THOUGHTS OF FEMOLAD: COMPLACENCY IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE

 

COMPLACENCY IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE

 

"First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

 

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

 

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

 

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

 

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me."

 

Martin Niemöller was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892.

Niemöller was an anti-Communist and supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power at first.

But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned.

He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. In 1937 he was arrested and eventually confined in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was released in 1945 by the Allies.

He continued his career in Germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II.

 

In present day Nigeria, many people who are in position to speak out or even act against Injustice, Insecurity and Human Rights violations are in the same league with Martin Niemoller.

Selfish interests, nepotism, personal gains and party brinkmanship are some of the considerations that have affected the way people relate to these dastardly acts.

They find excuses for the most heinous of crimes in the name of putting bread on their tables or defending their political party or tribe.

 

Recently, a clergyman in a high government position referred to the heart rending herdsmen killings as exaggerated and politically motivated. But when some senior members of his mission were kidnapped, it was time to be taken seriously.

A couple of years ago, State Security men went burgling homes of the nation’s top jurists in nocturnal “Sting Operations”.  Many who had once run foul of the law and hold grudges against the judges sang “Serves them Right”.

Police brutality is now common place. Innocent people have been shot dead or maimed without recourse to justice.

 

Brigands and thugs rove the street freely leaving "Sorrow, Tears and Blood" in their trail. Governments, authorities all over the country now have a retinue of thugs and terror squads on their payroll. They get protected in whatever crimes they commit. Yet nobody is talking. They are ‘Oga’s boys”.

 

Jungle justice and extrajudicial treatments and even murder of suspected criminals are now common place. Our opinions now depend on which side of the political or ethnic divide we are.

 

Human rights and human dignity now wane on a daily basis.

 

Yet we just look away once we are not directly affected.

 

If an injury or injustice is done to your neighbor and you turn the other way, tomorrow it may be your turn.

Femi Ladapo Femolad writes from Ibadan, Nigeria