Nigerians can’t breath. The stranglehold of government on its civilians sings songs of sorrow, of blood, of gunshots, of watery eyes from tear gas canisters. Of water cannons.
What is a raincoat and an umbrella when bodies levitate from the full force of water cannons?
The city is in chaos. Smoke clouds interferes with the forecast.
It is supposed to be sunny, but it is a different shade of dark than usual.
There is a fire in Lagos. Nigerians can't breathe.
Police brutality has it’s knee on their neck.
The shape-shifting members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) have become who they were designed to stop in the eyes of Nigerians.
A hollow victory, like a point on a bullet, is short lived when SARS - sheep in wolves clothing - was abolished for the fourth time.
The youth have heard all this before in different times.
However, Mohammed Adamu, the 20th Inspector General of Police of Nigeria says no personnel of the defunct SARS will be a member of the new tactical team.
Moreover, in the eyes of the people, SARS has gotten a makeover.
Like a flock of phoenixes, they reemerged from the flames, draped in a Special Weapons and Tactical or SWAT facade., the people say.
Calling the devil St Lucifer doesn't make him more humane, compassionate, nor benevolent.
Nigerians can’t breath. What started off as a peaceful protest against police brutality, has become an international narrative of a government who sends an army to the streets, a shame to the world for killing its own citizens.
We have been here before. Remember Marikana; the killing of 34 miners by the South African Police on 16 August 2012.
Remember, it was the most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since 1976.
Remember Sharpeville. Remember George Floyd. Remember Rayshard Brooks, who fell asleep in a car blocking a driveway into a fast food restaurant. He was shot twice on his back.
Remember Breonna Taylor. Do not forget Nathaniel Julius.
In case you missed it, water cannons were also unleashed on tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who gathered in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in mass defiance of the government which had issued a decree banning demonstrations.
Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement, Osho, said heaven is here… on earth.
We just have to know how to live it.
How do we learn how to live it when we are constantly in a hell of a life?
He said hell too is here, and that we know perfectly well how to live.
How is it not a hell of a life to be oppressed, degraded and killed?
Broadcaster BBC reported that an eyewitness had counted about 20 dead bodies and at least 50 injured people in Nigeria after soldiers opened fire to the crowd.
How do police respond to a protest about police brutality, with more police brutality?
Like taking the Nigerian youth out of the frying pan into the fire.
Nigeria is burning. You know how fire sucks all the oxygen - Nigerian youths can’t breath.
The smell of gunpowder and fire dallied in Lagos and lingered despite President Muhammadu Buhari's appeal for "understanding and calm".
Peace to the souls of those killed in Lagos.
Peace to the souls of 34 miners killed in the mass shooting at Marikana; victims whose death, to date, has had no arrests made.
A video verified by Reuters showed armed police in the Yaba area of Lagos, kicking a man as he lay on the ground. One officer fired into his back and dragged his limp body down the street. Peace to his soul too.
Lets pray for more oxygen.