After the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre, we could all look back in gratitude or look back in anger. The sad experience still ruminates the whole country. Weeks after the incident, everyone had to go through some sort of emotional meltdown and till this very moment, all are yet to recover. After some introspection, I meddled in my mind that I would go to the scene where incident happened to reflect. From the very beginning, I used to remember how peaceful that place was. How protesters executed their fundamental right as an element of democracy. One could say, of all the protest points in the country it was the most peaceful. It had music, games, celebrities coming out to lend their voices, food and shelter. It was “uncoordinateldy coordinated”.
So I finally summoned courage to drive to the area. It was about an hour drive from where I live; meaning that I got there less than an hour. I parked my car by side of the Toll, where I know I can be safe and almost ready to zoom off in the advent of an unprecedented attack by hoodlums; alighted and stood by the car, my behind rested against the driver’s door. There I was, caught between the feeling that I could have been shot the night when the incident happened; that I could have been a victim of the premeditated killings.
In the middle of my reflection, the air that I breathe was different; the air of hope, unity, excitement and determination that lingered all burnt to the ground like it never existed.
A tear dropped, I folded my hands and looked around, the anguish and sorriness I allowed myself to feel; the deploring state of what the place had become would forever be written and rewritten in history. I suddenly was taken aback by the video of the stained flag of my country, drenched in the blood of its citizens who wanted to live without being killed by forces that were meant to protect them.
I saw a number of guys who ravaged for burnt aluminum and other iron material that could be melted in exchange for some cash and it dawned on me that if this place hadn’t been burnt, these scavengers would even think of carting away parts of the structure.
As I reminisced, I saw a group of angry mob from almost a mile away drawing near to where my car was parked. I could hear loud chants saying “Hey! Hey!! Leave there, no loitering here, leave there!”
My moment of reminiscing was rudely interrupted. They already closed in on me while I was still wallowing in tears. One walked confidently towards me, his dark skin looked like he had spent too much time in the sun, his red eyes were without expression, I saw his machete though not aimed at me but firmly held.
My reaction was to hurriedly jump back inside my car and drive off but I took a deep breath, wiped my tears and slowly turned around, opened my car door, took my time to put myself together then I drove off slowly.
The #endsars protest will be an event that I’ll forever remember, it will be a movement that changed my perspective of the people of the country, it will be the reason I will consciously become a better Nigerian.
I hope every action we take going forward will be motivated by that short period that sparked a movement that could change our thought system.
Against all odds, we had moved from the tribal bigotry and the need to come as one and to fight for a better democratic state.
I hope that in every opportunity we have, we would stand for what is right, rather than what is accessible.