“Romeo and Juliet shall forever be remembered and respected but WOE unto that young man or young lady, who lays down his/her life for the ambition of any Nigeria Politician of this age. ” Dan Ok
The year was 2011, the period was that of elections, there were two major contenders, Akpabio was the incumbent returning for a second term on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party PDP. His erstwhile campaign chairman Sen. John James Udoedeghe was the biggest opponent who stood on the platform of the toughest opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN. The position was that of the gubernatorial, the governorship.
Previous elections had witnessed no such violence in the history of Akwa Ibom State. The man who helped install the man in the Hilton Mansion, feeling betrayed and sidelined, had come back to take the throne, forgetting seriously that ‘the snake that lives with the leopard for many years turns out to be more dangerous than the leopard’. Udoedeghe was the man who felt he hadn’t enough of the Akpabio’s administration which he, saw himself, as one of the powerful instruments that helped put in place that administration.
Every minute to the election day counted, the battle line was drawn, hopes were raised, anxieties filled the mind, fears overwhelmed the heart and prayers were said by those who cared.
They two, had legions under their command. The employed the ugliest boys of the city, they issued out orders, those orders were not just orders, they were kill at sight orders. Destruction was what they echoed in their ears, all the spoke, was the macabre.
Cars were razed, houses were destroyed but living souls suffered the weight of electoral violence. Young people died for two very greedy, power drunken men who forgot them that very minute they gave up the ghost and especially when the election was won and lost. Potential but foolish young people laid down their lives for an unworthy course. They put their families in unforgettable sorrow. They left mothers crying, their fathers dropping tears and their siblings screaming endlessly. Wounds in the mind that may never heal.
These young men died, not for the interest of the state, they died, not for the interest of the masses, they gave their lives, not for the good of the suffering people of this state, not for the love of their state but for the foolishness of their hearts inspired by two terrible men who just wanted to cling power. If they had died for the love of women, it would have been better, because that’s a course I think is more justifiable for one to die for than dying for a Nigerian Politian. Romeo and Juliet are better celebrated than those youths.
Today, the two men they ended their existence for, sit, laugh and play together again , mocking seriously, the foolishness of those young men who went to early their grave for their sake.
Let this be an unforgettable lesson to all young people in Nigeria today, so they might learn to rebuke the foolishness and madness that come upon them during the election period.
This is a time to take your futures in your hands. Be wise young man. Be wise young lady. Your future is in your hands.
Dan Ok
