I AM THANKFUL TO GOD

Everybody waited, and when it arrived: startling new, cold, and dusty, we kept awake and welcomed it in our own style.

For kachi, it was about breaking his wooden safe and spending everything, to the last kobo, on knockout.

He would find a secure spot at the veranda, where he sits to smile at the beautiful display of fireworks and would duck when a voice yelled curses.

In the morning that followed, the painful groanings of chickens and steaming of pots, Makua sat up to draw new goals and make resolutions on the white paper she pasted above our study table and would leap to review each morning after devotion.

I began with crafting "original" New year messages and sending them to everybody on my contact, starting with Chidiamara.

2019 was a battle of supremacy. A year that came with transition and many surprises. But not without high expectations.

There were New administrations, New representatives, and a few that retained their red and green seats;

There were election petition tribunals that set aside victories and appeal courts that gave counter rulings.

There were Pro and Anti-supporters. Many that bore placards with our pain vaguely inscribed. We were suddenly awoken from our slumber.

2020 began softly, and as we had expected bogus manifestos that enticed us should turn reality. Whether it did or not, the waves were still felt in 2021.

I voted the year before, for change but not for the Broom. It was obvious we needed a turnaround: In our healthcare, Security, Education, Economy, the list went on and on.

—Schoolgirls were adopted, their wounded mothers died in Federal medical centers because they could not afford to make initial deposits;

lectures were interrupted with strikes, and while we returned months after, Exercise books and pens became twice their price.

So It wasn't hard to accept the fate of the election, the defect of a Christian south-southern incumbent to a Muslim northern, retired Hausa-Fulani Army General.

More attacks in churches and social gatherings tasted the gallantry of our forces, having as its commander in chief, a war veteran. But We had victory. A victory on paper, the technical defeat of the arms, too strong for us.

Threats and renewed threats of lecturers and senior staff associations of our higher institutions were all pointers that what we have is yet another reformation of the past, now, in colourful regalia of the present. Our reality.

COVID-19 exposed the corruption that lay beneath the healthcare structure.

We saw figures in multiple zeros sink into the foundation but could not provide paracetamol and strings, and beds spaces in Emergency wards.

For the first time, the news carried that a top government official was flown, not to England or the United States, but to a hospital in Lagos, because borders were closed and foreign countries were taking precautions.

Statistics were about new cases of the novel pandemic: Lagos with the highest number, followed by states whose governors still argued whether there was anything like COVID.

But we scaled through. Not because we had a Nose-mask, nor because we applied alcohol sanitizers or refused to accept a strange handshake.

YAHWEH SAW US THROUGH.

We coughed but it wasn't a symptom of COVID. And when we thought we had found relief in a swaddled hope, END-SARS lured us out.

In one spirit, we chanted with bravery and Showed our might.

“No single bullet was shot. The military was simply dispersing protesters," the minister said.

But our little siblings, our friends, our course-mates waving the Nigerian flag went cold in a pool of their blood, and their bodies were snatched.

We emptied ourselves in Black and with a crushed spirit, trekked around deserted streets, holding tensed hands, muttering prayers. At that point, we knew,

“FOR BY STRENGTH SHALL NO MAN PREVAIL...”

Chidiamara, We made it!!!

2022 would be better. I know it. I just know it. It may not seem like it, but we will surely pull through.

We would surmount all the obstacles and challenges, and boldly make every day count.

We would follow through, insist on doing what is right, stand by the truth and defend it at all cost.

We would renew our vow to stay pure no matter the cost.

We would make a new resolve to hold unto purpose and make pursuit our watchword.

Like never Before, we would acknowledge our maker, and make solid our relationship with him.