From generation to generation, political activism and agitation for a better country were never meant to be ladders to “chill with the big boys.” The true essence of struggle has been service to the people, not access to the tables of power and privilege.
If the end goal of activism was about to eventually gain access to dine with the powerful or the affluent, Gani Fawehinmi would have spent his last days chilling with world presidents, Femi Falana would probably have been chilling long ago with those who rule the world, Sowore, after building a globally respected pioneering online media platform known for exposing the fleecers of our commonwealth, would never have returned to Nigeria in 2018–2019 to inhale teargas in the streets. He would have simply permanently abandoned the dusty and death-lurking streets of Nigeria and the oppressed to wine among the real global big boys.
True struggle is not meant to meander one’s way into strange companies where champagne flows endlessly. It is not meant to negotiate conviction for comfort, or exchange ideals for privileged access granted by people fundamentally alien to the very values once loudly professed.
The real struggle was never meant to end in luxury lounges. It was always meant to end in a better society. And the struggle and sacrifice for a better society carry no expiry date. True activists carry the banner of struggle to their graves.
Sadly, we are now in a time where many of the citizens for whom genuine patriots risk their lives to liberate now hail those who merely put up short appearances only to eventually “chill with the rich.” Connections are now hyped louder than courage and proximity to affluence, even for professed activists, is now glorified by the youth citizens more than sacrifice for justice.
The consolation, however, is that history has always found a way to separate those who fight for the people because conscience will not let them rest from those who agitate only until access is granted.
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