My very angry Rant…

You have to excuse my tone because this issue has been bothering me for days and I have been meaning to blog about it but got motivated when I visited Lady Funmi Iyandas Blog.. I try soo hard not to let things upset me but this one is just one of those things you just can’t help. Her post and the one before this had me seeing red.

This quote
“As we drove off we hear him shouting defiantly, What if you be barrister and she be doctor, na only una read book? Warn your wife and all these asewo women, we go deal with them for Lagos.”
reminded me of the incident I had with cops, like why do they have such an inferiority complex. I remember my monkey policeman kept shouting about how I felt na only me get jeep and about how he has kids in America. like WTF, who flipping cares!.. Like Kelly Bundy would say, “it boggles the mind” sighs! What would warrant you insulting grown women. I mean shit, like uncalled for is not even the word here, the dictionary doesnt have a word for it yet. A lot of people in that country are still 100 yrs behind and they just dont know it.

She also talked about a few things that just had my heart racing and my blood boiling. These two quotes almost moved me to tears, like WHY the F**K why?

Not much really except that three of the hottest bars, hotels and clubs on Ozumba were robbed last Saturday with the open rape and abduction of a well dressed, corporate type woman in front of her weeping fiance.
and
“The victims didnt report to the police in our usual culture of silence. They dont trust the police, dont believe they will get justice and want to avoid futher ridicule and shame. The robbries on the road and in traffic is of course norm now. To combact it all the police continues to arrest women in jeans because they are prostitutes, the rationale is that robbers lead immoral lives and follow prostitutes so if you catch the prostitues you catch the robbers.”

I started to leave a comment and thought men, let me not rape her blog with my angry rants, lol. let me just get it over and done with and blog about it

I was having a similar discussion with my mum and she kept laughing at me because of how angry I got about the topic. I mean, I keep saying this, anyone who say they are living in NIG and enjoying themselves because they have money are fooling themselves. How can you enjoy your riches in the midst of oppression. You think you are not oppressed because you have generator and pumping machine and basic needs that you have to pay extra for?.. haha! wot a friggin joke!.. And lets not forget that you cannot even properly show off your huge home that you spent millions on because you have to erect a massive gate to stay safe.. andyah dont dream of taking a cab at ngiht because you may just have to take that walk into your estate because cabs are not allowed in after a certain time. Why should you even have to deal with that. Yes o, serious oppression, because if you are scared to walk freely at night, or if you wonder who will come and invade your home and if the police will respond, or if you wonder if your govt has your back, hell or if the people who are meant to protect and serve will be the ones to cast you, you are dealing with serious oppression, and I don’t understand for the life of me how people can be happy living like that.

Well naa I do understand, I figured it out on my last visit, people are comfortable in their situation and too lazy to do anything about it. They dug a hole in front of our store, blocking paths and disturbing business, how come I was the only one out there looking like a trouble maker, because no one else seemed to care. Hell its their business too, but “fiwo le, bi wo shen shey nkan niyi (leave them alone, thats how things are done). The hell If I will fiwo sile, “Close the hole right away ma friend” The only thing that probably keeps me going back is the fact that home is always where the heart is, there is always a weak spot for your roots and I guess I am still holding on to that itsy bitsy piece of hope that things will change. I always try to understand why I am soo in love with that country, but to be honest I cannot come up with a valid reason except that its mine. When I think about NIG I wonder, how can one move forward in a backwards situation?

This their new “law” if it is a law, is complete and utter bullshit, its bad enough I have to worry about police pulling me over for no reason to collect money their foremothers and forefathers did not work for, now I have to worry about them actually having a stupid reason to harass me. Who ever came up with this law must be the biggest dumdum NiG has ever seen. and when I say dum dum, I mean dummer than dum, as in a new born has to be smarter than this person. How do you create a law without accessing the full consequences in a nation where abuse of power is prevalent, how d you set something going without proper structure or clearly defined rules, without notifying your people what those rules are so they know when their human rights are being violated. Hell, Im getting angry typing now.

I had an argument with a friend a while back about why he would never go back, I tried to make him see reason, but in all honesty I’m starting to understand his reasoning. How will those outside the country get encouraged to come back to make a difference when this is what they see or have to deal with. Like who wants to deal with the stress you know. I mean there are soooo many pressing issues in that country with its STUPID FRIGGIN LEADERS, that how people dress should be the last thing on their minds. How bout an infrastructure, how bout creating jobs for people, how bout fixing something soooo little as potholes, hell, how bout you train those dirty looking mongrels hanging on the street side that call themselves police the proper protocol for doing their job and how about they just friggin stop embarrassing the hard working Nigerians going about their day to day. Its sad that when we get pulled over the first thing that gets done is me being begged not to fight any cops today. Why should it have to come to that? How bout these so called Leaders make their country a safe place to live and not somewhere you are warned not to go to or you are on your own. Its frustrating, how can we continue to have national pride when there is shit all to be proud of.. Damit!

This is the 100th time I am changing my mind about moving there, but you know what. My decision stays, I am not living in any society where someone can freely call me an ashewo and I cant do anything about it, I will not live someone where when I see police, I think to myself “oh lord what now” My friend has formed a habit of accelerating when he sees police. I don’t blame him but my mind is never at ease when I know he is back in the country. When will things change? How will things change? Maybe God has really deserted that country? Maybe the people who take the abuse on a daily basis need to get up and fight to make a difference. Rome wasn’t built in a day but haba, this one pass patience naaw.

I think its time we stop lying to ourselves, things are that bad, accept it, and make a change, no it ain’t fun, no it aint safe, yes people are suffering, yes there is poverty and in the name of the lord dont start comparing yourselves to other countries, making excuses like, “well Brazil has corruption too” or “Mexico has bribery too” trying to make nig not look as bad as it is, leave that their business and this yours because with that attitude things wont change. When you carry that green white green flag shouting all over the place, naija this and that maybe you should ask yourself if there is anything to be proud of.

8 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    thank you for the comment cos i read FI’s blog last week and felt the same way. nearly left an essay type comment but later changed my mind. can you believe the reasoning behind the arrests is that the girls attract robbers and in order to clamp down on robbers ,the cause behind thievery shld be attacked! only in naija!

    Reply
  2. Naija Vixen

    I heard about the clamp down and was wondering what the correlation was with the crime rate? But that is so “Naija”…blaming one wrong on an unconnected thing…sad about the woman raped in front of her fiancee…seriously,no rest for anyone in our country…either for the rich and the poor…

    Reply
  3. wienna

    D problem stems with d us, d people. We naijas have d habit of leaving problems to sort themselves out, we leave problems to others to solve. We think ‘oh it’s not for me to say’;too much silence. Well, i think it’s high time we take a stand, let d media highlight dis problems forever and let it be in d face of d so-called leaders, hopefully dis will trigger their conscience.

    Reply
  4. CRL

    Toni, many people are angry about the new laws. I read funmi’s post and I was furious but until we start to do something collectively about it, we will never get anywhere. The only thing I have to add to your post is:

    Nigerians are scared. Those in power spit on us, curse us, use us, deny us, poop on us but we laugh, we cry a bit, then we wipe our eyes, we drink, we oppress others and then we look the other way because we are scared. We are scared to oppose those in authority. Remember the police man wields the gun! The Politicians operate at hours when most of us sleep. We are scared.

    I am going to Nigeria soon, I’m not getting a Nigerian passport just in case anything goes wrong. Yet I am Nigerian. Scared of my own Fathers and Uncles and Leaders because they have no regard for me.

    Reply
  5. NIGERIA POLITRICKS

    Your rant is justified and so are many of us. If FI is that irate and frustrated about the state of our nation, I wonder what the ordinary man on the street is going through. I have ranted and raved, but to no avail…Nigerians seems to have been bitten by the ‘e go better’ bug, and we keep letting injustice being thrown in our faces all the time…When are we; the Nigerian govt. and citizenry, going to transform that hope into reality?! I am ashamed of Nigeria!!!

    Reply
  6. Toni Payne

    @anon.. I dont know anyone who wouldnt get mad at hearing htis so it just leaves me wondering what reasoning the people who made the law have..

    @vixxy. Ive said it a million times, I cant live anywhere, where i cant enjoy my money freely.. nope!

    @wienna..Yes we do o, I know Im not a troubel maker, but whenever Im out there, I always seem like one, cos I just dont get how you can kick back on people making your life uncomfortable. I can wear wot the hell I want when I want, so far im not naked or offending anyone, that shud be my business..and ps.. I dont think they have a conscience.

    @crl.. lol@not getting a Nigerian Passport, funny thing is I get anxious to take anything but a Nig passport into that country. I dont know how they can sit back and let the Govt frustrate them. I see a lot of frustrated people out there, and yet they themselves dont even know it. They are impatient, angry, and very out if it. Just look at the way they drive. The way they treat each other, the hard faces, no one seems to like to smile much anymore. Its sad.

    @politicks.. leave em, i dont know how e go better if nothing is being done towards it. You know I came up with a suggestion a while back to one of my pals, I was like your roads, yall have shit loads of money here, so why dont u guys get together and fix the road leading to ur place. He was like even if he wanted to his neighbours may not be down. Thats our major problem, we dont know how to stick together and do what is right.

    Reply
  7. Lola

    toni- thanks for your post jare. i myself was harassed last week friday on two different occasions. i was wearing a business suit. i mean suit oh, and was wearing two layers UNDER the jacket of the suit just to let you know there was nothing indecent about my dressing. i think what the cops have is the hard on test, if they get a hard on by looking at you then, you must be arrested.

    one sec, why is this mohammed abubaker person head of police in lagos?!?!?! the one thing that worries me about yaradua and always worried me is that he’ll turn the country into this sort of thing………he was FOR SHARIA in his state and sat by while they executed a woman for breastfeeding her child, since she was exposing herself…..we should all be vigilant.

    Reply
  8. Toni Payne

    @lola.. are you serious? what ended up happening?

    Reply

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