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The way one might arrive at the reality that a system is in its last days is through the observable covert or overt commissions or omissions of that system. Anyone with the patience to analyze unfolding events could easily imagine when a status quo is uncomfortable with the redolence of its own decadence.
The kind of manifested characteristics of a dying status quo is first deciphered by its bewildered acts. There would be signs of despair everywhere. The oppressive government is unduly on the defensive. Your customers and shop assistants get nervous. They become terrified and anxious.
Your law enforcement weapons get unduly restless. They are afraid. Lest they be accused that they are not doing their job effectively, they become hypersensitive to all members of politics. If a dog barks in any way, he believes it would be within the scope of his duty to arrest the dog and his owner to explain the barking. At least one fourteen-day-old boy has been detained with his mother because they could not find the father and husband in this country before Dapo Olorunyomi.
The Nigerian Police, the Department of State Security, and sometimes the Nigerian Armed Forces, among others, have become what in our high school days we refer to as “effic” or “over sabi.” They used their whims and whims to interpret the laws. Always granted undue power by the tyrannical government they serve, they arrest innocent citizens and accuse them of anything they could imagine and lock them up.
In their confused minds, that was the best way to keep the sinking tyrant afloat. It was the best way to make tyranny invulnerable to the vicissitudes of citizens seeking freedom. They enjoyed a very wide latitude and are allowed to abuse their power. As a result, they become tin gods within the authoritarian system, within a government that has no legs to sustain itself and inevitably goes hopelessly down the drain.
As the Oòduà Nation’s Freedom Train leaves the enslaving Promised Land Station, the tottering Nigerian system is desperate to catch its breath to alleviate the stench of its degeneration, and its patrons, patrons and stipends are confused. They are puzzled. They are disturbed and upset. They are confused and bewildered. They are very desperate. They are frantic, frantic and furious.
This explains his outburst against Opeyemi David Owatimehin, a peaceful young man who asks to be freed from the Nigerian slave system, who was arrested on August 22, 2020. He was not carrying any weapon. He had no bomb tied around his waist. Still, it was not a threat to peace. All he was doing was distributing brochures to others to inform them of the desirability of the Oòduà Nation.
Yes, his weapon was the brochures. With the Orí Olókun logo, the brochure was stamped “República de Odùduwà”. “Oduduwa, our promised land.” “Oduduwa, our new home.” The brochure also referred to Nigeria’s notorious nickname, “Location 9”, calling it a “Death Trap”, while listing its existing problems: There are no good roads; No healthcare; Without light; There is no good school; No plan, no future.
Fans who identified themselves as SSS men, who had no balls to take on Boko Haram bandits and Fulani marauders who openly carried AK-47 weapons arrested Opeyemi in Iyàrà, a city in Kogi state, and took him away from smuggling to Abuja. In a letter dated August 26, 2020, the Managing Partner of Ojaomo & Ojaomo Chambers of which Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, is a Consultant, Mr. Olatunde Ojaomo Esq requested Opeyemi’s bond, which has not been granted.
Holding on to Opeyemi would not help the sinking of the Nigerian ship. It would not stop millions of Oduduwa sons and daughters from chanting the nunc dimittis of the Nigerian contraption. Therefore, Opeyemi must be released. I should let it go. Release it. The old way of tyrants is to arrest members of the opposition. They would even murder to try and maintain the harmful status quo. But they would eventually fail. They always fail. That is the lesson of history. And this case would be no different.
The SSS is just telling Opeyemi that he couldn’t have their respect unless he is carrying AK-47s like the deranged Fulani herdsmen. It is a message to the rest of us as we seek to free ourselves from Nigerian slavery. Peaceful flyers and campaigns to persuade others to understand your point of view would not win the respect of the Nigerian Police, the Department of State Security and other Nigerian law enforcement branches. That is the message embedded in Opeyemi’s arrest.
All the antics of the Nigerian state would not stop the eventual freedom of the Yorùbá land. The arrest of its defenders like Opeyemi and others would not prevent the emergence of Oòduà Nation. We do not ignore the methods of the frustrated sponsors, sponsors and stipendiaries of a subjugating entity like Nigeria. Those malevolent tactics are not unexpected. But we are psychologically prepared to go all the way.
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been given the role of defending freedom in its hour of greatest danger. I do not shy away from this responsibility, I welcome it. ”
-John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1960
© Rèmí Oyèyemí
