The Olympics of Who Suffered Most.

One sport you do not need to be registered and trained to participate in Nigeria is the "Olympics who suffered most." It is the gymnastic of those who have endured most pain, suffering, and distress enough to qualify for the throne of the victim. Everyone has stories to tell regardless of age, status, class, and Creed, and their stories are valid. The purpose of telling the story of suffering differs, but one thing that seems to be perennial is the need to dismiss, undermine, or ignore the pain of others and, at worst, silence and create a hierarchy of pain. Hierarchizing pain suggests the attempt or belief that some suffering is more suffering than others.

One that I found deeply unsettling during elections last year was those people who used their suffering during the military junta as justification or rationale to silence the younger generation's quest and challenge the status quo. While we appreciate their labor and sacrifice, we can also say that whatever they claim they suffer, we still suffer in triple doses. They keep shouting, "Do you know what we suffered"? My response is, "We know because we inherited the trauma, but where are the dividends of your offering?

This generation doesn't even know what it means to fetch water from the government-run tap; they have grown up using generators to pump water, and some are deaf from the noise of generators. You are talking to a generation that is vilified in their country for certain sartorial choices and doesn't know the meaning of national pride and honor that you talk about in the heydays of Nigeria. You are talking to a generation that wonders what is the value of their citizenship when they go elsewhere and see that only citizens qualify for certain things, but in other countries, their very own citizen can become their disqualification.

To my mind, there is no need to contest who suffered the most. We have all suffered. They tell us the leader is not sleeping; he is laboring night and day, but what the people seem to see are the yacht and the constant traveling. I am not saying leadership is not hard, but I am worried about the competition for the victim's seat in the Nigeria story. You say you feel our pain, but your actions seem to suggest you mock it.

My imaginative mind has been wondering how you suffer Mr. Dele Farotimi and drove him on an unscheduled journey from Lagos to Ekiti. Have we thought about the suffering this has caused his amazing wife, family, and children? I also learned that his Mum is alive.

It is high time we unlearn the years of wearing suffering as a badge of honor and the thickness of what it means to be Nigerian. We begin the journey to ending this Olympics of who suffered most by adhering to the Rule of law, fairness, and justice.

Kindly email me at oyin2010@gmail.com for photo credit.