Cowardice

Cowardice is a lack of courage, or a demonstration of lack of it. It is a deficiency of bravery, by showing a lack of the physical or moral quality of bravery. It is the spinelessness in a man conquered by fear.

Dismissing his wife’s fears for his life, tragic hero Caesar delivers some of the world’s most famous and time-tested lines in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar by saying: “Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once.” 

Centuries after, our own Fela Anikulapo-Kuti domesticated same in one of his satiric songs: “My people, we fear too much. We fear the things we don't even see. We fear the air around us. We fear fighting for freedom. We fear fighting for justice. We fear fighting for happiness...” He hit the nail on the head when he posited that our fears ironically emanate from considerations we should die for– our families, our homes, our security and our environment.

 The simple truth is that birth and death are our only constants. We allow ourselves to be pushed because we haven’t summoned the courage to say ENOUGH. Those who lead us are now at liberty to push us even further, because they believe that we will never resist! We are too lethargic and afraid to act.

 With the advent of the new media we have assumed a new responsibility. Now we can do the whistle blowing. Nigeria now has a rattling social media population who vent our voices on issues of socio-economic importance but does not go beyond that. As a people it is appropriate for us to eschew violence; just as we are duty-bound to condemn all acts of violence and their perpetrators. That would be cowardly. Perpetrators of violence are cowards and will only attract the kind of negativity that we already reject. A coward is an“anonymous enemy”: somebody who anonymously harms those who cannot defend themselves and are open to attack. We need to protect ourselves from this exposure by acting in a way that will protect our fundamental human rights. These are rights that we should fight for and be ready to die for.

Recent events have shown that Nigeria, like a drama meant for the theatre, consists of conflicts both between and within its characters. There are the laid-back good guys watching the plot unfold in the hands of the very active bad guys. The guys who just need a fist full of dollars or a few dollars more and are hell bent on doing anything that it takes and damn the consequences as long as they have bulging pockets. That is the conflict between Nigeria’s dramatis personae. The conflict within a persona – individual Nigerians – is the fear-induced cowardice whose repercussions are threatening to draw the curtains on Nigeria. The choice is ours, either to drive Nigeria forward by displaying courage and bravery or bring it down with cowardice. Either way, we shall tomorrow be defined and judged by the choice we make because the Gani Fawehinmis, the Fela Anikulapo-Kutis, the Ken Saro-Wiwas and the Murtala Muhammeds of this world were courageous; history has reserved a place for them. They have continued to live because their brave deeds live after them. What legacy will we leave? Can it be said that we stood up to be counted; we laid our bodies on the line and did not allow fear to divide us?

We are towing the line of cowardice. It is a tinderbox waiting to explode. We show our immaturity and our very dangerous reactionary nature. We forget that we will bear the full brunt when the result of our uncourageous ‘safety’ becomes full-blown. We should feel guilty each time a tragedy traceable to our negligence occurs o! Moving forward, such guilt should be translated to a more determined people fearless in our demand for answers. Then let’s see whose turn it would be to be afraid.