Dear Nigerian in Diaspora,
Time and time
again, you have justified your reason for leaving our fatherland. Or is it
motherland? You said it is because you want to give your children a better life
and opportunity than you had. We accepted your reason, as looking at the
current state of our nation, we see every validity in your reason. And we did
not trouble you or hassle you over that decision.
Just like we
did not hassle you over this decision, we would like you to reciprocate this
gesture by not hassling us over our decision to stay back.
Dear NID, I
have noticed that the way you talk about issues pertaining to our country is
far different from the way we here take it. Have you ever wondered why the tone
of your comments about this country is far different from the tones of the Nigerians
in Nigeria? Once there is a tragic event, you have a way of blowing it over the
top, exaggerating, and wondering what our dear country is turning to. If only
you reacted this way to every good thing that happened in our country, maybe
the western world won’t always present a single story about us in their press.
Your comments
of “I can never send my children to Nigeria on a holiday because they would
either be robbed, kidnapped or used for rituals,” doesn’t really sound
encouraging, especially as you have never suggested one solution to this
problem we are facing. Please tell me, what percentage of the ones who came
here during last holiday were subject to this cruel fate you imagine?
But Dear NID,
I begin to wonder
Why are you
always the ones to point out just how bad our country is to us, as if we are
too blind to see it?
Why are you
the ones that always hammer on the fact that we here are the stupidly religious
ones? That we all follow our pastors like blind fools? Please, let the people that
want to buy jets for their pastors do so. As you have tied your hope to the
white man giving you a better life, they have also tied their hope to their
pastors giving them miracles, since many of them would never have the
opportunity to leave this side of the world. After all, they learnt it from the
numerous pastors in America, who also bought private jets from money they got
from televangelism and offerings too. Our pastors still have a long way to go
when it comes to acquiring private jets.
Why are you
always the first to mention how you don't see Nigeria ever getting better, how
you lost hope in Nigeria a long time ago? We know about your lost hope, your
exit already tells us that much.
Why are you
the ones who dismiss songs of hope in Nigeria, such as Great Nation by Timi
Dakolo, The Future is here by TY Bello, etc. as wishful thinking? Just because
you have lost hope in our country doesn’t mean you should try to kill the hope
of those left.
You have
left, fine! Your children and grandchildren would probably never visit Nigeria
in their life time, fine! We don’t have an issue with that, it’s your family,
you can do whatever you like with them. You have said over and over again how
you don’t care for Nigeria and her issues anymore. Yes, we get that. Since that
is the case, we expect you to follow suit with your words, and really NOT care
again, by forgetting that Nigeria exists in your dictionary. Or does the fact
that you can’t stop talking and complaining about Nigeria despite the fact that
you claim not to care really mean that your ‘care-less’ statements are not
true? Selah
Dear NID, you
should know that not all of us have the opportunity to leave like you, and even
when some of us do, we just don't want to. We have chosen to stay. We were not
forced to stay, we chose to. Live with your choice and let us live with ours.
Dear NID,
even if you have stopped believing in Nigeria, and do not see yourself ever
returning here, can you please stop asking us to do the same? Can you please,
stop expecting us to stop hoping that we would get better, just because you
stopped hoping? Cos unfortunately, some of us have nowhere else to go, and no
matter how many people leave, some of us here still have to stay back, and make
Nigeria good again.
Dear NID, you
forget that when your family is bad, and you choose to run to another family
because they are good, it won’t solve the problem of the ‘badness’ of your
family. Your family will still be bad. Selah
Dear NID, why
is it that whenever I ask you about the solution to this country you claim you
do not care about, but can never stop talking about, you tell me the only
solution is to split? Unity or splitting - which of the options would cost
more? Are you ready to sacrifice the remaining family you left here to the
unavoidable bloodshed that would happen if your splitting fantasies ever became
a reality (no pun intended)? Wait no, you would move all of them out of the
country and make them fellow NIDs like you - another fantasy that would never
become a reality, thanks to the white man that would rather die than see that
happen.
Nigeria is a
big menace and it is like a time bomb waiting to explode, with the injustice,
corruption, insecurities, and other negative nouns I would not even bother to
mention, but rather leave for the political bloggers and writers to deal with.
One thing we know is this, in no way would leaving the country ever solve all
the migraine-generating problems of our country. But as we have said before, we
don’t have any problem with the choice you made. After all, there is the fight
or flight approach to be taken in any battle. You chose the flight, while we
chose the former.
It is okay
that you have decided to have as little as possible to do with us, but please,
live and let live. Don’t tell me to shut up when I say something good can still
come out of Nigeria – I will still say it. Don’t try to take away the hope we
have left with your comments of how failed and hopeless we are. Hoping in this
k-leg country of ours is very difficult, and we should be encouraged and
commended for doing so. In the face of the unexplainable nonsense our leaders
put us through in this country, our hope is honestly the only thing we have.
Take that away from us, and we had better started committing suicide because a
hopeless person is a walking-dead.
And if you
are a NID because your parents stole our commonwealth, sent you out to have a
better life, and you in turn, pay us back by trying to kill our spirit with
your hope-sucking statements, thereby making me spend time to write this letter
which would most likely generate comments I would rather not deal with my way,
well… since I have no power to do anything to you, I leave you for God to
judge. That is not because I am meek like Moses, it is because I really have no
power to do anything to you – at least, for now.
Dear NID, in
spite of all the nonsense happening in every sector of the country, you can
call me deluded, but I still say Nigeria has a great future. Okay, I said it
come and flog me. Oh I forgot, you would have to come down to Nigeria to do
that.
Dear NID, I
think I should stop here for now, as I strongly suspect that I am beginning to
ramble.
Yours
sincerely,
Nigerian in
Nigeria
Atilola
Moronfolu
