Rasputins

I had to block most of the abroad
people on my WhatsApp.
They remind me of those who became
born again but couldn’t let go of the
old man
You said Nigeria is not working for you
You took the option of traveling abroad
but you never left
Your body and soul are abroad but your
troubled spirit in Nigeria
Before you say “Good morning” they
have forwarded 3000 messages to your
phone
All talking about war, hunger, insecurity,
poverty, and evil in Nigeria
Is it not the people here that should be
feeding them the news?
They do the same on Twitter
They live in a white man’s land where
things are equally tough for them and
maliciously ramp up all sorts of negativity
on Nigeria
Most of the time, they are doing this to
remind themselves never to regret leaving
the country
Especially when they see the people they
left behind doing so well
One actually came to Nigeria, saw people
using 1phone 11 and said “Wow, you guys
are using iPhone 11, you’re not doing as
badly I had thought”
Many of them assume that immediately
their planes took off, Nigeria began to
recede into the dark ages while they
moved on into the future
So they create this bubble of “We are secure
and you are not” on the social media
I got a call this morning from one of my
Nigeria people abroad
She was panting and shivering
“We heard that there is war all over and
people are already fleeing into
neighbouring countries”
I told
her to calm down
Do I sound like somebody who has
been running and panting?
That was when she realized that she
was the one who was worked up, not me
While I am not saying that those who
travel should forget their native land
I am begging them to let those of us living
here live our lives in peace.
Some of the languages employed by
many of them in their tweets and other
writing show how disappointed they are
that people are still buying and selling in
this country regardless of their absence
They wreaked so much havoc during
the recent protests and they are not
relenting
They are determined to do it again and
again
Stay far away in their foreign location
and throw fire all over the country
You have to wonder what motivates
such people and why they are determined
at all cost to see Nigeria fail in spite of
the untold hardship this will bring on people
We all have to check our hearts and find
a cure for the bloodlust coursing through
our veins
One wakes up shouting baboons
The other wakes up shouting monkeys
Another decides he wants to revisit history
All sorts of curses and incendiaries!
It is enough!
You have a right to criticize the government
and to protest
Democracy allows it
You however shouldn’t use your platform to
stoke the flames of war and pit us against
ourselves
We are first “human” before we became a
member of your ethnic group or tribe
Thank you