A SPARK OF HEROISM
It is true that only a fool argues with gun. And in the words of Mao Tse Tung, power flows from the barrel of the gun. But all these depend on circumstances like who is holding the gun, your chances and your competence.
In the picture is AK Bala, a personnel of Nigerian Navy. He was kidnapped on 24 Feb 21, on his way to Kebbi for his annual leave. Having stayed in captivity for more than one long month, and with the possibilities of being freed by his abductors or rescued by our reactionary armed forces fading into oblivion, he decided to take his fate in his own hands.
While still in their captivity he studied his environment, his abductors and their modus oprandi. He weighed his chances. He bided his time. All that the Nigerian state spent money to train him on came to his head.
His time came, and he seized it very gallantly. Moving with the speed of lightening, he struck with pinpoint precision disarming one of his abductors. He wasn’t done yet. He mercilessly returned their own coin to them by killing the two of them with their own weapon. Thereafter, he successfully and safely escaped!
This is what real a man who has balls in between his legs does - dying on his legs fighting than dying on his knees begging. I am not advocating for taking senseless risk but if the heartlessness of your abductors is such that they must waste you no matter what, why not take the risk of helping yourself which is a 50/50 thing?
In this season of anomie when our hitherto gallant men have lost their balls, I think an operative like this guy should be celebrated by the Nigerian State as a symbol of heroism. He should equally be rewarded with immediate promotion to his next rank. Such recognition and reward would be very strategic in boost the morale of our security men in securing us the more.
Finally, this cheering news has pulled me out of the despondency of a story which a friend, Enerenwa Kingsley Ihechi told me yesterday. According to him, the bus in which he was traveling ran into an armed robbery attack sometime ago. The driver screeched the bus to a halt and all the passengers scampered for safety into the nearby bush.
As he was sprinting for his dear life, he ran into a man who was hastily removing his uniform and discarding same and everything that could be used to identify him as a policeman. This included his gun. While the both men were still competing to outrun each other, my friend told him:
“Oga, what nonsense are you doing here instead of repelling the attack?”
“God punish your generation. Take both the gun and uniform. Na wetin make me policeman. I be flesh and blood like you. And I marry young wife three weeks ago” - the sprinting policeman shouted back at my friend.
At this point my friend confessed that laughter couldn’t allow him to run again.
But does this really call for laughter?