OPPRESSION: AN AGE LONG FACTOR TO AGGRESSION
BY: Bin Zak, Osun
AS Nigerian Republic becomes a year older, my bone of contention is not the evaluation of the level of social and political development in Nigeria but to raise an alarm of the war looming in Nigerian higher institutions for the world to justify when the tempest resort into a full scale of disaster.
It’s conspicuous and generally acceptable for the unbiased minds that Nigeria at 56- years is an emblem of a failed state. A state which has broken a million hearts to satisfy the desire of a hundred. A cruel state which has sent many into slavery before they were born. A state where the song of sorrow is roared under the boulevard of misery. The clime where l belong to by birth has made my people homeless, hopeless by impoverishing them and to have no vision nor mission.
I am not going to be drawn into the old trap of evaluating who or what is the problem of Nigeria since the major victims are clueless and not ready to understand its problems. It’s difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. Edo state Gubernatorial election is a practical example.
Oppression in Nigerian Higher Institutions
Everything that has a beginning would surely have an end. If am to venture into the persecutions the Nigerian students encounter from the hands of their various school authorities, I don’t know where to begin from yet l must start. In Nigerian institutions, there is a deliberate infraction and crass of abuse of power by the school authorities. Criminal justice is now is now based on acquisitions and not inquisitorial which lead to holding the students without preferring any charges or orchestrating the charges which is an unjustifiable callous breach of law that has become the order of the day.
Also, suspending the union leaders and the active students with frivolous allegations just because of their refusal to be puppetry to the managements wills. Instead of them to see the criticism and make effective amendments, they would rather hold the l one criticizes.
We are not our fathers who have been defeated intellectually, we are conscious of our rights and ready to defend them irrespective of any hurdle.
To the Nigerian Students
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like a sheep to the slaughter” – George Washington.
We should strike away all fears and forget the persecutions behind confronting the oppressive managements by massively condemning their tyrannical actions. If we are ruled by fear in quenching these tyrants, our descendants will reap the fruits as we are reaping them currently which was as a result of our predecessors’ acts of cowardice in quenching oppression.
It should be noted that those who fought for the independence and the unity of this country were youths like us whose names would never be forgotten for ages in human history while the cowards of their time went into a relic of history.
To die a meaningful death is better than living a useless life and a necessary end will come when the time comes. Humans death will come at right time, so nobody should be derailed in taking be necessary actions because of the fear death.
If dialogues and criticisms fail, then the language which is understandable by every oppressors should be adopted. Though, we should understand that diplomacy is very essential in dealing with the authority.
Therefore, If we are panic to fight for our rights from the hands of the school managements, how can we be bold enough to fight for our rights from the hands of oppressive government in our Republic when the time comes. If we fail to liberate ourselves from the hands of the oppressive government of Nigeria, who will then liberate us?
BlN ZAK is the convener of MASCAH in Nigeria.
