On a day like this I reflect on the essence of life and the purpose of our very existence. While we will yet understand all things fully in heaven, it will suffice for us to articulate the piece and pieces we can glean from our daily experiences and the events of life. Reality is that life happens and it happens to people unequally, unevenly, unpredictably, unfairly and sometimes unprecedentedly.
Time and space will constrain me from discussing the gesture of our brother Mr Allen Onyema of Air Peace, in bringing back our brothers who were victims of the ills of two states of the African country. Someone once asked rather rhetorically ‘what has Nigeria done for me apart from wasting my days of early formation? This fellow left Nigeria out of frustration to South Africa only to be waylaid and maimed by the same people he thought would accept him as their own. Instead of giving him a chance they lumped him into the group that sold weed, snatched women, and drove exotic cars. What began as a joke suddenly turned into a routine and a culture of the people, for it has suddenly and unfortunately become culture in South Africa to act xenophobic.
But why do we Africans like to call evil big names and glorify what should be condemned as crime? Black hatred of black people is evil, it is crime, it is wickedness not xenophobia. Even xenophobia itself cannot stand the wickedness of people meted on fellow Africans on African soil. Let’s call it by its name. What is evil is evil, what is a crime is a crime, regardless of who turned blind eyes to it.
As a freshman at the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1994 I remember spending days in the library reading about and researching apartheid, another big name given to criminal activity and man’s inhumanity to man. I recall the roles played by all the African countries who are now considered ‘foreigners’ in South Africa. Apartheid has not even been dismantled for 30 years yet our brothers in South Africa have quickly forgotten. A person can suffer ‘loss of memory’ and we can understand it, but how can a whole generation suffer ‘collective loss of memory?’. That only happens when a people decide to be lousy in taking up their own destinies in their own hands. It is easy to come up with lame excuses to justify evil and excuse wickedness. Today, I join my brother Julius Malema in stating rather unequivocally ‘no black man is a foreigner on African soil’. We make no apologies for that statement.
But our hero today is Mr Allen Onyema. Who knows whether it was for this reason that God allowed him to come of age, so he can save his people from the hands of ‘his other people’? While the nation yet slept and those awake yet debated, Mr Onyema went into rescue; a mission that cost him a fortune. What made it even more remarkable for me was the moment he came to receive returnee brothers alive on Nigeria’s soil as they all stood in state instead of lying dead in state.
Just like he couldn’t, I couldn’t hold tears too. That man is Christ personified. I don’t know him from Adam and I had never heard about him, and I haven’t even researched his religious inclination but all I know is that he did what Jesus would do, and he is not just a human being, he is a child of God.
I know Nigerians play politics with everything but I don’t care what anybody says, Air Peace is the only Airline that is worthy of my business in Nigeria going forward. Air Peace has become Nigeria’s only air line period. We give our business to people who respect who we are and what we represent. I call on all Nigerians to see to it that Air Peace becomes Household name. Our children unborn must know that at a time like this, Air Peace saved hundreds of Nigerians from being killed in South Africa.
The federal government owes Mr Onyema awards and celebration for this singular act of mercy. He didn’t have to do it, but he did it. He was not looking for cheap popularity nor was he doing choreography, but he saved lives from the valley of the shadow of death. Mr Onyema is worthy of my respect and our collective celebration.
I am not surprised that Nigeria as a country is yet to be clear about what actions she would take against South Africa for this wickedness on fellow Africans. The cattle rearers that have eaten up people’s farms (and prevented us from having new yam festivals in Nigeria), the same folks that commit all manner of killings in Nigeria have not been arraigned before any police station let alone a magistrate court . Nigerians have become chicken to be killed at will both at home and abroad yet an elected government sits mute and clueless. What a joke! What a disaster! What a colossal ineptitude and irresponsibility! What a celebrated failure!
This was not intended to be a long piece. As we wrap up, let us not forget the topic of our reflection. Our responsibility as humans is to hold the light for others and pass on the baton. When you hold the light for others to see, you also see with the light. When you deliver people from death, even death will see to it that you are delivered from the same. When you do unto others as you would like them to do unto you, you hold forth and live the very essence of our collective existence. That is what Mr Allen Onyema did and that is what, beloved, we should do each and everytime the opportunity calls.
The next generation beckons. What baton would you pass on? Do not let the baton fall in your hand. The labors of our heroes past shall never be in vain. Nigerians, Africans, Black People, who did this to us?
@MezieOkolo is a Public health and leadership analyst
09/14/2019