The last time I wrote I was speaking of my mother’s critical arthritic condition. I wrote so that there’ll be no speculation about the truth concerning her critical condition. I tried my best to remain within the confines of what the professional and objective opinions of the doctors who had examined her reported. The summary was that she needed urgent knee replacement surgery. I did not detract from expressing the urgency of the report at the time.

Sadly, since then that matter has remained completely ignored by the government. Furthermore, all efforts to have my father’s eye be examined by an independent doctor have been met with ‘administrative’ difficulties. And, when, those difficulties were overcome and the doctor had made his recommendations, we are now facing a new mountain of administrative difficulties. Nothing has been done since then.

Words cannot describe the nature of the monstrous bureaucratic mountains we had to climb to get there. Like my mother, in the case of my father’s one remaining eye, I am sad to state that the reality is grim, at best. This is more than two years after I had raised alarm about the issue.

I want everyone to understand that this government’s message is clear; and so is the intent of its leadership. Their objective is to simply manage and choreograph a convincing case of a natural series of induced disabilities of a permanent nature that can and will lead to an equally convincing natural death for which they can all claim to have no complicity. All these are in pursuit of their collective desire to commit the ultimate unsolvable murder.

They are trying to ensure the success of the mission of mass-murder that was started by the Nigerian Army back in December 2015. They just want us to calm down, lay low, and relax. They imagine that we are coming from elsewhere to Abuja; the same is true for themselves and everyone else in that city. The real owners of that land have since been oppressed beyond recognition.

All they want is to go back to their stealing Ways. Just like the Rats they are, even though they are too cowardly to bell a kitten, let alone a cat. They are so blinded by the demons of greed that all rats worship. This is why even our most peaceful efforts are always treated with mindless violence whenever possible. For 100 days we sat at unity fountain, merely just stating our legitimate grievances: A fountain of unity which, mind you, does not work. I have been mostly in and sometimes out of the Abuja fountain. But, I have never seen water spraying out of it. A fountain is supposed to spew water.

Nigeria’s Unity Fountain seems to never work, and all who wish to even breath its fumes are subjected to tear gas and whatever madness can be unleashed by the current government of Nigeria. All I can remember whenever I see it is that the fountain at Hussainiyyah worked non-stop 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for as long as it was required. Of course, it was destroyed by the Nigerian Army with extreme prejudice, along with any living person or animal they found in the vicinity.

In the mad desire for blood that seems to consume this government, they have gone so far as to even suggest that we move along to a location where they would prefer to kill us all! They’d rather not do it in Abuja. Even chickens have never been treated with this level of incredulity. At least, chickens have to be ushered to their doom. No one ushered me or anyone else into Abuja; we were already there. For two years, we have tried everything in the book and they have been showing only mad, remorseless violence and irrational brutality. The truth is clear for everyone to see.

We must not falter, we will not relent, we must not surrender and we must continue as we have always done: Fighting for Justice. Even as we lick our now wounds and take to heart those they have assaulted, we will leave no opportunity unused in our eternal fight against injustice. Our stand in Abuja will never stop short of the goal. Especially, since they have made it clear that they will unleash all their wet dream’s worth of instruments of death. Only a fool would choose to retire to a place of a murderer, in order to be murdered there.

We are now in Abuja: let them come to us, as they did when we were in our homes. Let them come with all their impressive collection of dangerous weapons, including the batteries, cell phones and SIM cards they took from our demolished homes. Abuja is where they must bring their water cannons, tear gas, bullets and cannons. They can torment, torture and, as usual, kill all they want, but we die here or we live everywhere. The fight for justice in Nigeria will never come to an end. If we die, criminals must pay for their crimes.

•Mohammed Ibrahim-Zakzaky writes from Abuja.

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