Opinion: Why Nigerians should save OJB Jezreel

by Vincent Nwilo

ojb jezreel

Anyone can be OJB. Anyone can need financial assistance. This man has not been lazy. He has worked. He has paid bills. He has not looted treasuries…

Saving a planet starts with saving a man, a single soul embedded in one man. He lives, procreates and then a new world is in existence. A lot of people die in Nigeria daily. Sadly, we will all die someday. But the process and means of death will vary. Some people will die in the hands of their lovers, in bed cuddling each other. Others won’t have such honourable luxury of having a roof over their heads and a caring partner who would hold them close, even in death. Some will perish on the road, in plane crashes or of hunger and rejection. Others may even die of having so much to eat. It is sadly true but death is inevitable after all.

OJB Jezreel is a young man who represents a resilient generation. He represents a flock of young people seen as the outraged, because we pursue entertainment instead or law or medicine. He has worked with countless Nigerian musicians. He has served us as a musician and an idol. It is unfortunate that he is not rich enough like many of us who take trips to Germany to treat our headaches. If memory hasn’t failed me, I recall there was once he lost a relation, either his daughter or a sibling due to financial constraint. So Sad! In Nigeria, if you are talented, you are as well doomed to die wretched. You need more than talent to live a comfortable life, at least to drink and pay for your own beer.

No preacher has thought it wise to advice a congregation to save this dying soul. No mosque has held prayer and fund raising ceremony for him. No free-thinker has considered his ailment important for special attention and assistance. Sad, poor people have no hope, after all. OJB may not be directly linked to our immediate families but he is ours now that we can hear his cry, now that his tears, shaky smiles are all over our computers and mobile phones. It is only rational that we save him.

I’m restraining myself from mentioning the government. I am also withholding an urge to call on the super rich Yoruba community, of who throw massive parties and declare uniforms for even the celebration of a successful tooth removal. Anyone can be OJB. Anyone can need financial assistance. This man has not been lazy. He has worked. He has paid bills. He has not looted treasuries or impregnated a whole clan of women. I assume that if the required sum were to be less than or within a million naira, he would have afforded it. It is sad that he can’t afford this one.

Some well-meaning Nigerians have supported him. I understand others will. I will not forgive Nigeria, if a young man like OJB cannot get help and ends up dead. He has done good music. Every kind of good work counts, but his works isn’t the bedrock of my plea to everyone who is a friend of Nigeria; it is our grace that I seek.

There are countless of churches in Nigeria that preach salvation every day. It is sad, again, that when Europe introduced the church, it gave scholarship to Africans and encouraged them, thereby justifying their ‘loots’. The churches in Nigeria can save OJB from numerous donations and tithes. I know about churches that bring an entire music crew from America just for a praise concert in Nigeria. I know of families that throw birthday parties for their 3 year-old and invite American superstars. We can save a life. NTA, STV, Channels, MTV, Sound City, can all put up documentary films to solicit for assistance from the public.

Those of us who are not millionaires can still assist. If we can give a thousand naira (N1,000.00), it would be satisfying knowing that we are taking part in a process of keeping a man alive, enabling his dreams and making Nigeria better. This country is ours. When we save a young man we are saving the future. I expected that investigations would be done to ascertain the actual state of health of OJB and what has been requested. A governor can single-handedly give OJB a life same way we bought 2Face Idibia luxury cars worth millions. A student can give OJB some hope. NGOs can raise funds. We are better as a people, with a kind heart.

Save OJB today and give young Nigerians hope!

We deserve to live!

 

Note: OJB needs kidney transplant which is to take place in India. A donor has been found, according to news report. He is in need of N15 million. #SaveOJB Babatunde Okungbowa. UBA – 1015075120. 

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Vincent Nwilo tweets from @saintvinny

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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