Thoughts danced around my head. What do I write? As I was thinking of what to write, my rampaging eyes spotted an article I have abandoned on my collections; it read: The Nigerian Diaspora. I wrote: “The term African Diaspora refers to the dispersal of people of African descent throughout the World, especially in the regions of the new world and Asia. In later times, the definition of Diaspora has been expanded to include the voluntary movement of Africans and their descendants to Europe and the major metropolitan areas of North America.
The term Diaspora itself is a Greek word that was first used to describe the dispersal of the Jews. African/American Scholars adopted the term because of the obvious parallel between the two groups.
In the words of George Orwell: “He who controls the past controls the future, he who controls the future, controls the present.” It is from this Orwell’s rendition that we link the phenomenon of the Nigerian Diaspora. As I write, my eyes blinks, searching for my thought, is this I want to write? Suddenly, a flash span across my mind but I was undecided. I continued.
“The historic dream of Dr. Martin Luther King may not be unconnected with the sporadic movement towards the New World due to economy backwaters at home. This may not be the whole picture of what constitutes the Nigerian Diaspora. Unending inabilities of regime change and its negative effects on the economy play a major role. In the process of self-evaluation and definition of identity, a mass exodus listens to the dream call.
As my pen began to dance like a saturated athlete on a race of his life, the initial flash led me to where I needed to go. Then it occurred to me that this article is relevant to what is unfolding at the political firmament at home. But, before I delve into this, I sealed what I started with.
Who is a Nigerian Diaspora? It is a question that is simple and straight. But is it that simple?
I answered in the story of citizen desperado!
A certain 42 years old Nigerian used witchcraft rituals to force terrified children to work as sex slaves in the UK. His young victims were raped, sexually abused and subjected to Voodoo-style rituals. One of the girls had her hair cut from the armpits by a man wearing feathers. Others were slashed with knives, forced to drink foul-smelling portions and had blood taken with a syringe to cast a spell over them. This is the secret behind vulnerable teenage orphan as they are smuggled from Africa to several European countries.
As I awoke from the temporal amnesia it was to reality I turned to: It is 2019.
By Mustapha Folami
Email address: mustapha_folami@yahoo.com
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