₦airaland Forum

mercy87:
The Pangs Of Rebirth Of A Nation by Lisa Bassey.

The quest for the rebirth of a nation can almost be likened to the pangs of a woman in labour.  It is accompanied by tears, blood, intense pain, and sometimes death.

In October 2020, the youths rose in their numbers to protest against police brutality and to demand that their rights as citizens of Nigeria be upheld and respected. Sadly it was met with aggressive force by the military and the police, for which some of the unarmed youths paid dearly for with their lives.

I recoil in pain as I recall the unfortunate incident which took place on the 20th of October, 2020. The hurts from the wound of this poignant event bleeds within me, forever etched in my memory.

Last year during the first anniversary of  ENDSARS,
I stated in a deeply moving article titled "In the Web of Political Mystery and Deception" that it was difficult to  differentiate truth from farce as a result of the cleverly manipulative mind-games and deception from the political class that could sway even the most logical and objective mind.

During this second anniversary of ENDSARS,  I am proud of the youths who have refused to succumb to the demonic hypnosis of the crafty ruling party.

These courageous youths boldly declare that indeed the events of that dark horror night, that black Tuesday truly happened. It was not a mirage that the ruling political class would have wished it to be. These youths stand by the truth inspite of the inducement to deny and resist it. 

I am delighted that "Awaiting Trial" a documentary produced by Chude Jideonwo on ENDSARS is already out to commomerate this event.

Surprisingly,  a vast majority of Nigerian youths were not captivated this time by Big Brother Naija, a show popular for its immoral and unwholesome contents.

In the past, this show was known to capture the minds of the youths, in the process distracting them from participating or discussing pressing National issues.

Kudos to the Nigerian youths who stoutly refused to indulge in their once favorite pastime. Now, the political consciousness is highly awakened compared to the past.

In a very long while, I am indeed proud to be a Nigerian. There's a subliminal hope that the struggle and deaths of the ENDSARS victims was not in vain.

America is celebrated for its freedom of speech, in Nigeria however you can't guarantee what happens after you express that freedom.

 Hopefully,  we get there soonest. True democracy entails freedom of speech and the right to peaceful gathering.

Presently, the level of citizens awareness in the political process has greatly increased.

During the election primaries in June, a large percentage of the Nigerian electorate including the youths followed the primaries keenly, unlike previous primaries.

They listened to the speeches of the candidates and carefully weigh the contents and quality of each speech. The level of parochial participation and godfatherism is on the decline.

Candidates are now judged based on their competence and antecedents in governance rather than the popularity of their party.

Reminds me of French President,  Emmanuel Macron who was elected as president during his first tenure, not on the basis of a popular party but as an independent candidate. In Nigeria at present, a candidate is more popular than the political party due to his previous worthy track record while in government.

It gives one hope in this beloved entity called Nigeria, that one day, the sunrise of a new day may just be the dawn of the Nigeria of our dreams. A nation where true unity exist. One where equal opportunities avail to all irrespective of your tribe or ethnic group.

A Nigeria where there is dignity of labour for the cleaners, the drivers, messengers, nannies etc. A Nigeria where the leader serve not for love of gain but love for country.

A Nigeria where bribery, corruption and Nepotism becomes a thing of the past. Where social vices,  rituals, kidnapping, banditry, advanced fee fraud, yahoo yahoo and the inordinate quest for materialism and its attendant evils are completely eliminated.

A Nigeria where the lives of people and safety of properties are guaranteed. A nation which becomes less of a consuming economy and more of a producing economy.

A nation where the green passport is respected wherever it is presented outside its shores. A nation which upholds hardwork, values and morals.

A nation where the rights of the masses are not trampled by security forces and the rule of law is upheld and administered by incorruptible judges.

It is for such dawn that we await. We hope and pray that as a new day emerges after a long dark night, so shall true Nigerians awaken to the dawn of this new Nigeria. The Nigeria of our hope, the Nigeria of our dreams.

The journey of a thousand miles, they say, begins with a step. Therefore as the 2023 election draws near,  the youths, elderly, men, women and indeed every Nigerian who is within the voting age of 18 years should ensure that they do their part by voting rightly so that the Nigerian dream becomes a reality.

Let the Voice of conscience and the love for this beloved country take over greed, avarice and corruption. Let it awaken a zeal for a rebirth. It starts with us at the polls. Elect a corrupt free leader not for the present gain but to leave a country for your unborn child to call home.  Believe in the electoral process and allow your votes to speak.

Let's do this for posterity sake. For the memories of those that lost their lives that fateful night when the nationalist spirit was at an all-time high. Let the voice of their anguish, the tears,  shock, agony of death and the horror of that bloody night ring aloud in your ears even as their lives were cut short.

We shall never forget the memory of our beloved compatriots who sacrificed their lives for their beloved country. These are the heroes who endured the pangs for the rebirth of a new nation. Your deaths will never be in vain. Rest on. The struggle continues. 


*_Lisa Bassey is a writer, political analyst and podcaster._*

hi Lisa, I misplaced your contact since last year, didn't know how to get to you, till I saw a post with your name on it. I would like to reach you.

Nice write-up, divide and conquer through ethnicity and religion is the major factor.

LegendHero:
IBB is not revising anything different from what we know.

IBB himself is just trying to be clever by half by claiming he did not know why the result was suspended. We know IBB sanctioned it.

What we are extracting from the text is that “Nwosu Indeed fail to announce the winner”. What they said was that he was scared of the military guys. That is fine.

However, our own concern is that why are SE leaders wanting him to be immortalized if he did not “Announce official result” and ranaway with this tail behind his legs because of military gunpower?

conducting a free and fair elections in itself is worthy of commendations, you claim he ran away, your god Tinubu who wasn't even at the middle of the cross fire ran away, if there was a direct threat to his life it was important that the threat is addressed. Furthermore 25years of Nigeria's so called democracy and he reference point for a free and fair election is the one conducted under Prof Nwosu under military rule, what does this tell you about our so called democracy, there would be no abiola or June 12without Nwosu, abiola was not a revolutionary leaders neither was he a saint, the highlight of the whole abiola issue was that he won an election.

IyaTola:
Oga! Prostitution is a very lucrative business. Check ExoticNigeria and codedruns not to mention some red district in Nigeria.

the lucrativeness is not in doubt, what i doubt is the figure being quoted, it could even be more than that, there is absolutely no way to get the exact figure spent on prostitution, we can only guess.

IyaTola:
Yes refer to Burna boy and Lambo saga it goes to show that it a lucrative business. There's a HK for runs girls on the island similar to what how yahoo boys have HK.

I know it is a lucrative business, what I am saying is there is no way to know the exact amount it generates, let alone how much of it is spent on hair and skin care.

As we are dropping players and firing coaches and players, we must not forget the NFF, the NFF has been the biggest problem in Nigeria's football, a football administration that thinks that the bare minimum is enough, because we are the giant of Africa, from their choice of coaches to the entire lacklustre approach to football, how many months did it take for them to relieve peseiro from his job even then it wasn't even clear if they wanted to fire him or renegotiate his contract, after they finally let him go it took months of back and forth with no new coach only to end up with experimental finidi George, even after that the NFF still continues with the lacklustre approach, how they come up with their list of coaches is not known, the overall sports management by the NFF has been terribly poor, we need to clear the glass house too.

LegendHero:
Lol what will warrant emergency rule in Lagos.

I never know Pat Utomi is this dulll.

—Did Sanwoolu or the speaker demolished the assembly

—Did Sanwoolu fail to pay the salaries of the members

—Did Sanwoolu instruct people to blow up the ports

At the assembly, Meranda sat down herself when Obasa was reinstated and all of them spoke. So where is the tension?

Pat Utomi brainnn is on recession.

you guys and foolishness, so on whose law is it stated that the demolition of assembly is the gravest Democratic sin ? We saw a Lagos where two speakers emerged, and where is the evidence that fubara ordered people to blow up pipeline, is it his duty to protect pipelines in the first place, thirdly there are several APC governor's who are not paying salary even the federal govt workers salary had been witheld, youth corpers aren't paid their 77k allawee why hasn't the govt declared a state of emergency rule on the presidency and other state governors? And btw the reason for the assembly demolition according to the state govt is fo "renovation" are you saying govt infrastructure should not be renovated.

IyaTola:
The reason it called journalism

I don't get, do you agree with the report?

Omeleyi:
Otilor
How can the country develop when monies meant for development in various sectors is used to dig hoe. 80% will surely be money spent by politicians meant for public good.
Lambo toto and g wagon toto plenty for that una lagos, so I no doubt that statistics
Omor

the report is fake, there is no way to access how much prostitution generate in Lagos most of these ladies involved do it secretly let alone knowing how much was spent on protection and skin care, the only data they can get which would be close to accurate is the average cost of commercial sex

I swear these days i can't understand why it gets drained even when I do nothing on the internet.

Magnetic010:
watched isakaba, hard way,

definitely 90s born

kedeojo:
You live there not because you really like them but for economic survival. When Tinubu preferred Akpabio to be senate president, why many of you igbos were against him and was supporting a Northerner to be senate president. You can only decieve few but not many. You igbos are always been against a rising south south person.

you are a ful blooded yoruba man, I recall you once said you are from Edo state, but by your antics it is clear you are likely to be a yoruba man.

omooba969:
You obviously don't know your history. Why was it that Zik decided to travel out of the country on holiday (I think) few days to the coup?

Maybe it was a coincidence right?

You guys are funny...lol

if it was an igbo coup as you claim he wouldn't have needed to even travel out of the country in the first place because he would have been saved, for the fact that he ran out meaning he knew he wasn't save either probably he was tipped by a traitor of the coup, which even justifies that fact it wasn't an igbo coup.

PHIPEX:
Who are the "we"? Check the title of the thread?

SE gave Abiola 740k votes and gave Tofa 790k votes even though an Igbo was a VP to Tofa but ingrate like you will open your mouth wide to talk trash. You mentioned 3 names supporting the govt butndiscounted hundreds of thousands that supported Abiola, isn't that stupid to say? How aboutnthe Yorubas that supported the govt against Abiola? How about those Yoruba that accepted to serve in Abacha's govt, isnt that betrayal? How about Shonekan that shouldnhave handed over to Abiola?

This is not the era of revising history

bro just leave that guy alone for the fact that the elections was a close call in the south east despite the VP candidate of tofa being igbo tells all the story, but tribalist like the idiot has prejudiced hate, logic and facts can't change it, I am not igbo but I can draw conclusion just from the results.

StJasper:
Apart from Anambra, other Southeastern states voted for Tofa.
This thing no be today thing, e don tey.

the VP candidate to tofa was igbo yet abiola still got almost half of the votes in the entire south Eastern state, compare to your folks who shamelessly voted in a kleptomaniac drug Lord massively because he is from your tribe, no be today true true, e don tey, you guys always try to re- write history with your hatred for the igbos, if the igbos have a VP candidate under tofa but yet still gave almost half of their entire vote to abiola that tells every sane mind that they weren't tribalistic. But Ronu miscreants will always try to rewrite history.

EmperorCaesar:

Na confirm beating Abiola beat this guy

Na like thief


That was the only Eastern state that voted him. Compare it to South South where they all voted him
Tofa by numbers, won in that Eastern region

tofa's running mate was igbo yet you can see the difference wasn't much less than 10 percent difference, yet you guys will always try to paint a negative picture about the south easterners even the NEC chairman was igbo, despite the VP candidate of tofa being igbo yet abiola got almost half of the entire vote cast in the east.

Nigeria that can barely lead itself cannot lead another at the moment.

Hala Madrid 4eva

freakyamanda:
You think Europe can fight Russia without US?

Europe can fight and defeat Russia the only concern would be will these nations be willing collectively to engage russia, even in the war in Ukraine you would notice France was initially reluctant to support Ukraine's nato membership application, even Germany at some point criticized the US sanctions on russia's energy supply to Europe, issues like these are what may limit Europe to engage with Russia in a war, but say every European/ nato nations willingly put out their entire army to fight Russia, Russia will be defeated in record time.

adioolayi:
You are making decisions on behalf of a "Sovereign State" .. without their presence

So, what's Sovereignty

Ukraine should fight to death!!!

they will lose, the only reason they made it this far was by being supported by the US with financial, military hardware, and technical support, if Trump put a pause to these aids Russia will take total control of Ukraine, according to some report Russia already has taken control of about 20percent of Ukraine vastly rich land.

helinues:
This Gbadebo is not smart.

What's your business with APC affairs?

is the state assembly a property of the APC, he is contributing about the affairs of a public institution,by your foolish thinking the state assembly which is a public affair belongs to the APC, and you think you have a brain.

Lionessza6:
Nope, we don't decide a damn thing but genes do. I can tell when someone isn't SA ( 99.999% of the time ) by just looking at them. And I can differentiate between a West,East and Southern African...the only people I find confusing are Central Africans because they can look like both Eastern and Western Africans ..

somehow true, I know a typical east African feature when I see it, sometimes I identify folks on TV too by looks. But I just feel that Nigerians don't have that distinct feature by looks that easily give them out, maybe speech.

Lionessza6:
She neither sounds nor looks like the typical Nigerian women we see here. Plus her skin looks very natural . Her parents might be living in Nigeria but I'd love for her to say where her mother is really from.....I'm still not convinced . And the guy must tell us where his father is from

ok so south Africans can decide who is Nigerian by the nature of it skin.

DeLaRue:
Which high-ranking government official will want to collect bribe and feel the need to tell you he needs the bribe for his presidential aspirations come 2027.

If an NSA wants a bribe, why does he need to mention what he needs the bribe for

The Indian man is telling porkies.

well according to the binance guy his team was told by the team representing the NSA, not that Mr ribadu told him that himself, and also the reason why he was told that may just be for him not to feel that he is being extorted unfairly to make it seem like the extortion is for a worthy cause, and justifiable.

PressMyButton:
Middle Belt is in the bag already, the pity votes and religious sentiments Obi got from there during the last election is dead and buried.
As for the Arewa Consultative Forum, they are Atiku's boys, they supported him during the last election and they lost. Their opinion is therefore inconsequential. Is it not the same NE and NW that people are decamping to APC everyday . As a matter of fact, present APC under Tinubu has become even bigger and stronger than under Buhari. They say Buhari was the only one pulling APC together and after he leaves office, APC would split but today, the reverse is the case. In 2027, Tinubu will collect 25% in 10 states out of the 13 states in the core North. It is done and dusted.



After God, na Tinubu 💪 God bless Nigeria

lol you are very funny from the article it can only be inferred that the core north is determined to unseat Tinubu, while the middlebelt is indifferent to that move, very ignorant of you to think a people who voted massively for obi in the 2023 election will do otherwise the only way they won't vote obi again is if that love turn to hate for obi, but that isn't the case.

janeedema:
Most Nigerian men are hypocrites. They spend on foreigners and treat native ladies with less attention. Charity should begin from home.

of course it should begin from home, but defense they claim foreign ladies are more appreciative of these gestures while native ladies are more entitled.

Hamachi:
You me obviously because we would be more in demand for SA men. Your lost

Nigerian men are known to be big spenders by women from around africa, in contrast south Africa is the unofficial capital of Rape and femicide are you ready for that, lol

Hamachi:
Finally, we are abandoning the brothers in Nigeria.

lol who go lose?

Samantha125:
And she looks South African... Like I wouldn't have guessed that she's Nigerian if she didn't say it... At first I thought maybe one of her parents is South African and she grew up here in SA, but turns out that both her parents are Nigerians living in Nigeria.

how do Nigerians look? Because I see folks who look like her here, why do you assume she does not look Nigerian?

Softmirror:
It is expected once in a while.

has the killing not been once in a while in previous administration, you think you can use propaganda to end insecurity

A true patriotic Nigerian, RIP sir, loved by right thinking Nigerians, Ronu miscreants will be so happy with this news.

PressMyButton:
This is how some narrow-minded Governors mess up their states, just because of election, you refused a federal hospital, first of its kind in the SS, so that your opponents won't use it to campaign for votes. At the end of the day, the good people of Edo have sent you away. Obaseki must be regretting right now, no wonder he ran away from Edo before hand over date.



After God, na Tinubu 💪 God bless Nigeria

foolish talk, what was obaseki suppose to do for them, finance the project? Saying he refused the project is just stupid talk how did he refuse the federal govt? If the fg wanted to build an hospital all they need to is acquire a location and build.