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History is replete with moments when individuals have dared to break long-held rules—rules designed not to uplift but to suppress, rules that prioritize the comfort of the powerful over the suffering of the weak. At such moments, these audacious voices become the target of scorn, vilification, and threats. Yet, as history has shown us time and again, the voices that defy oppression, injustice, and unbearable hardship often become the voices that posterity reveres, while those who seek to silence them are forgotten in the sands of time.
Rita Ushie Uguamaye, a youth corps member, has spoken her mind, which is more or less, the truth. She has voiced not just personal discontent but the collective agony of millions of Nigerians struggling to survive under an economic and social system that seems bent on breaking them. In response, some have chastised her, accusing her of violating an oath of allegiance—an oath that, as it is being interpreted, seems to demand blind submission rather than critical engagement with leadership. But history teaches us that there always comes a time when individuals must rise above oppressive conventions and speak out, regardless of the consequences.
The world once condemned Galileo Galilei for daring to assert that the Earth moves around the Sun, a claim that violated the religious and scientific dogmas of his time. He was silenced, forced to recant, and lived under house arrest. Yet today, he is celebrated as the father of modern science, while those who sought to silence him are relics of a forgotten past.
Martin Luther, the German monk who ignited the Protestant Reformation, was excommunicated and declared an outlaw for questioning the authority of the Catholic Church. His 95 Theses challenged long-standing religious practices, and he was hunted by those who sought to maintain the status quo. Yet today, his name is immortalized as a revolutionary who reshaped Christianity, while his persecutors are either footnotes in history or completely forgotten.
Rosa Parks, the Black woman who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, was ridiculed, arrested, and criticized by those who insisted that she had violated the law. Yet that singular act of defiance sparked the American civil rights movement, changing history forever. Her name is immortalized, while those who upheld segregation are but ghosts of a shameful era.
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was branded a terrorist for fighting against apartheid. He was imprisoned for 27 years, condemned by those who insisted that his defiance violated the laws of his country. Yet, today, he stands as a global symbol of freedom and resilience, while his oppressors have been erased from the honor roll of history.
Even in Nigeria, history remembers Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who led women in defying colonial and traditional authorities that sought to silence them. She was brutalized, labeled a troublemaker, and dismissed by those who prioritized oppressive norms. Yet, today, she is hailed as a pioneering feminist and nationalist, while her detractors are long forgotten.
What do all these examples teach us? They teach us that those who dare to challenge unjust systems are often persecuted in their time, but history vindicates them. The same fate awaits Rita Ushie Uguamaye. Whether today’s Nigerians condemn or praise her, one thing is certain—posterity will remember and be proud of her.
This is not a legal argument. It may not even be politically correct. It is simply a historical meditation, a reflection on how truth and courage, no matter how inconvenient, eventually triumph over oppression. Rita Ushie has taken her place in the lineage of those who refused to be silenced. And history—our most honest judge—will remember her.
