Never Blindfolded

Dear ‘Dele, 

Composing this letter is akin to crafting an ode, a tribute, red carpeting your walkway, and giving you your flowers of many colours now that you’re still labouring. 

Umpteen years ago, we sang from the bottom of our musical illiterate bellies, exuberantly, gleefully on top of our voices 

“The labour of our heroes past

Shall never be in vain” 

The grey-haired of us failed to find the fruits of this labour. Either the seeds weren’t planted at all or there was a post harvest disease outbreak or the labour was on a private farmland, aww and or, and or not in awe, it’s all lies like the very foundation of our land.

In our early school years, Ayi Armah taught us that The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. My milk teeth still believe this gospel. But both my wisdom teeth and my kinky grey hair beg to differ. The Beautyful Ones did live and are living amongst us. Some laboured in this land, some died doing so, some are currently labouring and some will be born into it. 

They are undoubtedly not the most beautiful according to our unscrupulous venal factory default standards, neither are they the most celebrated. They are neither the heroes curated and collaged on our history books nor the ones media houses adore every opportunity they get nor are they the ones religious leaders pontificate about their godly goodly goodness, generous gestures and graceful greatness with gratefulness. 

But you Baba, are admirably Beautyful, like one of our fallen heroes, our brother, Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì. This is not an unanimous nod in assent, because you need it not to be you. Beautyful. Your Beautyfulness and labour are visible in public domain for the blind to see. Only the ones using their own hands to cover their eyes or those in active service to maintain the lies televised, can’t see what they don’t want to see. 

“If I must self-immolate for you to behold the extent of the rot, so be it.”

When you were arrested, many more beheld your Beautyfulness and your labour, thus, (we+they) harmoniously, regardless of theological framework, tongue, tribe and other societal divisive constructs, spoke out, tweeted, and protested against (our+their+your) imprisonment. (We+they) saw (ourselves+themselves) in you. Nigeria didn’t happen to you…this time. You are a hero. Our hero. We are very appreciative of your labour, and gladly put your message in the hands of any who wanted to break free from our country’s metallic mental shackles. And rip off the cloaking cloudy charcoal curtain from their thought’s domain. 

You becoming a bestseller in the same time period is a testament to this. Your labour was and shall never be in vain.

"I am content to die for my beliefs

So cut off my head and make me a martyr!

The people will always remember it"

No. They will forget. 

Not because they want to, but because of the work of the ruining crass controlled active servicemen carpet bombing both local and foreign media with lies. The media will predictably mutate your Beautyfulness into beautifulness in their broadcast in order to cast your image into their narrative. But I pray, your Beautyfulness remains agelessly intact, in the minds and memories of all those who have beheld its glory. 

Respectfully, 

Another Beautyful One