06/08/2022
When Nigeria Happened to Olugbenga David Owolabi
What is Nigeria? ......Some would attest it is a country in West Africa occupied by over 218 million people.
Perhaps, a more accurate description has been penned by Dr. Anthony Chuka Konwea who posits, “Nigeria is one contraption with altogether different nations, treated unequally.” It is a contraption “where promoting everything Fulani is the rule, while totally neglecting merit, even to the point of trying to capture other ethnicities ancestral lands and resources for the Fulani, thus setting the country back by at least two generations.”
That is the ‘Nigeria that has happened’ to security, education, economy, corruption, healthcare, electricity & power, political leadership and unity of its people (within and with those abroad).
Olugbenga David Owolabi arrived at the scene of the Fulanisation efforts, at the intersections of the above dividends of democracy, in other climes, and ‘Nigeria happened’ to him.
As a Yoruba man, he came in disadvantaged in a contraption where the Fulani is protected above all other ethnicities; his effort to add value to the society was not appreciated, generating electricity to power his high-class hotel appliances was considered frivolous, his effort to utilize the services of the centralized police force was met with disdain, the state political leadership did not value his entrepreneurial drive, public university students were left to figure out how to occupy their hours doing nothing, the health sector has gone moribund, and safety and security of the non-Fulani was non-existent, and more importantly, the ancestral lands and water resources of the other nations were up for grab by the Fulani.
Nigeria happened to Olugbenga David Owolabi, and he paid the ultimate prize; his life was taken without any sense of remorse, he was murdered in cold blood with two other diligent persons doing their bits to make a difference in the contraption.
One would have hoped the Holy Writ worked in Nigeria, after all, it posits, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” (Proverbs 22:29).
Nigeria happened to Olugbenga David Owolabi; he was kidnapped by ‘unknown’ Fulani gun men from his hotel business along with his part-time staff, a Yoruba, Rachael Opadele, a fledgling protégé, both of them, failed by the security apparatus of the contraption called Nigeria, triggering the gallant organization, infrastructural support, financial and spiritual contributions of his family and friends, both at home and abroad, to secure their freedom, in the face of cold and distant bureaucratic support of his adopted country, and the apparent absence of reasoned security response of his state of origin and, of course, the Fulanized Government of Nigeria.
Nigeria happened to Olugbenga David Owolabi when the financial resource put up for his and staff’s ransom was considered inadequate to assuage the animosity and unprovoked rage of their Fulani kidnappers, a situation that eventually led to the untimely death of another private citizen, a Yoruba, Idowu Ajagbe, who was only doing his work at the behest of his king.
Nigeria happened to Olugbenga David Owolabi when decency and journalistic ethics failed to be applied to what constitutes private, and protected information and what is appropriate for public consumption regarding the ordeal and the horrific mental injuries he, his staff and family negotiation lead, and by extension his family and friends experienced due to the sadistic and cruel behaviors of the unknown Fulani gun men.
Nigeria happened to Olugbenga David Owolabi, a Yoruba son, a husband, a father and a dad who has been rendered incapable of returning alive to be with his beloved wife and proud children after venturing out to the contraption called Nigeria to do good, mend lives and augment its economy by making business investments and increasing consumer spending through youth employment opportunities.
May Nigeria not happen to you is no longer a prayer point! Although there is a formal acknowledgement that Nigeria is a contraption with altogether different nations, equal treatment of its nationalities is hollow.
Olugbenga David Owolabi and his fellow sojourners paid the ultimate prize for being Yoruba in a Fulanized Nigeria.
Nothing can intimidate us, the struggle is certain. We are hundred percent sure of our freedom and nothing can stop it.
....The urgent need of the Sovereignty of the Yoruba Nation Now is of paramount importance to save the 50 Million Yoruba out of Nigeria.
Tribute to Our beloved brother
Olugbenga David Owolabi
09/06/2022
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