Welcome: The new Nigerian refugees by SYLVIA OFILI

THE Nigerian Senate just gave many people enough justification to become refugees. I predict in the next couple of months, in countries all over Europe, young men and women will arrive in droves, over sea and land, and they would all be gay. Gay or not, everybody will be gay. If you have ever wanted to leave that country but have never had any real reason to (apart from the obvious ones i.e. no light, no water, no security, no good schools, malaria, armed robbers, corrupt police, corrupt politicians, no jobs, fake drugs in the market, no connections, no food to eat, petrol wahala, feel free to add to this list) well, now you have a solid one. Do not waste any time. Put your slippers under your armpit and hit the desert (keep an eye open for Boko Haram though) but be sure to stay clear of Libya. We are being killed there but hey, who cares? The Senate has better things to do than save Nigerian citizens.

Oh yes, the Nigerian Senate who have so much time on their hands, decided to pass a bill stating that gays shall not be allowed to get married and if they dare do, they shall get fourteen years in jail. Let us face the truth. There are no gay couples applying for marriage certificates in that country. How would they do that? There are no provisions for such a marriage in our system, therefore, this bill is totally redundant. It is like telling me that I am banned from eating eba in my kitchen when I had none in the first place. If eba was available and waiting for me in my kitchen, then that’s another story. But I don’t even have garri or hot water. In fact, I don’t even have a bowl to make the eba in, so what exactly would be the point of such a ban? It’s as simple as that. I can’t be the only one that sees how unnecessary this bill is. A total waste of time and resources. But hey, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

I am surprised about the excitement this bill has caused in our people. People are almost foaming at the mouths because of this useless bill. I wish our Senate could be equally engaged in other serious matters. For example, Boko Haram. Every month, a new bomb and yet, our senators are laughing over homosexual jokes on TV. I would have expected some kind of crack down by now. Or is it only in the Niger Delta that the military enjoys operating? And what do they plan to do about the religious violence in the north? Or is this show of solidarity against homosexuals going to stop the burning of churches over there? Will this be the very act that will unite Christianity and Islam in the north? And if that is so, will it not be strange that it is only in our hatred we can unite and not in love?

There is much to be said about this bill but I wonder if there is any point. In a bill where "public show of same-sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly” can lead to ten years imprisonment, how long will it be before neighbours turn against neighbours? In a land ruled by superstition, with the constant threat of “bad belle”, how long will it be before our jails are full of people suspected of homosexuality? Nobody needs to tell us that we are treading on dangerous ground, led by people who do not see beyond their feet.

Whatever our opinions may be about sexuality, let us not allow others use us as pawns in political games. There are many issues the government needs to face. So many young people have died on our terrible roads this year. Women are still being raped and abused daily. Children are still on our streets hawking. People are still dying of malaria. Armed robbers and kidnappers still operate freely. Corruption. Electricity. Water. Need I go on?

If you want to know the truth, I will tell you. I do not care about who gets married or who does not in this life. I have seen dysfunctional marriages in that society and it was not a pretty sight. All my life, I have seen men do as they want in their marriages. I have seen old men run after girls young enough to be their daughters. I have seen men abuse their wives and children as if they were running a slave farm. I have seen men marry one wife, two wives, three wives. I have seen men sell their daughters to other men for money. I have seen it all.

Now all of a sudden, these same men are all so concerned about who gets married?

Our country is too corrupt for us to pretend that we are that righteous. Let us stop fooling ourselves. If we were so in touch with our moral values and if really, our moral values meant so much to us as we are now claiming, Nigeria will not be in the state it is now. We are not virtuous enough to talk about moral values. Definitely our Senate should be the last place where morality should be discussed. No, let those who have clean hands come forth and speak, otherwise, everybody should keep quiet and stop the hypocrisy.

slyofili@yahoo.com

Author of this article culled from The Guardian: BY SYLVIA OFILI

Another Face of Brutality

As if I did not have enough to worry or get upset about already.

work has being more difficult since the beginning of this Month. I get to work late everyday, get home late at night everyday because of the incessant and unfathomabble traffic and fuel scarcity.

My family (majorly half -older-brothers) that suddenly sprang up after years of neglect to take over part of my property without my consent or knowledge and had the gut to tell me that "the family had decided" ( well, I will see them in court) and some friends that are worried I should leave them be so they won't do juju ( supernatural stuff) to me. I just wonder what our value system is all about. If we have to be afraid to challenge injustice because we fear they will have us killed spiritually or otherwise.

Whatever, I will see them in court if they don't back down. Fuel scarcity, power failure, my inablility to go to Shoprite to get cats food for my feline kids... etc

Then, I was on my way to work on this very day and there in the Molue "masses bus" that I entered since I did not want to sleep at the bus stop was this guy that had a disagreement over the fare with the conductor. They dragged themselves down and started fighting. There was a police officer in the vehicle and he got down, I thought to settle the fight but no, he took side with the conductor and started dishing out hot slaps on the passenger. He beat him till he ran!

What? Why would he do this? He has no right to but he did. He was satisfied with himself. He was carried in the vehicle for free as is the case with uniform people in Lagos. They ride for free and do all sort of favours for the motorists at the moment. They throw the dignity of labour and service to the people away so many times for freebies. They perpetrate injustice on inoccent citizens with no one stopping them.

Not that I have a solution to this because I don't. It became my fight when I told the officer that it was enough. The driver took it up with me and called me a crazy woman for carrying dreadlocks and an idiot for not minding my business. Well, I am not so mad on that remarks because the drivers and the conductors too can be victims of brutality the next day.

I don't know how we are going to do it but we have got to restore justice, selfless service and respect for human lives into our value sytems.

When will the violence stop?

She was pregnant and the beating went on. She was always weak and tired but she could not tell anyone what her loving husband does to her. He beat her up at every chance he got. Even the fact that she was carrying their second child did not alter the pattern. One day, after the delivery of their baby, she was beating again!!! Something turned her head that day for she picked up a coca-cola bottle using all her strength; she broke it on her husband’s head!
This is the story of WOMAN “A”

 

She assumed the role of the breadwinner of the family. For better for worse they say. Hubby lost his job but that didn’t deter her from doing all in her power to put food on the table for her family. By 4:30am she is up to care for the children before leaving for work at 6:00 am everyday. She would come home in the evening to prepare their dinner. The fact that her husband was in the house all day did not alter her role of cooking the dinner no matter how late she got back from work. On top of all her effort not to make her family suffer, she was constantly beating up by the love of her life. She was beating today as usual, her siblings had to phone one another to come and rescue their beloved sister in the hands of the monster called her husband. The only means they know of rescuing her is to give her husband his own taste of medicine. They beat him till he shit!
That went the story of WOMAN “B”.

Discharged from the hospital, from an accident that nearly claimed her life. She lost members of her family in this accident. They were all in the same bus that was gutted by fire. She was the only surviving person. She left the hospital in a fairly good shape at last but still she was traumatized. She would still need to see a psychologist though she wasn’t sure how she would find or pay for one. She left for her home to begin the recovery process but her husband saw to it that she got NO rest. She was beating up the first day she got home! He ignored the neck brace on her by dishing out hot slaps on her already damaged and broken body. Alas, the neighbours could not watch this maltreatment any more. They took law into their hands and beat her sweet love till he fainted! 
That was how WOMAN “C” was treated.

“I have come to report my husband sir, he wants to kill me, see the bruises on my body from the beating” she cried to the police officer she met at the police station near her house. The police officer looked at her for a moment with no compassion reflected on his face and barked at her; “What did you do? A beg, e be your husband and this is a domestic matter, go back and resolve it between you 2”. She was dumbstruck. “So, the law cannot protect me?” She thought to herself as she turned her back on the police station. She did not live long after that. She died in the hands of her husband when she was receiving her last beating. 
WOMAN D got no protection.

On the street, she was stopped, before she could say "Obama", she saw the rains of slaps baptizing her already disfigured face. She recognised her violator, her husband!!! The same beast she is being running from for Months now. “Where are my children? You left my house with my 5 children, I will kill you today”. He said to his wife as he dragged her across the street. “What did you do?” “How can you abandon your husband?” Asewo/ ashawo/ prostitute go back to your husband” “Don‘t let her escape again o, useless woman”. These are all the comforting words she got from the street sellers and passers-by.
What is now the fate of WOMAN E?

When will these violence stop/end? When will it be told to the perpetrators and their accomplices that “THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR ANY VIOLENCE COMMITTED AGAINST WOMEN?