Sowore: The Travails Of A Gadfly

"My presence is to instigate and incite the people for any change they want, and for not having a change that they don't wish to do."

-Muammar Al Gaddafi
"They are talking about revolution"
"Don't you know
They're talkin' 'bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don't you know
They're talkin' about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation

Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
Don't you know
They're talkin' 'bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what's theirs
Don't you know
You better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run

Oh I said you better
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run

'Cause finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution
Yes, finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no
Talkin' bout a revolution, oh
While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation

Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
Don't you know
They're talkin' 'bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
And finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution
Yes, finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no
Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no
Talkin' bout a revolution, oh no
- Tracy Chapman
Omoyele Sowore is not beloved by the establishment. The establishment hates him because he has called for revolution to change the system and overthrow those deemed as agents of misery to and for the ordinary people. Even, for the people he is fighting for, many of them hate him with passion because they are beholden to those who are making their lives miserable.

The establishment understands him. They know what he stands for. They are scared of him and the kind of seismic change he could wrought if allowed to prosper and fester with his philosophy of revolution. Majority of the people he is fighting for, have no understanding of what he is about. Many of them are indifferent. Many of them condemn him. Few appreciate him. But those few even do so with subdued monotones.

Sowore, for all the accusations of impudence; for all the allegations of brashness; for all the charges of incitement; for all the imputations of different kinds of human frailties, founded and or unfounded, is a courageous man. A courageous man who has a clear idea of what path he wants the society to tread. He is determined, dedicated focused and persevering.

He is a courageous man because he was and he is still risking all. He is risking his investment. He is risking his name. He is risking his life. He is risking all. As a result of this, his family's stability is on the line. His family's happiness is on the line. His mother's joy is on the line. With all this, he has not been bothered as he continued to face risks and following his visions.

Those who are criticizing him fall into different categories. Category one consists of the actors and the stakeholders of this travesty called a country. They are the corrupt elements, the kleptomaniacs, the official thieves, who are doing everything in their power to foreclose the future of this generation and the next. If they foreclosed the future of Nigeria, that is all well and good. But they are also trying their best to ensure that when the country breaks up, it would be difficult for the new Nations rising from its ashes to stabilize and move on.

Those in this category are inflicted with chronic myopia. Their myopia informs their belted thinking process also circumscribed and permeated by their girdled greed. They are chained to their avidity and rapacity. They are aproned to their cupidity and craving. Yes, because of their esurience, they have become irredeemable. They are irrevocably committed to this path of banditry, brigandage and looting. They have eyes but could not see. They have ears but could not hear. They have noses but are terribly unable to smell. They are in a very unimpregnable, thick cocoon of edacity.

Another category of Sowore haters, are the faith and hope peddlers. They are the ones who refuse to believe anything bad is happening out there. They are the ones who become highly discomforted by any news of negative events happening in the Country called Nigeria. They are the ostrichists. They have their heads buried in the sand while tears are wetting the streets. They are the ones who are unaware that their fellow human beings are being murdered. They are the ones who would deny that farms were being invaded, women are being raped, arson were being committed and that if at all, these are happening, they are not committed by the Fulani herdsmen and their accomplices in the law enforcement agencies as well as the Armed Forces.

This category consists of those who marinate in what Benjamin Franklin described as "comfortable inaction" or "temporary safety." They have a sense that their liberty is withering away, but they are still able to assure themselves to the contrary. So, when they encounter someone trying to make them confront the reality, they become hostile, combative, unduly defensive and adversarial. Their visceral reaction becomes communicated cacophonously. They are edgy, perpetually nervous, whiny, and would sulk without being conscious of it. They engage in undue transference of aggressive behaviors and demonize those they regard as "unpatriotic" for not sharing their passivity, inactions and denials.

Another category of Sowore haters are the sentries of sorrow. The messengers of misery. The couriers of catastrophe. The prophets of tribulation. The agents of anguish. The bearers of blues. The envoys of grieve. The peddlers of pain. They are marketers of melancholy. They are the one who would call white, black and swear to the heavens that they are telling the truth. They are the ones who would sermonize that we should give up our lands or face death. They are the ones who expect us to be grateful for being beheaded, after all, bombs are no more exploding.

Their likes are not found in just Aso Rock, they are found on the social media. They are found in the crannies and corners of the land, defending the indefensible. They make excuses for the most despicable acts of incompetence. They cry on the rooftops about corruption while their principals are stealing Nigeria blind. They are the hypocrites. They are the ones who see evil only in those not card - carrying members of the ruling party. They are, more often, very dishonest, shameless, gutless and valueless. They are basically propagandists who are impervious to truth and facts.

Another category of Sowore haters are the unfortunate victims of the oppressors themselves. Those that Sowore is actually fighting for. They are the ones who are in chains but think that they are free. They are the ones who are blind but think they could see very clearly. They are the ones who are deaf but think that they could hear very clearly. They are the ones whose nostrils are evidently blocked but think they could smell everything. They marinate in disgusting ignorance with garish gusto and putrid pride. They are the ones that have been povertized and squalorized.

This category consists of the happy slaves, joyful in their misfortunes, happy in their miseries. Their hopelessness has been solidified into revelry. It has become a way of life for them. They are inflicted with pathological monomania and are unable to see and think clearly. Their horizons have been shortened. They are very vociferous in the defence of their oppressors. They would happily accept to fight on behalf of their oppressors for crumbs and at times, for nothing.

They suffer from concentrated low self-esteem. They have been psychological conditioned to believe that their lives could not be bettered. They have accepted their fate. When you come to them that their lots could be improved, they see you as a rabble rouser, a disrupter of a sort and instantaneously turn against you. They see you as an enemy instead of joining you to overthrow their yokes. They carry their burdens around with curious satisfaction in grinding poverty, squalor, want and diseases.

It is because of this category of people that some have been saying that there could and would never be a REVOLUTION in Nigeria. This school of thought believes that the docility of this class of people is irreversible. That they would always be served with tokenism and that would not just divide their ranks, it would make them easily satisfied and keep them loyal. They theorize on the nature of man, how man is intrinsically selfish and self-centered; how self-preservation would always trumped any plan for revolt.

This is why Sowore is a danger to the establishment. He is a serious threat to the status quo. He is trying to anchor an organized resistance. He is trying to kindle the fire of defiance. He is trying to stoke the fire of hope and new possibilities. He is calling for a revolution which was seen as more sincere than the kind of revolution that a Bola Ahmed Tinubu or a Mohammadu Buhari would call for, as records showed that they have done before now.

The beautiful thing is History. History has a lot of lessons for those who have the aptitude to learn from it. History is a very stubborn guide and lead. It could not be twisted to suit any form of whims and caprices. History is very recalcitrant. Its instructions are always very clear and unambiguous. This is the relevance of the lines at the beginning of this piece by Tracy Chapman, especially the following:

"They are talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what's theirs..."
In spite of all the hurdles, all the challenges of the moment, all the difficulties of the present, Sowore's message would resonate. The appropriate conditions are being created by the status quo. The conducive atmosphere is being engendered by the protagonists of this criminal entity. It is being fermented by all their acts of commission and omission. This is why they are jittery. That is why they are trying to lock him up. That is why they are trying to frustrate him with court cases. But at the end, we know what the result would be.

Sowore is fighting a system led by criminals. Criminals in the garb of government officials, who share and display more affinities with murderers, rapists and arsonists. They "rehabilitate" them and recruit them into the armed forces and the law enforcement agents. They give these reprobates more comfort than the rest of the citizens. This government cater to the welfare of crooks, bandits and marauders than they would for the citizens. Yet, they are determined to lock up Sowore. They are determined to frustrate him with fatuous charges. They are determined to engage him in endless court cases to distract him. Or stop him altogether. It is an uphill task for Omoyele Sowore. But it is a task that could be and would be accomplished in time.

"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”

- John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address on January 20, 1960,

By Remi Oyeyemi