By Kayode Emola
As we countdown to this year’s Christmas, taking stock of what has happened in our lives individually as a community is a good idea. While it would be difficult to write about everyone’s individual experience in one article, it is however, important to note that, we have all witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly this year.
For many, 2024 might be their worst year ever while for others, it may be the best year that has happened to them. One thing is certain, once we still have life, and we do not give up or lose hope, then the best is yet to come.
It is the reason we should not give up in sharing the little that we have with our family and friends. In life, there will always be people around us in one need or another, Christmas is a good place to share whatever we can with them even our experience and resources.
The Holy Bible teaches through the gospel of John, that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son”. If God who is the Almighty can give that one person that he treasures so much, how much more we, who have been blessed with material blessings. By sharing, we truly grow as it shows our maturity in letting go of what we hold fast to.
Growing up, we always looked forward to Christmas because it is one day of the year on which you are guaranteed a decent meal. People often reconcile differences and come together around Christmas time to bury any existing feud. It is one beautiful thing Christmas can do.
There will be people in many of our communities across Yorubaland who are unable to celebrate Christmas as they would have hoped for. Let us do whatever we can to reach out and support them with whatever we are able to. In so doing, we are buying for ourselves goodwill that would be repaid sometime in the future, either in this life or in the afterlife.
In celebrating Christmas, we shouldn’t downplay the extreme poverty currently afflicting millions of our people who are in despair. Many of them not certain of where the next meal will come from, despite their best efforts in putting food on the table.
We need to do everything in our power to help them come out of a place of lack to a place of plenty. Then, they too will be able to provide for their families and then help others. For those of us who have been fortunate to escape the heavy burden of the Nigerian economy, Christmas is a time to show some love to those who are still bearing the brunt of the misrule of Nigeria.
We therefore, need to educate our people, that in the coming year 2025, a dissolved Nigeria, with several new countries emerging may be the best thing that could happen to our people. Our Yoruba people need to understand that Nigeria doesn’t care about them, and it is time to begin to work towards our own liberation, rather than merely wishing it.
My hope is that our Yoruba people will see the need for us to get out of Nigeria as urgently as possible. This is because millions of people for no fault of their own are being dragged into the poverty net yearly. We can avoid this and begin to improve the fortunes of our people if we begin to put resources together for the total emancipation of our people.
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