The video of Policemen shooting at fleeing citizens is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. That the shooting was at defenceless students protesting lack of electricity makes one heartbroken.

Is it a crime to be a Nigerian? Is it a crime to be law abiding? The students of Federal University OyeEkiti embarked on a peaceful protest to register their grievances lawfully yet they were descended upon by police on the convoy of the first lady of Ekiti State.

What could have been a moment to interact with students who were pained at the hardship they were going through became a killing spree and snuffing of the lives of two promising young men one of whom about two years ago declared his love, support and admiration for the Nigeria Police Force that ironically took his life in the most callous, senseless and needless manner.
The most heart wrenching part of the video was watching the fleeing students being shot at by the police who came after them like hunters after preys in the bush, shooting with such glee and ferocity.

Nothing on earth warrants the shooting and mowing down of defenceless students who simply demanded for a better life they are deserving of. The question we should all be asking is WHO’S NEXT? Which family would be forced to mourn a loved one killed by security agents that should have protected them?

We are a people given to praying and doing absolutely nothing about the situation. That hasn’t worked for us. We also need to make demands for an end to the senseless killings. Frederick Douglas who escaped from slavery said; ‘I prayed for 20 years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs’

For how long would citizens be mowed down needlessly before the Nigerian government takes up its mantle of protecting lives and properties and put a stop to all the killings most especially in the hands of the security agents that are saddled with the responsibility of protecting lives?

How many families will grieve in isolation before people realise that attack on anyone anywhere is attack on everyone everywhere? Anyone can be a victim and it is in our collective interest to demand that the senseless killings of defenceless citizens by armed security agents be stopped immediately!

The impunity with which security agents not only kill but would mockingly tell citizens that they will kill and nothing would happen to them is quite alarming. Some have been reported to tell their victims that the worst that can happen to them is a transfer to another town. How do we deal with such impunity?! How can security agents who are meek and pitiable in the hands of insurgents, kidnappers and bandits become roaring lions in the face of defenceless citizens?

Until we value our lives as citizens and collectively condemn any killings without trying to justify the killings based on our biases we would continue to be victims of ill-trained, ill equipped and frustrated security agents. Demands by citizens are what would put an end to killings of defenceless citizens by those that are meant to protect them. Let our security agents show their might to the bandits, insurgents and Kidnappers that have robbed us of our sleep and turned our lives upside down. Citizens are now like hunted animals with no hiding place in their own country. This is not acceptable!
We cannot continue to look away and keep enabling the killings by our security agents. They killed IPOB we looked away or justified the action! They killed so called Yahoo boys we looked away or justified the action! They killed Shiite members we looked away or justified the action! Now they have killed students at Federal University OyeEkiti, are we going to look away or justify the action? Are we going to wait until we are directly affected before we do the needful to end these senseless killings by our security agents?
We must all demand for justice for the slain students. Those who fired the bullets and those who ordered the shooting must be identified and prosecuted. Where there is no justice there can never be peace. We all must demand

JusticeForFOUYE!

WeAreAllFOUYE!

I leave us with the words of Mamie Till mother of Emmett Till who was killed in 1955 for whistling at a white lady. He was only 14!

“Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said “That’s their business not mine”. Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us anywhere in the world had better be the business of us all”