Captain Thomas Sankara
Dear Friends,
I will like to personally congratulate you for having made it thus far in the year and to again, wish you a merry Christmas and happy new year in advance.
In my blog post on Take A Stand (Part 1), I had argued for the requisite affirmative action to back up any position or stand we take on an issue, and ended with a reference to my friend who is working to realize his dream of revolutionizing supermarket shopping experience in Nigeria. I hope, with his permission, to devote some posts to that concept when he opens his doors shortly! For the remaining weekends to the end of this month and year, commencing from today, this is what I propose to focus on in the blog: give a few more examples of those who took a stand, emphasize my own stand and your possible role in it, and then let you have a brief profile of who I am…..
Taking a stand on an issue or a dream is by no means an easy venture – it takes guts, determination, tenacity, sacrifice and faith. It requires one to give up their comfort zone and throw their hat into the ring of uncertainty and prospect of failure, yet the heart is resolute to overcome all odds. The anticipated victory at the end of the contest is what pushed President Obama, a black, originally from Kenya, to go for the White House, not once, but twice! Before him, Rosa Park refused to give up her bus seat to whites and thus set a definitive force in motion for the Civil Rights Movement in America. Nelson Mandela endured 27 years in a solitary prison cell ensconced in Robben Island, and came out to become the first black president in post-apartheid South Africa. Today the world stands to attention, if he so much does a simple task of going in for medical check -up! The glory of success overshadows the pain and agony of taking a stand. Sometimes, people have paid with their lives, like Martin Luther King, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, etc; but it does not stop us from coming forward.
It is not only in the hallowed political and economic affairs that one can take a stand. It may just be on such a basic issue as how we raise our children, or the ability to keep an issue on the front burner until a solution is found or justice is done. This brings me to a recent issue that reached boiling point and headed for the gaseous state in our nation, Nigeria – the dastardly lynching of four UNIPORT students by a mob, whether pre-meditated or spontaneous. This incidence, I hope in no way pales into insignificance, the murder of over 40 students in three institutions in Mubi, North Eastern Nigeria. In either case, young lives - students, future leaders - are taken wantonly. These acts are highly atrocious and portend ominous consequences for our nation, if unchecked.
Beyond the initial public outrage and usual government statements, what other force, legitimate and civil, can we muster not only to bring the culprits to book, but to forestall such incidence in the future. While not neglecting the immediate direct actions, perhaps, the more effective path will be to take a stand on the children we are raising these days. The bandits that murdered the students at Mubi were not spirits, they were raised in homes. So also the mob that set ablaze fellow human beings - students the community should be protecting, rather than destroy. What future generation are we raising – is it one that has regard for the sanctity of human life or the one that under the guise of religion, culture, or sheer apathy, destroy another life?
These issues run deeper than meets the eye, and apart from the physical solutions, the ultimate answer lies in divine intervention which is guaranteed by a relationship with God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us take a stand to raise a godly generation that respects the sanctity of life. To find out more about God and how you can have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, visit any Bible believing church near you, or: CHAPEL OF DESTINY RESTORATION CHURCH, 2 Akinlabi Lane, off Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, by Round About Bus Stop, Ikeja. Lagos.
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