It’s been 11 days since the unlawful detention of Mr. Saidu Adamu, aka, Cartoon Boy by the Nigeria’s Secret Police, DSS.
Cartoon Boy was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport Abuja on arrival from Ghana, detained for few hours and was transferred to Lokoja where he has been remanded in custody without trial.
While the reason behind his arrest is still sketchy, human right activist and founder of Sahara reporters, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, as well as Amnesty International who condemned the unlawful act pointed out that, the social media influencer and activist was arrested at the behest of Kogi state deputy governor, Mr. Edward Onoja. Also, his activities lately and what led to his arrest may have vindicated Sowore and Amnesty international.
Recalled, prior to the 2023 general elections, Cartoon Boy took voice to the heel cautioning against violent, killing and illicit political permutations against hapless voters. The presidential and National assembly election had come and gone in the state but it was not without all that Cartoon boy has warned.
So I ask;
What has Cartoon Boy TV done wrong? Why is he been detained without trial? Is our democracy this constricted that constructive criticism is has become rights denial?
The international community has since condemned the arrest. Human right activists are calling for his release but, we the happy slaves and comfortably oppressed Kogi Easterners see the opposite. To some of us, Cartoon boy lack manners. To others, he doesn’t respect elders. And, I ask further; in the face of glaring incompetence, vague vision and cheer ineptitude among political office holders in Kogi state, what manners were you expecting from Cartoon Boy? And, who are the elders he ought to have respected? Those who have successfully divided us?
I weep for my dear state, the sophistry of bad leadership had scrapped accountability tendencies and bad leaders had made themselves demigods whose tenth is considered undescreted. Cartoon boy warned violence will be instituted against election in Olamaboro, did it not happen? He warned about Dekina, did we not record killing and election rigging? He talked about bad leadership effects, what exactly can you point out as the dividend of democracy reaped from GYB’s administration in Kogi East?
What exactly is Cartoon boy’s offense? Is it because those he criticized once helped him? Are you saying that, to support one is to become a slave to one? In all honesty, sir/ma, you’re the problem not Cartoon boy. You who see support as slave and expected Cartoon boy to follow suit is our problem. You have indirectly played the disdain game seeking to feed your gluttonous stomach to the detriment of the generality, and you will do the worst should the crumbs stop coming.
He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. An elder that wishes to be respected ought to respect himself in the first place. You cannot force yourself on me, milk me dry and still expect me to romance your ego.
To you, I don’t deserve to live and have a good life. Shame on you who feels Cartoon Boy TV’s continued detention serves him right. I don’t care what you feel after reading this piece and I owe you no apology. And to those who know the truth and had refused to speak in fear of what’s happening to Cartoon boy right now, I want to leave you with the immortal speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr on his 38th birthday;
“And I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and so precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live. You may be 38 years old as I happen to be, and one day some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause–and you refuse to do it because you are afraid; you refuse to do it because you want to live longer; you’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you’re afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house, and so you refuse to take the stand. Well you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90! And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. You died when you refused to stand up for your right, you died when you refused to stand up for truth, you died when you refused to stand up for justice.”
Its Cartoon Boy today, tomorrow could be you. Go on and live in fear.
To our traducers; the DSS and our capricious politicians, the immortal word of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo is your break fast, lunch and dinner; “Evil done to man by man shall be repelled. If not now, certainly later. For the triumph of evil over good is temporary.”
To the willing accomplices and deliberate victims; what you enjoy now is not permanent. I am only waiting to examine your conscience after the crumbs of compassion stops coming. Then, a roll call shall be made and perhaps, history will repeat itself.
Free Cartoon Boy TV, he has done no harm. Criticism is a vital component of democracy, the recently concluded elections had also vindicated Cartoon Boy TV, his arrestors should be ashamed instead.
– John Paul wrote from Port Harcourt.
