Long walk to May 29

It took me months to catch my muse and set myself on the track of writing again. Since the last election which contributed to the travel ban of some, illegal arrests of activists and citizens, throwing of banters, religious crises, ethnic irredentism, incautious patriotism birthing moral decadence and leading many youths lashing out elderly ones and with they too selling their respects for a chicken feed price.

Because there were also pastors forbidding the ways of Christ to follow the ways of men who christened them as overnight seers telling the people their next president’s name is written in the bible plus the one who nearly caused a revolution—my writing heat shuddered off my heart and I chose silence.

I was never going to be silent. Especially, thinking of a pastor who nearly caused a revolution, I meant to ask if it’s based on God’s will or his? But at some point, after I have found that the activities of the world around me are irredeemable; I decided that even if I cannot save my family, I’ll save myself by keeping silent. Silence is my fortress of everything.

A fortress where anguish and pain are goldenrod for a better you. It is my lair of zero—a symbol of completeness where I obtain my chance to regurgitate, recalibrate and rewire myself for the words to say when the time to speak bellows me again. For I know the time will still come, like today, right now, it has already been here.

And now that I have caught it, though the embrace of silence is as sweet as strawberry wine, I’ll remember to take a frog leap out once in a while for nothing can as well replace the corridors of social interactions in this forest of trillion demons.

For our democracy, the In-di-pendent RaSioral Elec-Sio-rat Commission (IREC) should be the salt that savours it. But it has lost its taste. Joining the judiciary to wear the toga of glut and fawn, the last hope of men-on-the-street, at last dashed. People don’t believe in IREC as much as they have lost hope in our judicial council; both of which are driven by the desires of their politicking masters.

They teamed to remain obsequious just for a piece of cake and perverted justice by diluting the truth with the oceans of falsehood just to satiate their masters’ desires. All of them contribute to manipulating citizens’ needs and encamping them in their will branded as the will of the people. They will not know. Of course, they wouldn’t but would nemesis not know?

Callous leaders will always pay in a billion folds like the one who just paid a part of it recently in a million miles away from this forest of trillion demons. History is full of stories of hard-hearted leaders who bitten more than they can chew and pay more than they took. History, as Karl Max noted, will always repeat itself. And as I have heard, in my bosom of silence, it soon will come again to give back to every bad leader based on their terrible deeds.

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This forest is rich with mineral resources but has the highest data of poverty and unemployment. How a country with so much to offer, so much to refurbish for the global world to jealously bargain only bank on crude oils that are not still refined in the country despite its refineries.

In the end, the masses will be the most to suffer. The masses are like the pawns on the chessboard of forest politicians who are being used to drive out their desires and live their dreams. The vision of the pawns to one day become a queen, a king, a rook or a knight after crossing the river Jordan is always trampled by the invisible hands of chess players who would take any of the pawns to the war front, stamp them before a ferocious king waiting to gulp it or a knight who would just slash it into pieces.

Except a pawn will agree to corruptibly serve the invisible hands, the dreams of becoming the king will always be dashed. This is why you see the unqualified louts making it to become the next Governor of our municipality. These are the ones who have decided to dine with the devil of the forest.

However, for Bhola Rinubu, it is indeed a long walk to May 29 because only providence knows how many pawns have suffered or have been promised ministerial positions to get past the IREC declaration.

Oyedibu is the founder of PIJ Alance Magazine.