothing! O ga o!

princechinedu: All dese haters abeg make unna free m.I oh... D guy jux poured his heart out. He is not a politician or a police man dat would investigate d case...

1ndidi2: MI Abaga speaks on #Aluu4: “The hope is the worst part of it”



The hope is the worst part of it.

The way they lay there, beaten and broken, battered and bruised. Knowing their end had come for certain. Knowing that the crowd meant to see this through to the end. And yet, in the midst of all this certainty, in some small corner of their hearts, hoping. That something would happen, some miracle perhaps.

I am speaking of course, of the #Aluu4, students of University of Port Harcourt who were beaten and set ablaze last week.

I’d heard the news sometime last week and devoted all of 10 seconds of thought to it. I wondered briefly who the students were, and what could possibly have driven them to steal. I briefly wondered if they were really guilty but my mind quickly shied away from where that road could lead. I remembered all the stories I grew up hearing about thieves and the instant justice meted out to them, and mentally shook my head.

That would have been all, I suppose, but for the video. It is probably the most gruesome thing I have ever seen, and the worst I ever hope to see.

Hope.

There, I’ve said it again. Somehow it seems there is no escaping it.

Because when things like this happen, it seems our default reaction is to hope it will never happen to us or any one we know or love. Then we hope that our religion and hard work and luck will exempt us from senseless suffering. Sometimes we hope that right thing will be done, the wrong doers brought to book, and the victims receive some sort of justice.

Every day we hope the country we live in will be a better place for us and for our children.

And that is the problem with hope.

That we have allowed it to cripple us and render us inactive.

You , me, all of us who sit by hoping and doing nothing to change.

The question is not whether or not the 4 boys stole anything. That is quite besides the point.

Let us ask instead: What do I need to ensure my children do not grow up hearing stories like these?

What would it cost to make this country and are we willing to pay the price?

Because if I were there that day, would I have spoken up and done my best to put a stop to it? Or silently stood by, condemning the actions in my heart, but doing nothing? Would I have been seized by the bloodlust and fear and anger myself, and spurred them on with my shouts, and cries for blood, maybe tossed in a rock or two for good measure.

The society is a mirror of each of us. It is sad and sickening that this was allowed to happen. It shows us all what we are capable of, what w will each do given the right set of circumstances.

These 4 murdered men, their deaths should not be in vain. If anything good could come out of a mess so sordid, let it be that every Nigerian begins to think about the problem and what to do to solve it. Let it be that we understand the problem is ourselves and our failure to take a stand against injustice and lawlessness over the years. Let it be that we promise ourselves never to let this happen again. Not on our land. Not as long as we’re alive.

I hope this time we get it right.

http://miabaga.com/p/opinion-aluu-4-the-hope-is-the-worst-part-of-it/