By BONIFACE AKARAH

Author and political commentator, Dr. Okey Anueyiagu, has shared an emotional encounter with his late retired university professor uncle, revealing how the elderly academic advised him never to allow Nigeria's challenges to destroy his future despite his own deep disappointment with the country.

Anueyiagu recounted the experience in an excerpt from his unpublished essay titled "The Fault Lines in Our Country's Politics", saying the conversation took place several years ago when he travelled to his village in Awka, Anambra State, where he spent time with elderly relatives discussing Nigeria's political trajectory.

He said one of his uncles, a retired university teacher, became emotional after being asked whether he was proud to be Nigerian.

According to Anueyiagu, "I asked one of them, who was an elderly retired university teacher, if he was proud to be a Nigerian. He vacillated around this question for a while and managed to painfully provide an answer to the effect that it was difficult to be proud of a country that oppresses him and his people; a country that abuses, murders and diminishes them through systemic tribalism and economic strangulation."

The author said the old man's response moved him to tears as he reflected on decades of violence and perceived injustice.

"This man in the village, with sadness and sorrow written all over his wrinkled face, told me that his heart was disturbed and bruised, and that he had lost feelings and compassion for a nation that never was one in unity," Anueyiagu wrote.

He added that the retired academic believed Nigeria's history could not be ignored, saying "there was no more need to hide or disguise the truth," as he pointed to what he described as the country's history of "anarchy and madness."

Anueyiagu said after listening to the painful reflections, he pressed his uncle for more explanations, but instead of dwelling on his frustrations, the elderly man chose to offer him words of encouragement and prayer.

Recalling the advice, he quoted his uncle as saying: "My boy, Okechukwu, don't let this wicked country ruin your life... don't allow it to dim your stars. Let the sun never blind your eyes, and let the moon shower your pathways with glowing treats and bright lucence... Even as in truth, this country's lies have become constantly one and the same. Never let your sleep be ruined and be greeted with grinding and gnashing of teeth."

The author described his uncle as an exceptional communicator whose command of language made every conversation memorable.

"My uncle was a logophile. He delighted most in languages by using unusual terms so elegantly to phrase his words and sentences. For him, words are more than tools; they are treasures, puzzles, consonances, and bridges between mind and matter," he said.

Anueyiagu said the elderly professor concluded his prayers with a message that has remained with him for more than five decades.

"May you always hear that sound from inside; from within your inner-self, and may it be the sound of your ancestors, your elders and that of God bidding you to love, to forgive your tormentors and show them mercy and affection," the author quoted his uncle as saying.

He added: "Several decades after, I still remember his prayers even to the minutest details. Those puissant words from my uncle have been with me for over 50 years, and have carried me thus far."