WHY EXACTLY ARE YOU SO BITTER?

An Independence Day Fiction by Okorie Chidiuto

I’ll start by apologising beforehand, I’m not exactly grounded in Nigerian history. So feel free to correct me wherever you feel I used a wrong reference. But keep in mind this is mostly just fiction.

Here we go…

“Like it or not, every single one of us has contributed to bringing our country to the all-time low we’re currently in.”

Picture this; you’re Tony Enahoro. It’s that day again, September 30. But the year is 2020. Your clothes are torn, and there are maggots all over your body. It’s been 8 years, you’d think the maggots would’ve stopped or even reduced by now. Jeez!

Whatever be the case, nothing was going to ruin the night for you. This IS the night. You look around and it’s all bones and rags, you float out of it, like the phantom you are. The wind is blowing, the trees definitely get the mood tonight. Ahh, yes! Of course, you can’t feel that either, but it doesn’t matter. It’s time to go get the old gang back together.

Zicky should be here by now. You planned to go see them breathers today. Femi and Fewa said they’d go together and didn’t want to be disturbed; Fewa with his near British accent; you think to yourself, "Does he really think he’s better than me? Pfft!”

You remember the old days, where it was hither and tither, always sending letters, calling rallies, writing speeches and crosschecking. Anything to get the bloody Brits out of your country. In 1953, at the prime of your political career, you risked everything to make that suggestion, even when you weren’t even sure you would have back-up.

It took 7 years but it paid off. Femi, Zicky, Fewa… all very instrumental us [Nigeria] gaining independence. Sure, things aren’t exactly looking up for the breathers right now, but at least they’re breathing. At least… your trailing thoughts are interrupted by a stray phantom who drifts close to your gravestone and starts banging loudly.

You don’t even realize you’ve moved from there. If this man had fists, he’d have broken the stone… how rude!

“And why are you hitting so loudly? Do you know who owns that stone?”, says Tony, with an air of gallantry that could easily be mistaken for arrogance.

“Oh, you’re already out. Sir Nnamdi Azikiwe sent me”, replied the strange phantom, apparently recognising him as the occupant.

“You’re Anthony Enahoro?”

“And you’re too blind to read the stone you were savaging? But of course, I am!”

“Yeah, well… he said he wouldn’t make it. Tafewa Balewa and Obafemi Awolowo asked him to join them, but they found some disturbing news circulating on what the breathers call social media and you need to head to town too. Do have a nice evening.”

And with a ghostly spin, he vanishes into the night. But what could be the problem? You become absolutely sure that this is another of their plots to put you in the background yet again. All of this was your idea, a tree from the seed you planted, yet you barely get recognition. Anyway, nothing could go wrong on this evening. As a matter of fact, at this time 60 years ago, you were dancing your heart out. Victory was imminent. Well, now you have to go to town, but purely out of curiosity. You gracefully make your own ghostly spin. SWOOSH!

After 3 hours of stalking various youth, you’re brought close to tears. These bunch of ingrates! How could they?! Do they not realize the work you did to make this day come true? What do they mean there’s nothing to be happy about independence for?

What have they ever done for this country? You were jailed twice, fighting for the best interests of this country. You pitched your ideas and were forced to take the back seat, taking solace in the fact that your ideas would come to fruition. These snakes who have never given as much as a splint for this country, dare question the validity of your service!!!



You get back to the cemetery; everywhere is quiet. I mean, it’s always quiet, but now it just hits different. Femi and the boys materialise (as material as ghosts can be, anyway) out of thin air, and move closer. Their gloomy faces show they’ve definitely seen it all too. Things have been bad for years, but at least they’ve not always been this bad. All the work, the sacrifice, and these bloody breathers won’t even smile.

“Booze from the '20s, good ser?”, said Fewa, halting your trailing thoughts and holding up a bottle of wine. How he managed to carry one, you’ll never understand.

“I can’t guarantee it’ll drown our sorrows, but I can say for sure it’ll go right through you”, said Zicky with his usual tone of sarcasm. The bell in the Catholic church nearby sounded. It was midnight. OCTOBER 1ST, 2020.

“Happy independence day, friends!”

Hey, guys. Back to reality now.

Throughout Wednesday, 30th September 2020, people have taken to reposting a certain post made on twitter that reads, “No go wish me Happy Independence Day. Wish me Happy New Month and pass, else I fit vex for you”.

It’s funny, but it felt a bit disrespectful to the heroes that got us to this point in the first place. No, I mean the actual heroes. What have we done for the country? Like it or not, every single one of us has contributed to bringing our country to the all-time low we’re currently in.

• From encouraging your bus driver to follow “one-way” to beat the traffic, to paying that ₦50 at the checkpoint because it is “the norm”.
• From throwing that piece of sachet water on the road after drinking, to “tipping off” the receptionist, so you can get ahead of the line.

Yes! We’re all rotten. So why exactly are you so bitter? Why do you fume so much about today?

• Do you actually hate this country for what it’s become? Because it couldn’t have done this itself.
• Do you hate the government for doing this to the country? Because they couldn’t have done this alone.
• Or do you equally hate the very helpful role you’ve played in soiling or nation?
  
  
  
  Well, while you’re still deciding, we shouldn’t take for granted what these heroes did by setting us free from colonial rule. Things weren’t always this bad. Rotten eggs got into the system, and they can also be taken out. If not for anything else, for the respect we have for our national icons, we say,
  
  “Happy Independence Day! ”.

And for their sake, let’s do better, let’s make Nigeria great again.

P.S. For those who don’t know who Tony Enahoro is. He’s the one who, back in 1953, proposed that Nigeria be granted full independence.

Read more about him here

About the Author:

In simple words, I’m Okorie Chidiuto, an Engineering Student of FUTO who loves to tell stories about… pretty much everything.

Find me on:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chidiuto-okorie-0397a3163

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/okorie.chidiuto

Twitter: https://twitter.com/diuto_okorie?s=09

Ciao!