Dear friend,

The events of the past days have taken a toll on me, as I’m sure it has on you too but I woke up this morning with a renewed vigour, a renewed hope and energy that I didn’t think was possible.

#Athread #EndSARS

I usually avoid writing about Nigeria, it ends up messing up my emotions. Remember the last time I wrote to you about Nigeria? It seems like it only got worse from thereon. I would never have imagined that we would experience the events of the past two days.

It is a reminiscence of the stories our parents told us years back, of the military juntas and their excesses. But this was no military regime, this was a democracy.

Notwithstanding the pain, however, I’ve learned an important life lesson, whatever is worth doing will always get worse until it gets better; and as a nation, we are at that threshold.

Nigeria has a way of draining its citizens. We get knocked down, time and time again, and we still keep getting back up. It is the Naija spirit.

We have learned to be resilient and creative, not because it is a virtue, but as a way to adapt to the increasing hardship placed on us by our leaders. But there is a point where resilience breaks and logic gives way to survival. When that happens, people are bound to fight back.

I have never been more proud to be a Nigerian like I was in the past two weeks. There aren’t many things that can pull us together for a single cause, perhaps BB Naija and football are the exceptions, but this is so much more

We have achieved more unity and progress in two weeks than we have in 60 years.

Since after the last few days, a lot of people have strengthened their resolved to leave the country, and frankly, I don’t blame them. When a so-called reformed democrat orders the summary execution of unarmed innocent civilians, and went ahead to issue a threat on National TV,

there is little else you can think of.
So if you are considering Operation Japa (that is what they are calling emigrating from Nigeria, I like how it sounds), don’t feel bad, and don’t let anyone guilt-trip you either.

). Not every one of us has to be in Nigeria to turn it around. Did you see the amount of support for the #EndSARS protests from the diaspora? We need all the help we can get, and if going to Canada helps you contribute your quota towards a better Nigeria, then by all means do it

for those who cannot leave, or don't want to, there is still a lot of work to do. Things might not get better immediately, it probably will take time, but at least we can start by getting our PVCs, getting involved in “grassroots” politics. I

There is a segment of the population we cannot do without, and that’s the grassroots. They are the ones who win elections. A friend of mine told me “even if it’s to do a GoFundMe to buy the rice or whatever, we will do it." ...in the end, we are our own saviours.”

I know you are hurt. I know you are heartbroken and despondent. But do not forget the strides we made towards birthing the Nigeria of our dreams.

What started out as a twitter hashtag, has morphed into a well-oiled movement that provided medical, legal, and technical support to protesters - Ordo ab chao – out of this chaos, we found order.

So let us rise. We are not done yet.
We owe it to Jimoh Isiaq, Anthony Onome, the victims of the Lekki Massacre, and other fallen heroes, to see this through to the end.

We owe it to them to build a Nigeria that works for us and the generation to come, where we would not be ashamed of the colour of our passport, a nation where we can apply for the best jobs, and would not be rejected because we have no senator-godfather.

For a long time this is what we have prayed for, but it will not happen unless we play our part – albeit little. I have never believed that one person holds 100% of the solution.

It is more like each of us has 1% of the solution, and so it becomes necessary that everyone does his part in achieving the goal of making Nigeria great again.

I hope that day comes soon, the day when all we fight for now becomes a reality, the day when we will live in a Nigeria we can be proud of. When that day comes, I'll like to look back and smile, knowing I played a part in it. I hope it's the same for you.

No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is far too much work to do.

Talk to you soon.

Dami

#Itsnotfinished #EndSARS https://link.medium.com/mflaCa1TOab