You were once loved on social media for your effort in securing the release of youths wrongly arrested by the police. What do you think changed that led to the hate you face today?
If you have ever studied social sciences and human behaviour you will agree with me that human beings are mostly fickle and capable of both good and evil. You can also be assured that I have known this since my teenage years when I began my conscious journey as an outlier.
Suffice to say that this was expected all along, if the lessons from our folklore and biblical teachings are anything to go by. The same mouth people use to shout Hosanna is the same one they will deploy in chanting to crucify him. Our Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth in flesh, and despite all the good done and the legacy of the gospel left, he was crucified, and Barnabas was chosen by the people he came to redeem over him.
Since 2017, we have used social media to communicate the intent of our advocacy #EndSARS and #ReformPoliceNG while running interventions as a stop-gap and engaging authorities on the critical need to end the culture of impunity and reform the Nigeria Police Force holistically.
We have thus made significant progress with that with the New Police Act 2020 and the Police Trust Fund 2019 Laws, long before the protest.
Today, the Social Intervention Advocacy Foundation, which I had the honour of founding and leading, is still at the forefront of ensuring holistic national security reform across institutions in collaboration with state institutions. So we are far more focused on the future of younger generations and the unborn with the legacy we are building than being distracted by what people are liking and hating. No iota of my self-esteem is tied to the validation of any mob.
The truth, likewise, is not found in the mob. We are out there to serve the vulnerable in society, most of whom are being threatened, railroaded, blackmailed and cowered by these hate groups posturing fraudulently as the youth of Nigeria, with their campaign of calumny cleverly hidden behind a political campaign as done during the #EndSARS protest.
How do you feel every time you get bullied and attacked on social media just for airing your views and expressing your stance on critical societal discourses?
As often stated, the evil most hypocrites point at in leadership actually emanates from our dying society. Our rulers, police officers, etc. didn’t fall from the sky. So whether you are talking about corruption or the compendium of social ills that plague our country today, you will find them in the citizens who are members of society.
All these were carefully considered over three decades ago when I became expressive about my life purpose. No matter how hard the wind howls, the mountain will not bow to it. I can’t be bullied; I have never been and would never be.
The tantrums of the teeming misguided only underscore the impact of the dearth of quality education and weaponised poverty in our society. We now have a village of sons of perdition and daughters of Delilah, making themselves available as tools for hate campaigns just to make ends meet.
I feel nothing but sympathy for the future of our society and most especially the crying need for a declaration of emergency on the failure of parenting in the country. This was part of the inspiration for our #ResponsibleParenting campaign, which we launched five years ago. This has nothing to do with me, but with our decaying society and our government’s failure to engage our youth, who are mostly despondent.
You were recently accused by a journalist, David Hundeyin of claiming to be a lawyer when you are not. Can you give clarification on that?
I have stated specifically on the record several times in my tweets from 2014 till date that I am not a lawyer. I, however, have run successful advocacy and have served on various tribunals based on my experience in security matters, civil society engagements, and the criminal justice system. I have corrected this impression several times, and only a pretend journalist would make such an unfounded claim, despite the litany of evidence in my interaction online.
We have proven to the world, however, that you don’t have to be a lawyer to be a successful advocate for good governance and universal institutional reforms.
Bill Gates leads in vaccines, and he doesn’t have to be a doctor, and there are several people leading in fields outside what they studied professionally.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0