Beyond the issues that need resolving between artistes and record label owners and how they are enslaved and traumatized, the Mohbad matter has brought to the fore a very fundamental fact.
That we as a people love truth and will stand and defend it no matter whose ox is gored. On this matter there is unity and oneness. Everywhere you go from Lagos to ibadan to Port Harcourt to Abuja people are discussing it. Even market women are not left out. It is the trending issue on social media. Asake and Burna Boy have been relegated presently to fourth place.
In the churches, pastors are placing curses on the perpetrators of the crime, mosques are also joined in the prayer to bring the evil doers to justice. Traditional worshipers have also not been left out. Fans have taken the photos of the alleged masterminds of Mohbads untimely death to Esu( the devil) for vengance.
Youths are organizing peaceful protest marches in ikorodu and lekki, asking the police and the authorities to investigate and bring the culprits to justice. Nobody is talking about Obidients or Batists in all of this. Even the politicians have not been able to jump on the sympathy train for political gains.
This honestly is a proud moment to be a Nigerian. We are speaking as one, acting as one. No religion, no tribe, no politics. How beautiful. Radio stations have banned the music of the Marlian Family from their stations until the matter is resolved and the killers of Mohbad brought to book. In one week, Naira Marley, the record label owners who is alleged to be in the centre of this has lost over 600,000 followers on Instagram. Wahala dey.
Some years ago when Naira Marley was arrested and arraigned people came out in his support and his followership boomed. This time all we hear is condemnation and to prove its not just a Nigerian thing, a tour by his artist ,Zino for ten American cities has been suspended until Naira Marley clears his name. That is the power of people speaking with one voice.
For me the lesson of the death of this 27 years old Mohbad is profound. It means we have the capacity to reason ; to differentiate evil from good. To support good and condemn evil. But should it just stop with Mohbad?
If we can be bold to see evil and openly condemn it, to be able to rise from our political, tribal and religious differences to speak with one voice Politicians will no more be able to take us for granted and walk away with it.
Our elected Representatives from local government chairmen to governors to Legislators and others can no more treat us as fools. They will know we put them there and they are therefore answerable to us. Money appropriated for public amenities like roads, schools, hodpitals, markets etc will not be misappropriated and lodged in foreign banks or used to build fifty bedroom mansions or homes abroad they hardly live in or buy hordes of expensive automobiles that are not even fit for our pot holes filled roads.
If we can rise collectively for Mohbad, then it is time for us to rise as a people and ask our leaders questions; we must free our minds from the slavery imposed on us by the political class who rape us daily and we clap and hail them.
We must ask our leaders to account to us. Why are our Refineries not working? Why can workers not be paid living wages? Why is the national grid still collasping everyday despite the billions of dollars pumped into the sector in the last 30 years. Why do we still have to waste hours on the roads when there is a little rain? Why are our roads not built to last like in other climes?Why are our hospitals now worst than the proverbial consultation centres? Why are all our doctors and nurses and sundry medical workers japaing abroad and our hospitals are empty?
Why is our educational system falling? Lecturers are not paid, graduates in Nigeria can’t write or speak cohesively? Why do people dip their fingers into the public purse as they wish and nobody brings them to justice? Why is insecurity of lives and property on the rise despite how much we budget for the police and the armed forces. So many questions that need answers…and they must provide answers because they are their on our behalf becaus we put them there.
Let us use the death of Mohbad as a wake up call to address the ills of our society and call those we have put in charge of running the state of our nation to order.
Let us not be afraid to take to the streets to ask questions… There is no better time than Now. Our Mumu done too plenty.
– Al Humphrey Onyanabo, writes from Lagos and he is passionate about Nigeria.
