by No Mind Them, Idle Jobless People….
That was the comment someone I know, wrote somewhere yesterday after the Managing Editor of CrossRiverWatch, Jonathan Ugbal was arrested in Calabar by the Police for joining the ongoing nation wide protest. Like I said, I know the person. He has never worked after his NYSC because there are no jobs in Nigeria. He is only waiting, hanging around politicians, abusing others for politicians and hoping to be made PA in Governor Otu’s government. But he is calling me and Jonathan, ‘jobless people” because we are protesting that the country should be better for people like him.
The irony which I want to write about is that, it is those who suffer the most because of hardship in Nigeria that are up against those who can take care of themselves, but still choose to stake their lives for the poor. I work, I pay salaries every month end. I just did. I have been doing this for fourteen years. I pay office rents in Calabar. I have overhead cost every month. Jonathan works. He earns a pay. Apart from CrossRiverWatch, he is such a multi talented young man that is also doing several other things to augment his earnings.
When we sent him to Government House in Calabar as CrossRiverWatch Correspondent under Governor Ayade, the Governor rather decided to turn him to SA Media. The governor told me and I asked Jonathan if he wanted the job and he bluntly refused. I called Governor Ayade and told him, Jonathan cannot be his SA. Governor Ayade is alive. Jonathan insisted that he wanted to learn and grow his career in journalism.
I could have been anything that is not elected in the immediate past and present Cross River State Governments if I wanted to. I mean any position apart from the ones up for elections. I could even blend into a federal government hatchet man and make dirty money. I think I have the credibility and know many people in there to make that happen.
But we have decided to carry placards not because we are suffering or incapable of eating. We are doing it for the sake of those who are abusing us. We also know how to stay away and enjoy ourselves and watch others being killed and brutalized on TV by security agents. We also can decide to travel abroad and stay there. We can get visas. In fact, our passports have some visas, and when we travel, we are in a hurry to return home.
Falana, Sowore, and very many other comrades around the country, who always dare to stand in front of those armoured tanks are all employers of labor who can take maximum care of themselves and many others. They all have alternatives and can decide to keep quiet. Yet they stake their lives for those who abuse them for not giving up the fight for a better country.
But that’s ok because no one sent us. It is a path we choose by ourselves. That’s how we are wired. Everyone cannot be like us but everyone of us desires a better country that will avail us opportunities. It is therefrom that we should look at the ongoing protest.
It is true that there are elements who want to use the occasion to cause chaos. It is also true that the government is sponsoring violence to discredit the protest and clamp down on peaceful protesters. It is again true that, there are peaceful Nigerians who want to be provided safe passage to peacefully express their discontent with their government. The latter is where we belong and no one must try to take that away from us. It will only make things worse. A suffocated man is an angry man.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo.
Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Agba Jalingo, and does not represent TheLumineNews, its agent or the organization the author works for.
