ANOTHER MAN

General Buhari and Professor Osibanjo. God bless your term.

Have you met any soldier? I don’t mean it in the soothing figurative sense; I mean the most literal manner! I have! 

They go out every day to fight for the sustenance of our country’s unity and individual peace, even though they might not come back. They are a property of the state. They bleed and sweat so we could sleep, but all they mostly get is mutilation or death.

 I once heard a preacher said, “to appreciate the adults we now see, we must get in touch with the child they once were “. I hope you know that like you, they grew up in our streets! They too played ’ten-ten’, ‘boju-boju’ and monkey-post soccer games. They mischievously maim the nursery school rhymes too. They also sat in those cranky seats in our antiquated classrooms and nurtured a future. Like you, they envisioned a quiet and successful life.  They had plans and hopes...just like us! 

But now, they are soldiers!

Well, unlike you, they no longer need too much use of pen and paper, for they have been replaced with riffles and teargas. Walkie-talkie and pocket knives have since displaced the brightly coloured milkose sweet and speedy biscuits from their pockets. They now dodge bullets on the battlefield, not skip ropes on the playground! They can neither watch the sunset with their beloved nor experience their babies grow. All they carry around are pictures. They’ve lost the right to a civilian court, theirs is a  martial court. The word magazine has a different meaning to them. Yes, they are soldiers!

There was an intense gun-fight between our soldiers and some terrorists in a remote area in Bornu State. I was not there, but another man was there to take and return those bullets.

Folks, today is not the armed force day - do they have one? You might not be fighting, but you can do something for these soldiers. Say a prayer for them, bless their kids, respect their spouses, and give love to their guardians.

I sleep at night knowing that country is defended by another man!

 HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY!!