20-10-20

* Lead image and other images from WhatsApp statuses*

"Gosh! I'm starving." exclaimed Ayomide, my little brother just as his stomach made a rumbling sound. Okay maybe not so little, he did turn 18 few weeks ago.

"FFO, why do you have to like food so much?" I replied playfully jabbing his arm.

"Well you can't blame me, we have been here for some hours nah. Besides, I am a man now." He said flexing his biceps. "And that means more food."

I couldn't help but laugh. "You do know that if you were in school, you could still be in a class right now." I frown as I remember that ASUU have been on strike for over 6 months now. The corona out break was also particularly responsible, but at least, the dangerous times are over.

"Why is our government so inconsiderate." Ayo replied. "They should consider we students nah!"

"They are useless jare." A young man to my right contributed. "Just think about it, we have been here for 2 weeks now, still no response from them."

I couldn't help but agree with him. The ENDSARS protest has been going on for several weeks now. We are presently gathered at the Lekki, Toll gate preventing the use of the major highway. We have been doing so for the past 2 weeks and so far, our peaceful protests have received little positive results.

"We have to persevere. It is high time things turned around for good in this country." Another lady commented.

"Did you hear the latest news?" My brother asked.

I rolled my eyes at that. "Amebo.com. Sometimes I wonder why you came as a boy." I laugh.

"Trust me, this one is juicy. CBN gave an order that if anyone is having transactions based on the ENDSARS protest, their account would be frozen!"

Slight gasps were heard from several people. I couldn't believe my ears. "You mean they really did that?"

"Yes o!" Another man replied. "My uncle's Access bank account got frozen when he tried transferring money to me this morning." He lamented.

"That is so cruel of them. Have they no human feelings" I felt so disgusted by the actions of our so called leaders.

" Nah wah for this government o. Where we still dey complain say no money, them dey freeze accounts." Another man commented shaking his head.

"All they care about is stuffing their own pockets with money. And it is said that the world's richest thieves are found in this country!"

"Really? And who are those thieves o?"

"Our politicians of course!" Ayo said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Who else could it be?"

"But isn't this amazing!" a man exclaimed.

"What is amazing?" I asked out of curiosity.

"This…" He made a sweeping motion all around him with his hands. "Is amazing. The fact that all our youths could put aside their differences, tribes, religion and political parties and come together for a just cause!"

I couldn't help but agree with him. "You are right. It is pretty amazing and I hope it yields the positive results we want."

"Sista mi, isn't it time for you to call mama. You know that ever since the death of broda Kunle, she has become quite paranoid."

I felt myself tear up at the mention of my big brother. He was an hardworking and ambitious young man but his life was cut short when he was shot dead by a SARS official all because of his IPhone! He worked very hard to get that phone, he always loved to get one.

That was what prompted me to join the protest in the first place. We have to put an end to police brutality in this country.

"I'm sorry I reminded you of big bro, I miss him very much." He said tearing up a bit.

"I know, Ayo. I miss him too, very much. Although we can't change the past, we can make preparation for a safer future." I comforted him. "Let me call mama." I took out my phone to put a call through to her.

"That's weird." I muttered.

"What is weird?" He asked.

"I can't seem to reach her. I am not getting any signal!"

"Here, let's try using mine." He took out his phone and tried reaching her but we got the same result.

" Maybe it's the network sha, we will tr……" I was cut short when we were suddenly plunged into darkness.

"Kilosele bayi!" "Nah wah o!" "O ga o!" Several complaints could be heard from the protesters.

"What do you think could have happened?" Ayo asked beside me.

"I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it's a power outage or something." We both sat in comforting silence afterwards. Several minutes later, my attention was drawn to a couple of vehicles coming towards us. I tried using my hands to shield my eyes as their lights were blinding.

"They are not stopping, who do you think they are?"

I watched as the vehicles came to a stop and some men alighted from the vehicles.

"I think it is the army!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

"The army?" I thought, "What could they want with us. We are causing no trouble." That was when I noticed everyone began to hold hands and started singing the national anthem.

"Why are you singing the national anthem." I asked turning to a man on my left.

"That's because it was revealed that the army won't attack anyone singing the national anthem." He replied.

"Oh!" I turned to Ayo, "Give me your hands." Joining hands with mine, we sang the national anthem along with the others.

"….To serve our father land

With love and strength and faith

The labour of our heroes past

Shall nev….."

Suddenly, we heard a gunshot! That was when all hell was let loose. They had opened gunfire directly at us!

"Oh my God! Ayo, don't let go of my hands." I shouted. It was quite dark and we could hardly see. There was chaos everywhere and the gunshots could still be heard. I couldn't see where we were going and I tripped on something or was it ……

"Oh my God! Someone's been hit!" Ayo shouted. I could hardly hear him over the noise.

"Let's just ke…." Ayo's hand were suddenly snatched away from mine. The problem had escalated quickly and we were separated admist the chaos.

"Ayo! Ayo!!" I tried looking for him but it was too dark, everyone was running for their lives.

"Ayo! Aargh!" I fell to my knees as I felt an excruciating pain in my abdomen. I tried crawling but the pain was unbearable, I was loosing blood at an alarming rate. As I slipped into unconsciousness, my last thoughts were about my little brother.

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*#EndSARS Memorial Lekkimassacre* *_Beca_*