By James Ogunjimi
“There is nothing more dangerous than
to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel they
have no stake in it, who feel like they have nothing to lose. People who have
stake in their society protect that society, but when they don't have it, they
unconsciously want to destroy it.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Haven followed the story of Kelvin
Ibruvwe (also known as Oniarah), the leader of Liberation Movement of Urhobo
(LiMUP) who was arrested last month, I am more convinced of the facts that: (1)
when you push people to the wall, there will always be fightback; it is a
constant historical occurrence. (2) the poor and impoverished will understand
and appreciate a struggle like the ones the LiMUP are waging and the one MEND
still wages because even when the police are crying foul, saying Kelvin is a
problem to the society, women of that same society have started protesting his
arrest since Thursday.
The question is, if Kelvin and his
Liberation movement aren’t problems to the poor and impoverished people of
Urhobo, who does Kelvin’s Liberation movement, represent threats to? (3) The
government will never learn from history, they will keep on making futile
attempts to crush a movement embedded in the very fabrics of society; this has
historically been proved to fail and backfire eventually.
That said, one of the most dangerous
and misleading ways of getting correct information nowadays may be the regular
media, the regular newspapers and uninformed journalists who have become too
lazy to actively pursue stories, but prefer to sit in the comforts of their
offices and publish carefully-written scripts about issues handed to them by
the government.
You see, our problem as a nation starts
from when people don’t take time to follow a situation and see for themselves
what may have transpired. Some people just hear of a situation like LiMUP and
MEND’s issues and they are already taking sides without trying to understand
what brought it about.
While still pondering this issue myself, all doubts were
cleared when I read the latest statement by the new leader of LiMUP, he
summarised everything the Nigerian state has failed to see in their relentless
attacks of liberation movements embedded in the fabrics of society.
He said, “If
one Kelvin is removed another Kelvin will replace him. Government is of the
opinion that if they take the leader out, his followers will be demoralised and
be dispersed, but that is a dangerous road to take....We are still willing to carry
on the legacy; even a little child from this community today when he grows
up and this level of injustice persists, will end up agitating for a better
life.” That for me is the ultimate message to Nigeria.
I have always said it, that before you
join government to criticise people for committing crimes, make sure you put
yourself in those people’s shoes. That is what brought about the struggle of
the Ogonis then, and Ken Saro Wiwa was killed when he was implicated in
multiple murders. It’s what brought about the struggle of MEND in its early
days and even to a large extent till now, until some people sold their people
for amnesty money, while the same people they claimed to be fighting for and
the same situation they were fighting to change remains unchanged and may have
become even worse.
That is the same situation that the Kokoris now face.
Historically, attempts to crush liberation struggles embedded in the fabrics of
society and supported by the impoverished of the society have always failed;
this won’t be an exception too, it will only escalate issues beyond
government’s reach.
Imagine yourself owning a certain
natural resource, imagine watching that natural resource being taken and
exploited daily, and imagine them taking it without using it to better the life
of your children. Imagine them taking it without using it to build schools and
hospitals for your community.
You see them using money from your products to
build huge companies elsewhere, building big hospitals elsewhere,
building gigantic schools elsewhere. Your children walk around
barefooted with tattered clothes while children of your exploiters have it
good.
Your children keep on dying of hunger
and hunger-related diseases while children of your exploiters eat and grow fat.
Your children go around hunting squirrels while children of your exploiters go
round amassing certificates and wealth.
You watch your children die because of
the poor or non-existent health care, while children of your exploiters are
flown out of the country to treat ridiculous illnesses like catarrh. Tell me,
for how long could the Ogonis, the Niger-deltans and the Kokoris have sat down
doing nothing?
Chancellor Willams, in his book, The
Destruction of Black Civilization, summed it up even further:
“There must be developed a sense of
national community among the various language groups that make up the country.
This is so important that it cannot be left to wishful thinking or chance. It
must be programmed in such a way that a sense of loyalty and of being an
important part of a great united brother-sisterhood, which is the nation
itself, will develop naturally and allow...the reign of law and justice to
apply equally to all classes in the society. The people must feel absolutely
secure as individuals, that in their country, there is equal justice for all.”
The question then arises again that, if
the Urhobo women, the children, the poor and impoverished people don’t see
Kelvin as a threat, who does he represent threat to?
The facts remain, the struggle the
Kokoris are waging is one that has just few demands as highlighted by their new
leader, they are not asking for amnesty money, all they want is for government
to release Kelvin Ibruvwe and issue a presidential pardon for all the
militants, including the immediate commencement of the development of Urhobo
people.
Is that too much to do? Or will the
economy crumble if you better the lives of people whose natural resource a
nation feeds on? The solution stares the Nigerian state straight in the face,
the only question is, will they embrace the solution or will they make attempts
to crush the LiMUP and risk a backfire? Time alone will tell.
James Ogunjimi
Ogun State, Nigeria
October 2013
Follow me Twitter:
@hullerj, Google +: James Ogunjimi, Email: ogunjimijamestaiwo@gmail.com,
Blog: www.thechangewewant.wordpress.com
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