We die everyday

by Eze Eluchie

Every day that passes, Nigerians suffer the indignity and pay the hefty price of being citizens of a rudderless contraption.

All over the world, thousands of Nigerians languish in jails, often times on trumped up charges, or driven to desperate survival tactics in a bid to escape the consequences of maladministration foisted on our population.

The treatment Nigerians in diaspora receive is directly traceable to the treatment we receive from the characters who preside over our affairs at home.  With extra-judicial killings by (in)security operatives now the norm and over 90% of the inmates in our prisons merely persons who are being detained pending trials (often times, persons are detained awaiting trial for periods of upwards of 10 years), it is only expected that foreign authorities will take a cue and believe the life of a Nigerian may be of less value than that of a stray dog.

The death of Boniface Umale, a Master’s degree student in Pipeline Engineering at Northumbria University in Newcastle, United Kingdom, in the custody of Durham Prison a few hours after he was arrested on the 24^th of March 2013, brings to fore, once more, the reality of statelessness. Umale had been arrested hale and hearty.

With extreme indifference, bothering on complicity, exhibited by Nigerian diplomats in foreign lands to the presence (talk less of plight) of Nigerians in whatsoever foreign lands they serve, one is not surprised that the authorities of the Durham Prison were in the process of cremating the body of Mr. Umale without bothering to inform his next of kin of his demise – definitely efforts would have been made by British authorities to contact the owner of a deceased stray dog before burial. 

And what will be the response of the characters who earn their livelihood as staff of the Nigeria High Commission to the United Kingdom? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Do we have diplomats representing our interests in London?

Do we have a Foreign Affairs Ministry?

Do we have a Government?

Today, as we mourn, Boniface Umale, we are left wondering, who is next? Will it be me?  Or You?

Only a restructured and renegotiated contraption can afford Nigerians a chance at a befitting existence (and befitting death, if I may add).

http://www.nigerianwatch.com/news/1568-engineering-student-passes-away-while-in-custody-at-durham-prison

Picture: Mr. Boniface Umale (deceased)