The Love Crusader TLC

Comfort Oko-Joseph speaking about patriarchal societies, the difference that having access to mobile phones has made to women in Nigeria, capacity to form ‘little groups’ and how these become learning spaces that empowered women experiencing domestic violence to speak out

My Fellow Nigerians,   No One Is Coming To Save Us 2025 ended yesterday. It was a year that drained us individually and collectively. It tested our faiths in ways so unimaginable that many have been left shell shocked! We are still reeling at what 2025 presented to Nigeria.Whatever atrocity there was to be witnessed, was witnessed in our land. Our land was severally desecrated,unimaginable pain and suffering inflicted on the people. We watched hopelessly as fellow citizens were hunted down like wild animals and killed. We watched as accidents that were avoidable brought pain and sorrows to families across the Nation. We watched as hunger became the reality of many homes. We watched as many were kidnapped and disappeared. Our roads became death-traps and kidnappers had field day. Every month in 2025 was a new episode of a horror movie in Nigeria. Even our spirits took a beating. For the first time the ‘can do’ spirit we Nigerians are known for took a back step and we have been left as a people and a nation questioning whether we were ever it! I have always said that ‘YESTERDAY’S VICTIMS WERE ONCE SURVIVORS! TODAY’S VICTIMS WERE YESTERDAYS SURVIVORS AND TOMORROW’S VICTIMS WILL BE TODAY’S SURVIVORS. WHO IS NEXT?   We, the survivors of 2025 are the potential victims of 2026and we must put everything in place to ensure that we do not become victims. ‘God forbid’ as we have all seen is not a strategy. For God will not do for us, what he has given us the capacity for us to do for ourselves. We must be the ones to give ourselves the life of greatness we all deserve in a country as blessed as ours.   Waiting for others to come and save us has not worked either. We must stand up and fight for ourselves. We mustdemand for a better life. This 2026, we must fight for our lives. We are not helpless. We chose to do nothing collectively and that can change today! Individually we have tried our best. It is time to move beyond what divides us and focus on what unite us and can benefit all of us.Good governance, accountability and transparency will benefit all of us. So will equity and justice. We all will benefit when there is peace and security. A Nigeria with a booming economy will be beneficial to us all. There is no way we can get all the things that are beneficial to us collectively without collectively ensuring we put those who can best manage our affairs in political offices. To fix Nigeria, we must first fix politics in Nigeria.Politics is no longer just an option; it has become a necessity! Political participation is how we can determine those who will govern and either serve us collectively or serve themselves individually. No nation that has succeeded has done so without first ensuring that those who got into political offices are those going to work for the collective good of the people.   I therefore call on the good people of Nigeria to remove the spirit of ‘politics is dirty’ from our body and souls. Participate and clean up politics. The dirty politics we refused to participate in, has brought our country to its knees. Clean politics is what we need to take our country to the peak. Until we participate, we cannot clean it up.   Enough of the pity parties we hold. Enough of the lamentations and talks. Enough of the self-defeatism. Enough of the fear and cowardice. Let 2026 be the year we fight for ourselves by ourselves. Let us not burden a few with the duty of speaking for us all. Let us all work towards the collective good that will be beneficial to us all.   We have seen in the last couple of years how lots ofcitizens have taken ownership of their voices. It has beena beautiful thing to watch evolve. Many more can also take ownership of their voices and our collective voices can be better amplified with political participation. To the younger generation, do not make the mistake that my generation and the ones before us made. We thought politics was dirty and beneath us.