20/10/2020.

Where is our justice?

We wanted a better future. We didn't want to ruin the dreams of other. We needed a brighter Nigeria and not a dead one.

I was scared, was dumbfounded.

Adrenaline had pumped fast and wild  through my veins as I hurridely grabbed Mayowa on his arm, my hold against his bony wrist tightening as I let my legs lead me far away from the mentally deranged man. Speedily, I had walked away, ignoring the cries and agony of hunger my stomach made.

Food was cost. Mother couldn't afford it - not even gari. Gari was almost five hundred and rice a thousand naira.

Food was cost, we protested and yet they kill us.

A thousand naira could do nothing for a hungry family anymore. I remember that time, when I was a child and my mother would give me a really long list and that thousand naira note to get a lot of foodstuff from the kiosk opposite our house.

I remember that time we could eat two square meals from just that thousand naira note. I remember that time mother used to toss in my small hand a ten naira note each time I was heading to school, and eagerly I would scurry down the path that led to my school not forgetting to stop by a shop to get myself a couple of snacks. I could get a lot with a ten naira note then, I can almost nothing with it now.

Mayowa, my seventeen years old brother had followed after without hesitation. His loud yells of the protest lines rang and echoed in my right ear as I led him further and deeper into the drowning crowd.

I could swear, swear I felt the anger and rage radiating from each and everyone of the protesters each time I and Mayowa bumped into one of them, and suddenly as I let go of Mayowa's wrist and we continued the loud chants of our protests. The loud sound of the sirens going off had pierced into my ears and scraped hard at my numb, hot brain. And for some unknown reason - fear washeover me, my feet and fingers coming numb as my heart began to pound at an extremely fast pace like to fly out my mouth. But I continued to stomp forward, along with the raging crowds that seemed unfazed by the sirens and arrival of the law enforcers. Everyone trudged forward like a crowd lost of sanity, even Mayowa, my younger brother, looked insane too.

We continued to chant loud and that was, until a loud bang filled the air. It was so loud that my hands flew up to cover my ears, it was bone chilling, tears were quick to find their way to my eyes, pricking hard against my vision. A feeling of dejavu had raced through me. It was the exact way they started the previous night.

I didn't know what had happened, if  people were getting killed again or not, but the deafening sound could be similar to that of a gun shot. The protesters only became wild and crazy, everyone began to run foward at a full speed, people were falling - other were stomping over them. It was a stampede and I knew the crowd was ready to charge at the law enforcers.

In the midst of all the chaos and stampede, I could make out the louder yells that erupted from the people, and even though I had my hands clasped tight over my ears - their rage filled voices still seeped in through my palms, accompanied by the continious loud bangs of guns. My heart clutched harder with fear.

"Na the soldiers be that?!"

"Na them o, e be like say dem dey spray again!"

"We go all die here today!"

On hearing that, I whipped my head left and right in search of the scrawny form of my dark brother but he was not in sight anymore. I assumed he had left me behind and gone further with the angry mob. My heart picked a faster pace, adrenaline racing through me as I unclasped my hands from my ears and began to run foward, my wobbly legs suddenly getting the strength and power to go further, to make sure my brother was safe.