When Rick Ross otherwise known as Big Boss released the Nigerian music video version of his controversial song ‘Hold Me Back’ few weeks ago, many raised eyebrows. Reason, Rick Ross portrayed Nigeria as a slum in the music video. He was condemned by Nigerians who felt insulted at the way he sold Nigerians to the rest of the world. I hope he would laugh at us now after watching the Aluu ‘Nollywood movie’ on Youtube released some days back.
For some days now, the brutal murder of four UNIPORT students in Aluu community in Rivers State has been in the news. It has generated arguments all over the world from different angles.
Last week Friday, after much persuasion and pressure from a lot of people, I finally watched the Aluu murder video. As hardened as I think I am, my heart melted and I fumed with rage at the brutal, callous and inhumane way those students were killed after being humiliated uncloth.
The way the promising boys were smashed with 4×2 sticks on the face and head, just like dogs and cats are killed, totally shows how barbaric some people can be. Even as I write, I am still fuming with anger.
Interestingly, those who carried out the beating cannot claim not to have stolen before. I cried inside my heart at the way some mothers and sisters watched those guys get such treatments. I blame those who recorded the video and didn’t make any effort to alert others to stop assault.
While the boys were being beaten, some UNIPORT students may have been in the crowd watching the community youth beating their colleague but only later protested after the deed had been done. Call that medicine after death? You are very right.
In an era where Nigeria is trying to rebrand and sells herself to the world as a place to live, invest and come for tourism purposes, this Aluu scenario has badly killed or marred that step or process. Already, some Nigerians have been counting their loses since the incident as some foreigners are now scared to visit the country or have anything to do with us.
A friend told me that one of his foreign acquaintances confessed to him that she can never visit or have to do with him anymore because she believes we (Nigerians) are all barbarians. What a loss and thinking that Nigerians are barbarians in 2012 because of a small community that doesn’t exist on the map before now!
Because of the way the video went viral online, some Nigerians abroad are bitter that some of their hosts avoid them like a plague.
With Boko Haram still there to fight, this is a another test case for our government to fight in bringing to book the perpetrators of this act. If it is possible, everybody at the scene should also be prosecuted for ‘conspiracy’ in the murder.
If any of them had raised an alarm, maybe the four guys would not have been killed and set ablaze for allegedly stealing. I know that after the killing, these people would have gone to church to ‘worship’ God or pray to Him. I shake my head. We need to change our mentality of feeling that being African or Nigerians mean we should behave irrational.
We cannot blame the government for everything when we ourselves cannot make efforts to change our society. Tomorrow, one of those who brutally murder those students would vie for a political post and possibly become Nigeria’s president in future.
Though some Nigerians are sceptical about justice eventually being done to this case because it did not involve the son or relative of a top Nigerian, but I do not want to subscribe to this. I believe the Nigerian government would see this as the biggest slap on its face.
Nigerians, Africans, the world and the souls of the brutally murdered four UNIPORT student await and cry for justice.
We are not barbarians. We don’t and won’t take laws into our hands because our governments have failed us. We are good people, great nation. We are Nigerians. God bless Nigeria.
