They were my brothers…and yours. Four days ago, I woke up to yet another
unspeakable tragedy. Four young men, all undergraduates, brimming with
great dreams, unfulfilled aspirations and a promising future were
killed.
To express the depth of my pain and shock at their murder is
impossible. And understanding how events could have degenerated to this
level is truthfully beyond me. Lloyd, Ugo, Tekana and Chidiaka Four
promising young men whose lives were interwoven in one way or the other
with yours and mine. I mourn deeply with the families of these young men
because this is OUR collective loss.
They were our colleagues, our classmates, our neighbors, our
brothers… our friends. We are NOT a nation of barbarians. We CAN follow
due processes and procedures. We MUST fight together as ONE NATION to
ensure that Justice as a whole is served, and as a PROCESS, is duly
followed-ALWAYS.
We can only try to make meaning of this senseless tragedy by
ensuring that this WILL not happen again, by affirming that the pursuit
of justice does not in any way entitle any of us to the willful
elimination of other people’s lives and by ensuring that we, as youths,
do not destroy the honorable mantle placed on us as the future of our
nation, by eliminating our present.
Aluu 4 and Mubi 40,
Rest In Perfect Peace.
God Bless Nigeria
Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo D’banj
UN Youth Ambassador for Peace