Nothing was ever done

Nothing  was ever done that was not attempted. There are many ways to say that. You get nowhere when you do not set off. You strike no gold when you do not try.

At point A, all of your salivating and wishing about being at point Z is nothing and shall remain nothing if you do not set out. Nobody achieved anything who did not do or say something, or both. Too many who could have been somebody lived or died as nobody all because they attempted nothing. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

No pain, no gain. Fear is a dwarf. Those who dread heights end in stagnation. You win nothing when you dare nothing.

Mr. Atai Albert always says if you do not challenge the status quo, you shall go nowhere. And, every time the USA-based climate change man chimes that in, I almost always add: that you die alive. Cowardice is a serial thief: it steals your being, your head, your mind; your joy, your peace; your everything. Alas, cowardice is worse in men: it steals plus manhood.

Dear Somebody! Yes, you. For crying out loud, what did these scoundrels do to you to mess up your mind this bad? I mean, you think yourself nobody so much so you did not even recognise it was you I called somebody!

Father, please help your people. Dissolve these enemies of access, these enemies of development, these enemies of liberty. Let their place be empty. And, teach us how to enjoy the life you gave us freely.

The land is rich, but the people are so poor they enjoy both the poverty and the concomitant oppression. It is a curse to be content with poverty and injustice, but why do people who say they are God’s feel that their tormentors are doing them a favour? Who did us this dirty? Are you, dear God, no more on our side?

No, I take that back, dear Father. I apologise for even contemplating such thoughts? I should never have uttered such arrant nonsense? Because, I know that in spite of and despite our shenanigans, you are forever loving.

From the foregoing, caution advises me about the very next thing I plan to say so I do not need to ask or wonder. Another god, which is not another, is not and can never be a good second to, let alone better or stronger than The Real Deal. The problem is mercy -or mercifulness. Our Creator is too merciful to even the father of evil.

However, there again, there is a taunting dilemma that man can do nothing about. If our Creator, our own Father and Protector and Provider, were not as merciful as He is, would we -even we His children- have survived? And, if we enjoy mercy, why should we block others therefrom? Especially when some of us, many of us, who claim to be God’s children, are worse than some of Satan’s!

Is this where all the rise and fall in this life culminate? Is this even the reason for all the ironies that nature allows here on earth? Are God’s children in this perpetual hot soup because we have wandered too afar off? Because there is now no more chasm between evil offspring and us?

Help us the truth to know and the courage to stand up for ourselves, Lord. Deliver us from ourselves, deliver us from making you regret creating us, Father. Cause us to remember to never forget that you, our Creator and Sustainer, are a lion-sheep; not a sheep-sheep. Teach us to never forget to remember that we cannot be otherwise; that as Akwaibomights say, we cannot be children of lion but look like goat!

Get up, stand up for your rights, people of God. Understand that if say or do nothing because of fear or intimidation or both, you live barely and ignored, and worse, you die poor and forgotten. Surely, we have grumbled enough, we have complained enough, this is our chance. We cannot and should not toy with this one chance for anything.

Choose conscientiously, choose patriotically, and choose wisely. Be circumspect, be courageous, and be deliberate. Be not afraid, be not apathetic, and whatever happens, be not stupid. 2027 is a glorious opportunity that we cannot and should not miss.

God bless Nigeria!