Villages in and around Okwama have been razed down and are still under siege, with buildings destroyed and innocent men, women, and children killed. Yet President Bola Tinubu, who swore before the constitution to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians, is not only comfortable but also maintaining a conspiratorial silence.
Even His Royal Highness, the Ovie of Ewu kingdom, has been kept in solitary confinement, dehumanized, demoralized, and utterly forgotten.
However, I will say this once and maintain my silence.
The Urhobos must not be targeted for elimination because of the insensitivity and indiscretion of a misguided few.
The Urhobos are decent, civilized, restrained, mature, and responsible people who abhor bloodshed, value peace, seek to avoid conflict, insist on ensuring that good sense prevails, and recognize that war is the greatest evil imaginable, which must be avoided at all costs.
We abhor violence and condemn it entirely. We support hunting down criminal elements among our people, but we will never subscribe to the killing of innocent men and women, including children, for any reason. For this cause, we are willing to speak truth to power, now and always.
Despite our pacifist disposition, it must be clearly understood that there is a limit to our self-restraint, patience, and understanding. We must also acknowledge that peace cannot come at the expense of our dignity, self-respect, future, and freedom.
It is also important to note that we cannot sacrifice our liberty, human rights, and right to exist on the altar of one Nigeria.
As it stands today, we believe that we are under siege as a people and facing an existential threat from hordes of barbarous, bloodthirsty, and savage terrorists from outside our shores and the Nigerian state. They seek to steal, kill, maim, butcher, and destroy, with the sole objective of establishing a permanent army of occupation in our land and turning us into pitiful serfs and groveling slaves.
But hear this: No matter what evil plans the enemies of our people have for us, we believe that together, we will overcome these dark chapters in our history and become much stronger and more resolute in our pursuit of freedom and a just society.
May the One who is strong and mighty in Battle be with us now and always. Amen.
Activist Sanco Ese.
God’s Pen of Intervention.
