Success Adegor and the rest of us

Success Adegor, as the name implies, is now a success story. She dared an unjust status quo and preferred to be flogged rather than to be driven away from school. After all, it is the cane and the flogger that would get tired at the end of the day and not her.

Her story is a clear demonstration that men of honor do not keep silent in the face of injustice. It pays to dare an unjust status quo. Initially, it looks fatal, but at the end of the day, it pays all and sundry.

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The group of eight Americans who were later known as the “Plowshares Eight” put their lives on the line that millions of would-be victims of a vast arsenal, which gulped three million a day from the public treasury, might be spared.

On September 9, 1980, these Americans forced their way into the General Electric Nuclear Missile Reentry Plant in King Prussia, Pennsylvania. The nose cones for the Mark 12 A nuclear missile were produced at this location. The plowshares eight hammered some hollow onto nose cones, poured blood on some documents, prayed for peace and left.

They were later arrested and sentenced to prison terms of about ten years. Their statements during the trial were captivating. They said that they had gone to Pennsylvania to “beat the sword into plowshares (and to) expose the criminality of nuclear weaponry and corporate piracy.

Decades after the plowshares eight episodes, another Daniel, a teenage Daniel this time around from Edo State, stowed away in a plane which he thought was bound for America. Daniel believed that the flight was going to America as he wanted to travel outside Nigeria. That single action elevated him to a hero than a villain. His activity offered him wonderful opportunities as he gained a scholarship from the then Edo State Governor, Adams Oshimhole.

It takes the boldness of good men to rewrite history. Success Adegor has rewritten the history of millions of Nigerian children who study under harsh environment. Her courage has exposed how dilapidated our educational infrastructures are. Her boldness has graphically painted us as the proverbial man who lives at the bank of the river but washes with the saliva.

It has indicated how reactionary we are in this country. Now, the wealthy among us, even our politicians, are playing to the gallery jostling for space to be noticed in their quest to contribute to the Success Adegor’s project. Before now, they turned their eyes away from the rot that has eaten deep into our education system.

By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu

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