Remembering the tragedy...

It's the third day of the year. This may not have been the best time to put this out but then I remembered the victims, their families, the trauma they are probably facing and the hot tears that rolled down my cheeks and I decided I'll feel better writing this out now.

I'm going to be publishing the poem I wrote on the 19th of October, 2020 for the first time today. I wrote it during the "End SARS protest", I'm sure most of us remember the series of events that occured like it happened yesterday. And for those that don't know, it was a time when the Nigerian youths came out in mass to initially raise their voice against the brutality of the Nigerian Police force, hence the "End SARS" title, then after some days, the protest also addressed the case of bad governance and all the youths asked for was a reformation in the leadership of Nigeria.

Although there have been movement against police brutality especially with the hashtag #EndSARS since 2017 on social media space, the real protest started some days after the 4th of October 2020 after the release of a video that really went viral showing SARS officials dragging two men out of a hotel and shooting one of them. It started out as a peaceful protest in Lagos and other parts of the country, and on the 11th of October 2020, the Nigerian government announced the disbandment of the SARS division of the Police force. We all expected this to be the end of the protest but then the only thing the government did was to change the name from SARS to SWAT. The youths felt this was as good as nothing cause the brutality still continued, so also the protests continued.

A lot of things happened during the protests that I won't be able to write here, we saw videos of the Police harassing the protesters, some were killed and that was what led me to write the poem. I actually went out to protest here in Ogun state and I joined some prayer walks and I can say never in my life have I ever seen that kind of unity among people. I even made some good friends during that time, all we asked for was a good government and that's what we are still asking for till now. There's lot to say but let's just get to the poem;

In a country we are to be protected, we are being molested.

Everyday, we hope for a new beginning, but in the evening, we get a sad ending.

We elect them for the purpose of serving us but when they get on stage, they forget, disrespect and neglect.

Now, the lives of the leaders of tomorrow we're ended yesterday.

Bitter cry, sad tears we hear and see day to day.

Our people and currency devalued and we say we are "Giants of Africa", come one, what's the value?

Everything we do is now a crime, dressing nice and riding cars is not safe, sit down and face your problems not mine.

It's time for our voices to be heard, all our shouts and protests will be aired.

Nigerian yours are tired, our parents are weak, but our spirits remain strong everyday of the week.

We won't stop until a change is made, and we want that change now, else we will be the "MONSTERS YOU MADE".

I hope it blessed you, thank you see you again...