TOBI AMUSAN: A SHINING TORCH OF EXCELLENCE

By Abu Onyiani
Many Nigerians on popular social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter woke up on the 25th of July 2022 to the emotional video of Tobi Amusan, crying as the national anthem of Nigeria was played at the World Athletic Championships, Oregun 22. She had earlier set a world record on Sunday, before breaking it in the early hours of Monday at the women’s 100 metre hurdles. Most Nigerians who watched the elite athlete weep confessed they were teary, finally finding a reason to be happy and proud of their nation after long periods of daily disgrace by our ruling elite.

Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan the 25 year old sprinter has brought more joy and hope to more Nigerians in the last one month than most elected government officials have in the last 10 years, even if you include the voter inducement of five thousand naira or three rubbers of rice that they share to the hopelessly poor just before elections.

General Muhammadu Buhari himself quickly joined the list of notable people all over the world who felicitated with Amusan, although I found his message a bit insensitive, but not surprising, because his regime is synonymous with high handedness and a total lack of awareness. When Terrorist attacked Kuje prisons, it took him days to tweet about it. Same as whenever bandits, terrorist, seperatist groups and other enemies of state murder, maim and kidnap the citizens. It is a known fact that Buhari usually need a number of days to reboot and update his system before he is aware of any latest developments, or before his speeches are edited enough to be published whenever a drastic incident occur in Nigeria, which is almost everyday. Yet, he is the first to congratulate Nigerian athletes on their exceptional performances abroad.

For a nation as blessed as Nigeria, with a strategic access to sea, manpower and natural resources, the vast majority of Nigerians continue to battle inflation and poverty, epileptic power supply, poor roads, unemployment, police brutality, corruption, insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and terrorism, and there seem to be no end in sight to this debilitating malady. Whereas the American dream is to make it in the US, the Nigerian dream is to “Jakpa” and love Nigeria from afar.

Many Nigerians are traumatised already, and the frequency and manner at which Nigerians are killed at work, on the road, schools and even places of worship are such that the recent video released by bandits who were flogging kidnapped captives could barely evoke emotions from Nigerians. Many had insisted throuh their comments on popular facebook pages that the victims should be thankful they were still alive. While this doesn’t mean that Nigerians are heartless barbarians, it does show that because there have been so much reckless bloodletting in Nigeria, victims of kidnapping are considered lucky.

Nigeria today is mostly only on the global news for everything bad… terrorism, kidnapping, overpopulation, illegal migration and advanced fee fraud. Even our elected politicians are not left out in this show of shame, because they are mostly investigated abroad for corruption, embezzlement and theft of public funds, or for illegally trading in human parts.

This is why whenever Nigeria is in the news, through our athletes, musicians and actors, Nigerians tend to throw a social media party. This is usually when the majority of Nigerians are proud to be Nigerians. At other times, they are either being brutalised by ill-equipped and poorly-trained barbarians in police uniforms, or are told there are no beds in the hospital for their loved ones who are sick.

The situation of the country is worsening day by day. Most play by play commentaries on contemporary Nigerian issues would leave you wondering if anything will ever be right with the country. The elected leaders are more interested in yapping about their ethnic affiliations or religious beliefs, than in improving the lives of their kins and religious brothers. Reporters are scared of asking questions, because most of these dolts are on the payrolls of their principals, and since most media houses are owned or funded by politicians, it is hard to find any that would give you a honest report of this dying nation, without a clear evidence of bias.

These same politicians are more interested in looting the nation dry, and then they take a portion of their loots and share rice and beans to a gullible electorates, whenever elections are at hand. Even now, they are making plans on how to build boreholes and public toilets in their constituencies, because elections are obviously very close and they need the votes of the masses. The same masses they have lobotomised with poverty, illiteracy and suffering that they cannot ask their elected leaders why Water Boards across the nations are mostly all dead, and why you have to pay touts before sinking a borehole in your compound. You will find these politicians now buying roast corn from road side vendors, or making a public show of empowering the youths with wheelbarrows and farm equipment.

For some of us Nigerians who are still optimistic that Nigeria will be great again, people like Amusan who is the first female to be an African, World and Commonwealth champion in the same year is a ray of hope. This great woman broke her own world records in less than 48 hours, and I can tell there are many Nigerians who are proud of her, irrespective of her gender, her tribe and her religion. Amusan and other exceptional Nigerians who are doing well for themselves would always be the beacon of hope, the torch of optimism that will guide us, and encourage us to keep fighting for our lives, because Nigeria is just a jungle where the odds against you is at best, a million to one.

(c) Abu Onyiani 2022