Port Harcourt : A State of Emergency

I was already late. So after waiting a while for a taxi and seeing none, I "climbed" on an Okada to the park where I was to join a bus to Owerri. But I couldn’t make it to the park. A series of sporadic and close-sounding gunshots make sure of that! Preferring not to be the subject of a tragedy, i quickly scanned the surroundings for a concrete post or wall. Not finding any, i hugged the murky ground at my feet and with this action went my precious white shirt and my traveling to Owerri that morning. Everything happened in a split second; in emergency mode.

That’s the nature of living in Port Harcourt these days. You can encounter danger in the next minute and equally lose you life if your chi is not awake. The city is now a state (city) of emergency. Though everyone still pretends it’s not. But when I think of it now, I ask myself, when has the city not been tethering on the brink of strife since I grew conscious enough to make my choices. Back then it used to be one of the numerous inter-ethnic conflicts: Andoni –Ogoni, Ijaw – Okirika, Ogoni –Andoni etc.

It’s only enjoying attention because it now involves the kidnapping of expatriates and the direct threatening of governance. When it happened only at the “watersides” – the slums, nobody paid any attention or when attention was paid, it was out of political expediency. Now all those who killed and maimed in the name of ethnic conflict has drank the concoction of penury, vengeance, criminality and of course, courage. They are attacking the larger community. Its just an example of what happens when politics is played with just about everything, from checking religious fanatism to tackling poverty. Peace takes a walk when this happens, and unfortunately with it my precious white shirt. But I am too glad it was only my shirt.