by MI Abaga (miabaga.com)
The hope is the worst part of it.
The way they lay there, beaten and broken, battered and bruised. Knowing their end had come for certain. Knowing that the crowd meant to see this through to the end. And yet, in the midst of all this certainty, in some small corner of their hearts, hoping. That something would happen, some miracle perhaps.
I am speaking of course, of the #Aluu4, students of University of Port Harcourt who were beaten and set ablaze last week.
I’d heard the news sometime last week and devoted all of 10 seconds of thought to it. I wondered briefly who the students were, and what could possibly have driven them to steal. I briefly wondered if they were really guilty but my mind quickly shied away from where that road could lead. I remembered all the stories I grew up hearing about thieves and the instant justice meted out to them, and mentally shook my head.
That would have been all, I suppose, but for the video. It is probably the most gruesome thing I have ever seen, and the worst I ever hope to see.
Hope.
There, I’ve said it again. Somehow it seems there is no escaping it.
