Who needs Two Faces?
By Emmanuel Esomnofu
It is always a difficult thing to point a torch in someone's eyes. Usually, the person is thrown into a fit of pure disgust and anger and the venomous warning blurted out will warn your sorry ass not to try such next time.

But there's a symbolical meaning that could be attached to this. A torch: a tool to illuminate. Just that, your eyes become temporarily blind when such action is performed.

Mr Innocent "2baba" Idibia blinded us temporarily. He made us believe that something was coming. Seyi Law, an agent of darkness supported him. Davido, OBO!, supported him. Burna Boy, a renowned on-my-lane person did too. We felt a fire burning. We felt something.

Then later, as a Twitter user implied, 2baba pulled out for the first time in his life.

"He's a coward!"

"Can't he learn from Du Bois, Mandela, Bob Marley? A revolutionary fears nothing."

Many of them screamed, and used their tool; Social Media to grieve.

They forgot...

2baba used his tool: a torch. He shone the light in our eyes and made us blind at that moment. We abandoned our fears, discarded our limit gauge, and wandered into a dream: a dream for a better Nigeria. He shouldn't be attacked and ripped viciously be the predatory teeth of Nigerians.

But he would. He must. That is The Law of the Wandering Torch. The aggrieved must cry, must shout, for the danger posed to his vision.

How do we shout?
We make a noise! That's the only way to truly get what you want. Malcolm X's autobiography is an eye opener. Arguably the second greatest black leader ever after Marcus Garvey. Before he joined the Nation of Islam, before he became the influence that spurred millions to action, before hating the inborn delusional importance attached with the superior race (white), he worked as a boy-boy, cleaned shoes of white men, danced with white chics, learned the white way of life, but retained his pride as a black.

What am I saying?

Before you change the politicization of Nigeria, you have to learn how to live like Nigeria. Read volumes on the corrupt politicians. Live a day in the shoes of Fayose. Do away with your seriousness and twerk! Give bribes to policemen, promise but fail. Observe the reactions. The reactions you will prepare you to fight against.

How do we fight?
2baba has shown us: We are little stars in the sky thirsty for each other; dying to live, we yearn connection. Social Media could be that connection. Our real lives could be. Fight not with protests and poses for the newspaper, but fight with your humanness. Befriend a Northerner. Destroy his single story: that Igbos are just crazy for money and nothing else. Hire a Yoruba man in that organization owned by Fulanis. Hire more. Foster the true belief of a collective.

React with your brains, not your mouth.

Today, many will protest. They will look around and 2baba won't be there. They might get home safely and label him a coward. The revolution needs a face. 2baba was to be that face. Your angst is understood, but not justified.

Before he became that face, he suffered like we are suffering. He made music, that faltered at rare moments, and triumphed at most. Like Nigeria. We might be embroiled in this and it is bad but there is far worse out there: earthquakes, wars, famine, etc. These challenges force us to conform to squeaks, like a bruised mouse, but no!

We must act, but the ultimate action is not by carrying placards and singing Nzogbu! Nzogbu! We must look around us, and effect a change. We can be everything 2baba will never be. We can be everything Fela could never be. We can be anything we want, if only we put our minds and heads to it. The heart makes errors, but let it shine the torch. Let your head protest.

"When all else fails, philosopisize."
J.M Coetzee.