Fuel Subsidy Removal, Floating Naira, and the Lepers that have refused to Sit and Die.
In the history of Samaria, in the days of Prophet Elisha, the King of Syria laid siege on Samaria as a military strategy to conquer the nation. The siege ensured nothing left Samaria and nothing went in. It was beyond an economic blockade; it was indeed ‘home arrest’ for the inhabitants of Samaria.
This blockade successfully fulfilled its purpose as the economy of Samaria collapsed and inflation went above the roof. It got to the point where the people became cannibals, as there was nothing to eat anymore.
While starvation and hunger reached the high and mighty, the Lepers were the worst hit as they survived before now on the goodwill of the privileged ones who were hale and hearty. With hunger everywhere in the land, no one had enough to eat let alone to spare for some ‘god-forsaken’ lepers!
These lepers mourned their situation for many days, if not weeks, and then decided to do something drastic. They chose to die, but not without a fight.
*”If we sit here, we will die; if we confront the enemy’s camp to look for food, we will die; but it is better to die while looking for food than to sit and die!”*
With such a resolution, they stood up from their miserable situation, took their destiny in their hands and resorted to self-help.
You might wonder what the correlation between the lepers and the current situation in Nigeria is. Perhaps, impatient readers might have concluded that the headline is misleading.
The truth is, Nigeria has been under siege from time immemorial. We have always had leaders who keep telling us that there are invisible and invincible cabals who control the affairs of this nation.
In the days of military President Babangida, he annulled the June 12 election in 1993 and said he was not the one but the powers that be.
In the days of President Obasanjo, the story remained the same. President Jonathan made it official that there was a cabal and he was declared weak. President Buhari came, and we thought a strong man had come on board, alas, the story was the same. Lastly, the one who we thought was cabal personified with all his influence and surrogates everywhere came on board and the story has not changed, still.
With the fuel subsidy removal and the floated naira, the economic siege seems to have reached its climax. The Nigerian masses whom the ruling class has always treated like lepers are eventually tired of sitting and looking.
Unfortunately, some praise singers are still convincing their bosses that there is no cause for alarm. They still believe that Nigerians will continue to *’Siddon look’* as they have done since 1960.
As a social observer, I can tell you for free that the lepers (masses) are waiting for a trigger, they are waiting for the first person who will share the idea and front it.
So many Nigerians today are moving corpses, and the time is coming, sooner than we expected, when they will choose to fight the perceived enemies before they officially die.
This should not only worry our political class but everyone who is fairly comfortable, especially business owners. We saw what happened during the national #endsars protest. Everyone got served breakfast, and it was not funny.
This is why we all need to put the government on their toes to do what is right, else, the poorest of the poor will start with those closer to them. That might be the little grocery store you have on the corner of the street. That small warehouse you are using to push your family forward, that small car you drive peacefully around might enlist you among their oppressors.
Before they get to the Governor, the Senators, or the President, it is you who think is gently making little money in peace that they will get to first.
Nigerians will not sit down and die, they will fight back. The crime rate is already on the increase, and before December, there will be more violent robberies if the government remain insensitive to the plight of the masses.
As a people, we must act now!
I am concerned, and you should be too!
IDEDE Oseyande
Social Crusader
(c)2023
Edo, Nigeria
