By Austin Okeke (SA)
Soon after the beast descended on the land, unleashing unspeakable and indescribable manner of atrocities on the people, brave men and women got their tongues wagging and went to war.
They went to war, not with their swords, but with their pens; bringing to life the age-long saying that “the pen is mightier than the sword” It still is.
Their words, sharpened as never before, set to slay the beast.
The beast must fall.
Its atrocities never before witnessed since after the Nigeria Biafra civil war between 1967 -1970.
Its wicked manner brazenly unabated; unleashed each time with military precision, and with arrogant impunity. Feasting on evil, and deceptive in its nature.
Brave men and women, in turn, coated their pens with yet sharper words, fiercely piercing the heart of the beast in equal measure, and commensurate with the beast’s incremental attacks.
With the passage of time, every succeeding day seems the longest day; the people cannot wait for the beast to be slain.
The beast has to fall; the beast must fall.
The entire community went into a panic mode; this naturally triggered a war mode in the process. It is a reflex action, inherent in all mankind. Self-defence, the law has coined it.
The beast, nevertheless, knows no rules. It is in its nature to be savagery because it is a beast.
Social media was abuzz with words of different shapes and sizes; for the sword of the beast became sharper each time it struck. Leaving behind a bloody trail of the worst kind of inhumanity to man never before imagined.
Boundary by boundary the beast conquered the land, or so it thought. Dancing and dancing across like Armada, no, anaconda, no, python, no crocodile. But it never smiles
Wait a moment, the beast is nondescript, for the beast changed its appearance at every feasting operation it embarked on in the land.
Chameleon has been beaten hands down in its ability to camouflage at every perception of danger. Such is the nature and tactics of the beast.
The people persistent in their plots, in the defence of their land; the beast must fall they echoed louder.
To the extent that the neighbouring ECOWAS countries had to joined in the chorus, albeit in a diplomatic manner. For the beast knows no bound.
Just as the people thickened their plots to slay the beast, the beast became more and more beastly and savagery in its attacks on the land; its thirst for more blood grew at every provocation. After all, it is a beast.
Silhouette became the mantra for both the opposite camps. You must eat with a long spoon should you decide to wine and dine with the devil, sorry, the beast I meant to say.
Everyone on the dining table squinting at each other, knowing very well that the next meal might be served using their flesh and blood as the main course. After all, the head and carcass of a familiar person is evidenced on the dining table. An unholy feast as it were.
The beast must fall, the beast must fall, resounded across the land and beyond.
Emissaries were sent out to adjoining land in search of allies and allied forces in order to slay the beast. It is a work in progress, the emissaries are yet to return home. The people await them in suspense, no one knows their fate.
The biblical story of how the Jericho wall was brought down became the only tale by moonlight.
It is, even more, captivating a tale because it is now in the present; it is no longer a tale of over 2000 BC.
The beast shall fall soon, on its own sword it must.
The gnashing teeth shall smile, and the polluted air shall bring forth a breath of fresh air.
The beast no longer has the strength to strut the land as in the beginning.
Alas, the beast shall breathe its last in a few months time, and a total spiritual cleansing shall occur in every nook and cranny of the land.
So help us, God.
I thank you.
10 February 2022
Austin Okeke
