The SARS in Everyone

“Mum, please don’t go”, pleaded my 15 year old daughter, as I dressed up getting ready to head out and show some support for the ongoing protest, today the 17th of October 2020.
“This fight is for us all, your generations and many coming after, it’s important we all support our youths in whatever way we can.”

She eventually gave up trying to convince me when I reminded her of one of the heart-wrenching stories on SARS brutality we both listened to earlier, she then helped me with my placard and helped take some snap shots of me posing with the placard after which I left the house to go join the protest, thus lending my solidarity in any way I can.

On approaching the Chevron traffic light, we noticed some heavy traffic. To my utter dismay, all of a sudden, from no where, a white van emerged facing on coming traffic trying to turn into Chevron drive from the Express, and in less than 5 minutes, several cars had followed suit!!
This is madness!
My driver, without being freshly instructed, immediately knew what to do (the same thing we always do whenever we encounter such madness on the road) he drove up to him and blocked him immediately, but couldn’t completely block the road, thankfully the car next to me, followed suit and we succeeded in blocking the van that already had a long trail of other cars right behind him, facing on coming traffic and thus worsening the already bad situation.
I got down and told the driver of the van how I felt it was very thoughtless of him to have done that. Apparently, the guy sitting right next to him was a police officer!
Other drivers started coming down in support, fearing for an uprising, the police officer came down from the van and directed the same van out of the way! Was this police officer blind? Wasn’t he a party to it?!
What about the other trail of cars, SUVs, supposed elites and educated fellows already following suit?
Did they not think they would worsen the situation?
How are they better than the same SARS and the bad governance that they are protesting against.
Permit me to say they there is a SARS in virtually all Nigerians!
Most Nigerians given the same circumstances would do the same or worse.
Our problem must be tackled from the grassroots.

There is a SARS in everyone!
• In everyone who violates traffic rules.
• In everyone who takes or gives kickbacks!
• In a medical professional who refuses to treat a dying person because of the inability to drop the required deposit!
• In every teacher who falls below any teaching standard.
• In every judicial officer who takes bribes.
• In every government official who think they are doing you a favor when it’s their responsibility. Utter mediocrity!!
• In everyone who accepts and settles for mediocrity as a standard.
I can go on and on, touching on every sector of the economy. It’s appalling.
First get rid of the SARS within!!! Then, getting rid of the SARS outside will be less arduous.
After all, “the leadership of any country is a representative sample of that country.”

Get rid of the SARS in you!!

Olamide Adeleye
O.B.A