If hunger was a person, it would have been rated as one of the best linguist in the world because of its abilities to understand and communicate in a universal language transcending age, race or colour. Regrettably, hunger is a respecter of no man; it can better be explained by the victims. While some ailments can be hidden, no living thing – including plants and animals – can pretend to withstand the negative effects of hunger. In plants, it causes it to wither and dry. In humans and other animals, it causes malnutrition, confusion, sickness and if not properly managed, it can result to death.
Poverty is the progenitor of hunger because affluence and hunger are not in anyway in tandem. If hunger is self imposed, it could either be due to uncontrolled ailments, mentally deranged state of mind or a chronic character deficiency (a stingy person) or a protest – hunger strike. However, this baseline is limited. Now, the bottom line of these scenarios is the trajectory excruciating the facts that Nigerians are hungry!
One of the ugliest attributes of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is the inabilities of his government to tolerate criticisms but a hungry man will never keep mute even in the face of death which is the final destination of every man. Once you are born, you are destined to die. It is only cowards who are afraid of death. Quoting from the realistic affirmations of one of Nigeria’s most self-centered politician, Senator Dino Melaye, “if you say the truth, you die. If you don’t say the truth, you die. So, it is better to say the truth and die”. Therefore, in my candid opinion, Nigerians are hungry and there are no better ways to explain this standpoint than a critical assessment of the recent bloodbath of stampede rocking the nation.
Is this the “Renewed Hope” President Bola Tinubu promised Nigerians?
I am still battling to grasp how insensitive some of our leaders can be especially to the plights of the masses who voted them to power. It is often said that the voice of the people is the voice of God (vox populi, vox dei) but in Nigeria we are witnessing a sharp contrast. Here, the voice of the people are silenced by a battalion of scare dogs illegitimately sponsored by the few ignoramus who are beneficiaries of the demagogue in power. In Nigeria, public opinion is not sampled rather it is tagged a crime in order to scale through the courtrooms of litigation while the critics are thrown behind bars. At least, the case of Dele Farotimi is too recent to be forgotten in this discourse.
However, let it be known and told: so many Dele Farotimi are rising in Nigeria on daily basis because fear is alien to citizens who are subjected to hunger. If policies are not properly managed, it gives birth to a cross section of determined advocates who are poised to fight for the emancipation of the common man; until death bid me farewell, this is the path I choose to tread. What is the gain of being a sycophant when majority of our countrymen and women are sleeping everyday on empty stomachs? May posterity continue to haunt any of our leaders who does not mean well for the betterment of Nigeria and Nigerians!
It is abhorrent to the mental reasoning of the common man to witness a public display of sympathy whenever these tragic incidents occur. Prevention is better than cure. Cancellations of events or the declaration of public holidays to mourn the dead is not the way forward. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should have a rethink on his strategies especially now that it is biting hard and affecting the lives of the downtrodden citizens in our society; majority of Nigerians are not smiling. This observation should not be treated with levity before it escalates beyond a reasonable level of assessments.
In the past few days, we have lost our fellow countrymen; women and children who died in a bid to salvage themselves from hunger. The deceased were citizens of Nigeria. They died because the pot of soup cooked by the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu turned sour yet in their determination to quench their quest they met their Waterloo. Sadly, they all suffocated in a bid to breathe fresh air by sourcing for better living conditions. The government failed them. The only crime they committed is their citizenship – by fate, condition and tribulations they are Nigerians. Now that these victims tragically exited the earth and they are committed to mother Earth, it still does not change their identities, they are still Nigerians. To this end, the remainder of us who are opportune to be counted amongst the living should not be mute because it will be a great disservice to the memories of our fallen camaraderie.
President Tinubu can still make amends by returning to the drawing board in a bid to get it right. Governmental policies are not predisposed to suffocate the masses, any option that is not friendly – economically, politically or otherwise should be abolished. Governments are institutionalized to govern the living not the dead yet Tinubu has distanced himself from his own postulations, “let the poor breathe, don’t suffocate them”. The poor are not just suffocated under his administration, they are pitifully hungry and very aggressive. The living conditions of an average Nigerian can not be overemphasized in this submission but this disorder must not continue in the remaining years of the incumbent leadership. The stampede of hunger is ravaging the most populous black nation, the government should not pay lip service to the situations of the common man especially now that the poor are finding it difficult to breathe.
– Jerry Ochada, a journalist, writes from Abuja.
