Bury me anywhere but not in Nigeria

Dele Oluwole

“A country where death traps are called roads, incessant armed robbery/police attacks on hardworking individuals have become a way of life, and where constant power supply can not be guaranteed for 4 hours a day is not worth returning to…… not many citizens leaving abroad would proudly call a country with so much  evil credentials home” – Chukwuemeka O.O

Before asking for the heads of Nigerians working abroad that dread returning home please take the courage to inculcate some decorum in the Nigerian police force, repair the death traps called roads, and advise the rogues called politicians to grow up. Nigerians leaving abroad wouldn’t ask for too much, they are not even asking for 24 hours power supply.

Helping to build ones county is a civic responsibility but not when you know that your life could be snuffed out by a trigger happy half educated police officer for a paltry 20 naira note or simply for driving an expensive car, and definitely not when you nurse the fear that an illiterate lorry driver who can not identify a stop road sign can run into you on the motorway and leave you paralysed.

Chukwuemeka left the shore of the country for greener pasture in Finland some 18 years a go; he worked hard, became successful, and married a finish woman. He never minced words about how much love he had for Nigeria his country of birth; he was always quick to tell everyone how he cherished returning home. He believed strongly that life abroad can never be compared to the freedom and wonderful relationships enjoyed back home.

He told his children several times how wonderful it will be for them to finally return to the country where their father came from. He told them about the natural Owu waterfalls, the Yankari game reserve and he didn’t also forget to tell them how unified the people are in diversity. His wife was fascinated with the fact that over 200 languages are spoken in one country.

Chukwuemeka’s experience on one of the Finish motorways was the last straw needed for him to finally return to Nigeria; he had been humiliated by a Finish transport police officer who did not only delay him to the extent that he missed picking his sons from school but dehumanised him in the name of routine stop and search. Just two weeks after the unimaginable motorway experience he received a mail that his two sons will be taken away from him by the social security department because he arrived two hours late at  their school and for leaving them unattended for two hours, they therefore do not think he is capable of taking good care of the boys. The social department also wrote in their letter “on this occasion you will not be prosecuted because we have had no previous records of you abandoning your children”.

He thought there couldn’t be a better time to return to his beloved country, he therefore proudly decided to start planning his final return to Nigeria. It would be an understatement if one says his wife and children were in high spirits when he broke the news to them; they were so delighted and thought the relocation would be the best thing to have happened to the family at that time.

The news of their return soon got to his neighbours as his children announced it proudly at school. Before long, he put up his house for sale and because of the location the house was gone in just two weeks. The quick sale of the house exhilarated the family as delay in selling the house could have probably been the only setback to their dream of returning home and would have spelt doom for them.

His wife shopped for light clothing for the family while Chukwuemeka spent most of his time on the phone sealing the deal of a temporary duplex accommodation in the GRA area of Ikeja.  Three days later they were received at the MM international airport by family and friends. The warm reception at the airport was a moment that will for long be treasured by the children and his wife. Chukwuemeka couldn’t be happier as he was proud to have his family warmly received by his people.

The wife was eager to explore Lagos, the populous city of aquatic splendour, so neither the obscenity of the rickety Molue buses nor the maddening scenes that characterise places like CMS, Ojuelegba, and Oshodi during peak hours come as a surprise to her and the children as Chukwuemeka had already prepared their minds well in advance. Two weeks after arriving in Nigeria their experience in the country was full of fun as everything was moving on well like the script from a movie until one Saturday night.

They had gone out to attend the birthday party of one of Chukwuemeka’s friends from university days, when they got back home they immediately retired to the bedroom while the children got busy with the Nintendo game in the living room. The bedroom door suddenly opened unusually and instantly without turning, with a tone heralding authority Chukwuemeka’s wife reminded the children the need to go to bed immediately when out of the blue a thunderous slap with deafening sound like thunder landed on her left cheek.

Chukwuemeka who was half asleep woke up terrified to find his two Sons escorted into the room with their wrists tied behind their back, behind them were three gun totting robbers who now ordered everyone in the room to go flat on the floor. The robbers took away all they had; money, clothes, and jewelleries. The armed robbers asked for their Finish passports, that was just the clue they needed to conclude that the robbery operation was an inside job with first hand information about them, but fortunately for the Finish returnees their passports where at the Malaysian embassy where they had applied for tourist Visas a day before.

The encounter with the armed robbers was so traumatic for the children that they remained awake for many nights; the children’s agony coupled with his wife’s pressure to return to Finland made Chukwuemeka’s decide it was time to go back to Finland with his family. On the night of departure, the children’s joy had no bound and as they travelled through Ikeja to the MM international airport their car was flagged down at a police check point just three miles away from the airport. They were immediately ordered out of the car to be identified. The leader of the uniformed men took Chukwuemeka into the police vehicle, showed him locally made short guns, and said “cooperate otherwise my boys will spray you all and brand you as escaping armed robbers”. Their four luggages which had their passports were taken away and never recovered.

The next day, they were at the Finish embassy for the travel documents that would enable them return to Helsinki. The visa officer told Chukwuemeka to go and retrieve the passports from whoever he sold them to. She said she had lost count of the number of Nigerians with the finish indefinite leave to remain who falsely declared their travel documents missing in recent times, but his wife was assured 24 hours safe return to Finland. She was also offered hotel accommodation pending when her Finish travel documents will be ready. She did not only turn down the offers but promised not to leave the premises of the embassy until her husband and two children are issued Finish travel documents.

 The good news is that the four members of the family have since returned to Helsinki in one piece but not after the knife hedge battle with the finish embassy that lasted for 6 weeks. Chukwuemeka may have returned into the pain of an adopted country but it’s far better than the incessant pandemonium of his country of birth. His two children were so traumatised by the armed robbery experience that they had to undergo psychiatric treatment for two years.

Chukwuemeka has since given up on Nigeria and did strongly warned his wife and children who are now 16 and 19 not to bury him in Nigeria when he dies, he once jokingly said he would rise if his body is buried anywhere called Nigeria. He kept telling his friends that his body can be buried anywhere in the world but not in Nigeria - not even in the Nigerian waters.

That’s what I call the fury of a man whose country lost forever.

Robot  # 1 | 25.11.2008 00:31

Bury me anywhere but not in Nigeria Dele Oluwole “A country where death traps are called roads, incessant armed robbery/police attacks on hardworking individuals have become a way of life, and where constant power supply can not be guaranteed for 4 hours a day is not worth returning to…… not many citizens leaving abroad would proudly call a country with so much evil credentials home” – Chukwuemeka O.O Before asking for the heads of Nigerians working abroad that dread returning home please take the courage to inculcate some decorum in the Nigerian police force, repair the death traps called roads, and advise the rogues called politicians to grow up. Nigerians leaving abroad wouldn’t ask for too much, they are not even asking for 24 hours power supply. Helping to build ones county is a civic responsibility but not when you know that your life could be snuffed out by a trigger happy half...Read the full article.

Dewdrops  # 2 | 25.11.2008 10:57

=Robot;293561>Bury me anywhere but not in Nigeria Dele Oluwole “A country where death traps are called roads, incessant armed robbery/police attacks on hardworking individuals have become a way of life, and where constant power supply can not be guaranteed for 4 hours a day is not worth returning to…… not many citizens leaving abroad would proudly call a country with so much evil credentials home” – Chukwuemeka O.O Before asking for the heads of Nigerians working abroad that dread returning home please take the courage to inculcate some decorum in the Nigerian police force, repair the death traps called roads, and advise the rogues called politicians to grow up. Nigerians leaving abroad wouldn’t ask for too much, they are not even asking for 24 hours power supply. Helping to build ones county is a civic responsibility but not when you know that your life could be snuffed out by a trigger happy half...Read the full article. Chukwuemeka has since given up on Nigeria and did strongly warned his wife and children who are now 16 and 19 not to bury him in Nigeria when he dies, he once jokingly said he would rise if his body is buried anywhere called Nigeria. He kept telling his friends that his body can be buried anywhere in the world but not in Nigeria - not even in the Nigerian waters. That’s what I call the fury of a man whose country lost forever. Hmmmmmmmmmmm! Glad there are some who feel like I do. Like the famous holy book inferred once upon a time.... Let the dead bury their dead. If I cannot live there, I cannot be buried there........unless I die there by mistake.....then I really do not care what happens to my corpse. Life is for the living.......do not care for the afterlife.

Papino  # 3 | 25.11.2008 11:01

Tell Chukwuemeka that his experience though horrible,is not enough reason to declare on his country,names not worthy of mention.People sacrificed a lot to make Helsinki what it is today and untill Nigerians move beyond the jitters of an emerging economy,nothing better would come out of the slow but sure path to greatness.A lot of the responsibility is on the diaspora and the least of our resolve is not to give up even when our country seem to have been stripped of the basics of civillity.

Olu Affairs  # 4 | 25.11.2008 11:26

Hi Dele, "I have no doubt in my mind that there is something radically wrong with us as a people and as a country. I have harboured some degree of optimism about this country for some time now, but there is no use hiding it, everything has been blown into smithereens. Honestly, it is very doubtful whether we are ever going to make it. It is tempting to regard the writer of this piece as a cynic or pessimist but I think we must confront the reality that stares us right in the face and be bold to say, we are a failed nation." An excerpt of an article i read earlier on today which mirrors my exact thoughts but I would even go a bit father to say that the above is not peculiar to Nigeria and Nigerians alone but to the greater percentage of black people. The question that needs to be answered is, "Is there something flawed in the psychological make up of the black race"? I'm not sure if anyone out there saw the dispatches program last night re: aid to African countries and how surprise surprise, it never gets to through to the poor long suffering masses that needs them most. The program shot in various African countries was replete with pictures of heinous amputations, gaping wounds, wanton destruction of human life and properties etc inflicted by one black person against another. In our case (Nigeria), it seems as a nation, we lack the collective will to push for change in our circumstances. As soon as we, (self included) attain a certain level of comfort we suddenly develop thick skins and deaf ears to problems of the masses as if they, the downtrodden, dirty, stinking, creepy masses exist in another part of the world

toksyleigh  # 5 | 25.11.2008 13:17

Tell Chukwuemeka that his experience though horrible,is not enough reason to declare on his country,names not worthy of mention.People sacrificed a lot to make Helsinki what it is today and untill Nigerians move beyond the jitters of an emerging economy,nothing better would come out of the slow but sure path to greatness.A lot of the responsibility is on the diaspora and the least of our resolve is not to give up even when our country seem to have been stripped of the basics of civillity @PAPINO: I don't know if you live in Nigeria permanently or visit regularly or even occasionally; but pray that even your worst enemy will not go through what Chukwuemeka went through. I can promise you that, this pale in comparison to what some of my most die hard patriotic Nigerians friends have experienced sometimes from the hands of their so called relatives when they went back to Nigeria. When they tell you their own stories your soul will shiver…trust me. One thing that is really sad about the whole thing is the fact that as a Nigerian, you are safer in your adopted country compared to your own home, your birth place, the place that you are supposed to feel most safe. Even the Nigerians thieves (rulers) know that that they safer as soon as they leave the Nigerian shores. Now we have the woman that was supposed to curb corruption (Farida Waziri) hiring assassins to kill internet journalists that exposes corrupt officials. God I wished that I was still living in London, I would have joined that protest and the Nigerian banks (fraudster’s fronts). One of my most memorable funniest moments for year 2008 are when OBJ wrote a nice article about how it is for the whole of the world and America that a smart and intelligent man like Barrack Obama is now an American President and when Maurice Iwu said that the Americans have a lot to learn from Nigeria about how to conduct a fair and free elections; so these people are indeed ignorantly arrogant. This country is beyond redemption. God help us all, Goriola Abamieda Jr.

Gbolly  # 6 | 25.11.2008 14:01

This is very sad! The man decided to relocate to his native country but found no peace, joy, nor anything to be proud of. Haba, l am discouraged, nonetheless, my faith and hope shall continue to rest on God.

Dewdrops  # 7 | 25.11.2008 14:08

Thank God....for making me a strong person. I cannot even start to relate the horrors I have encountered in Nigeria.....so I do not blame anyone for how they feel. I can never honestly love that country. Until things happen to you and I pray to God they don't...then one can understand the disgust and hopelessness of that place called Nigeria. I have seen nothing but wickedness. Gosh, outright wickedness. Lord give me strength. Tufiakwa!

ttonjo  # 8 | 25.11.2008 14:55

“A country where death traps are called roads, incessant armed robbery/police attacks on hardworking individuals have become a way of life, and where constant power supply can not be guaranteed for 4 hours a day is not worth returning to…… not many citizens leaving abroad would proudly call a country with so much evil credentials home” – Chukwuemeka O.O Hmmmmm what a sad statement above! I used to think like that, but after spending several years both in Europe and USA, my thinking has completely changed. Reasons! NO matter how bad your home country is, home is home. The so-called western world might provide what I called 'temporary and artificial sense of security' but I can honestly assured you that, it is better to be poor man in one country with dignity, than to be a (second class citizen in another man's country), which majority of all the immigrants in western world are anyway, weather in Europe or America. As an immigrant in the western world, there were lots of 'BARRIERS and artificial ceilings' to the height you could attain (with the exception of Obama, in USA), whereas the thought of sense of belonging in your own country, no matter the difficulty, is enough to live as a complete human being. The only solution is for us to work together to improve our home country, Nigeria, to the best of our abilities. As for me, I cannot wait to relocate back to Africa my father's land. I have heard enough of being a second class citizen in another man's country.

Olu Affairs  # 9 | 25.11.2008 16:43

With all due respect, i think it's best to be alive, hale, hearty and well albeit fifth or seventh class in a foreign place than to be a crippled, disabled or worse still dead first class citizen in one's own country. It's worthy to note that in Nigeria, you don't count, don't exist, don't even have any class or qualify to be a human being if you don't have money or belong. People in certain parts of Lagos and Abuja Metroplolis can attest to this fact. Have you never seen the disdain with which the old and nouveau millionaires of Nigeria treat the less priviledged. The so called second class citizens in foreign countries are better treated in their adopted countries than the bona fide common/ ordinary citizens of Nigeria. The ordinary folks have been so marginalised by that they don't even know what their rights are anylonger, can you imagine communities throwing parties for and singing the praises of governors or state officials for providing a few paltry bore holes. In most democracies the concerns of an unemployed, ex-convict, drug user claiming state benefits gets as much attention as that of the most upright , law abiding , affluent member of the society.

nero africanus  # 10 | 25.11.2008 17:07

you shall not, you will not bury me anywhere outside the land of my fathers if you cannot, wait till you can ............ i must rest with agwo turu mbe , ogbenye wara ogodo, ebune arushi, ose ne ekpo ndi iro and above all merie ndi ocha ......... i must rest with my ancestors .....................

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