WAKE UP YORUBA YOUTHS

WAKE UP YORUBA YOUTHS

THE PLOY OF HATERS TO CRIPPLE LAGOS STATE AND THE SOUTH WEST IS AROUND THE CORNER 

 

There is no doubt that things are so hard in the Country in view of Insecurity, Kidnapping, Unemployment, Educational decadent, Ritualism, High cost of living and so on. Every State and Citizen passes through the same unpleasant hurdles without spearing anyone throughout the Federating Units and no one is left out.

 

We are all in the struggle together because we desire good governance and better Nigeria, suffice is to state that some of us are sincerely imagining what could be the future of our Children. Some of us have actually lost hope in this country, some are trying to believe, while some actually believe that things will get better.

 

It is imperative to state that two wrongs can never make a right, the Yorubas will say “Ori bibe ko ni ogun Ori fifo” (to behead a person is not an antidote to his headache). I have noticed with dismay how some lethargic, dull and unreasoning Yoruba youths will allow themselves to be used against their own very region (South West) all in the name of protest. I believe that protest should be a means or an avenue to make our voices heard, targeted at making conditions of life better and not to create hardship and destroy infrastructural amenities that will later hamper our conditions of life.

 

On 29th of June, 2016, over 14 BRT buses were vandalized at Maryland bus stop along Ikorodu Road after an accident involving a BRT bus and a street hawker. You will also recall the protest which morphed from social media campaigns into street demonstrations in October 2020, which was triggered by the excesses of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a now-disbanded police tactical unit notorious for cruelty against crime suspects. 

 

Just like yesterday, I still remember how Ojodu Berger and Oyingbo BRT terminals were attacked and razed with several buses burnt beyond repair, the properties destroyed were put at N3.9 Billion, mostly belonging to the state government and a few private individuals. Organized groups (vandals) were at the headquarters of Television Continental (TVC) in Lagos to perpetuate at act of arson.

 

Now, who bears the brunt of the destruction? The President who is tagged “father of the Country” does not come from the South-West, let alone Lagos State, so why is Lagos State the target?

 

On Monday 4th of April, 2022, some youths staged a protest and barricaded the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The protesters made bonfires on both sides of the road around the Berger area, preventing free vehicular movement along roads linking to the expressway. They also displayed banners with the inscription: “Questions for Politicians and Religious Leaders”. What is the Future of Nigeria? All highways in Nigeria will be [ blocked]. No movement nationwide’. During the protest, they urged motorists and passers-by to support them. My question is why must Lagos and South West be targeted at all times? Why not another state outside the south west. Which other highway in any other State was blocked during this particular protest?

 

I was chatting on Facebook where some sets of people from other parts of the Country were calling for another protest in Lagos State, I came in between and suggested a state from the South East. Most people in the group castigated me with abuses for that singular statement, just because they understood the aftermath effect and the consequences of staging a protest in any State.

 

Wake-up Youths of South-West, stand against double jeopardy. We cannot experience all these issues and our properties are destroyed. Why are some people quick at “let’s go and destroy Lagos State”? But do not pray for such in their own state. Wakeup the articulate, reasonable, ever dynamic Yoruba Youth and say no to violent, say no to destruction of Infrastructural Amenities” meant for us and our children.  

 

Thank you

 

Fashina Muyiwa Julius 

Fash270@gmail.com