Babajide Adeniyi-Jones, a Nigerian artist recently organised a solo exhibition tagged, ‘Where is our humanity? Pictures at a Protest’ to question the continued silence of the world following the daily bombardment of Gaza by Israel.
The exhibition held at Angels and Mews’ Art Space, Ikoyi, also featured a conversation on the ongoing carnage in Gaza and the need for Nigeria to take a stand in bringing an end to the current killings.
According to Adeniyi-Jones, the biggest mistake Nigeria and Nigerians made was to think that they do not have the power to do anything about the killings happening in Gaza. He asked if Nigerians should be concerned about the ongoing bombing of civilians in Gaza.
According to him, Nigeria was a proud ‘front line state’ in the struggle to dismantle apartheid in South Africa. “Where do we stand on peace in the Middle East?” he asked.
Adeniyi-Jones, quoting a statement by the Rabbinical Council of the organisation, Jewish Voice For Peace, “History will judge us by what we did or did not do in this moment,” said that Nigeria cannot afford to remain silent or choose to stay on the fence.
“So, it is significant that this time you are seeing voices from within the Jewish community mainly young Jewish people who are saying no. Not in our name,” Adeniyi-Jones said.
“If you’ve ever wondered what you would have done during American slavery, the holocaust, Canada’s genocide against indigenous people, the civil rights movement in America, or South Africa’s: look at whatever you are doing now for Gaza and Palestine.”
Kester Onor, senior research fellow, Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and guest at the exhibition, said that the world was currently in crisis mode with happenings in Gaza, Ukraine, and other places.
He further said that with the rate of killings taking place in Gaza, morality is not an issue; rather it is about international interest determining the response being made in regard to the carnage. “Nigerians at home has been pushed to the point of mental stupor. Level of endurance has been overstretched,” he said.
