The Facts
Early in March, a corps member, Ms. Ushie Rita Uguamaye (TikTok name: @talktoraye) made a video, crying, expressing anger, and calling for the president to resign. In the video, she expressed anger at how high the cost of living had gotten, how angry she was at how Lagos, the most populous city in Africa smelled, how frustrating she found life to be.
Then she posted another video, of someone, a notoriously judgmental NYSC official, calling to reprimand her, and tell her the words that no corper wants to hear. “I’ll see you in the office this coming Monday”
But luck was on her side. Because as she posted that video, and the follow-up to it, Nigerians took on the case on her behalf. Someone posted the number of the NYSC official threatening her, and a couple of high profile lawyers vowed to be present at the meeting to ensure fairness.
Meanwhile, the #30dayRantchallenge, sponsored by her, before she was about to enter the meeting, has gained an enormous amount of traction. It has even given rise to a subset of TikTok, known as #CorruptTok.
The Satire
Characters:
- Aisha: A young, tech-savvy university graduate in Lagos, set to begin NYSC, who is deeply frustrated by the economic situation. She’s active in the #30dayrantchallenge. Now, her frustration is compounded by the government’s solar import ban, which worsens the energy crisis and exacerbates economic hardship.
- Chidi: A middle-aged trader in Onitsha, struggling to keep his business afloat due to rising prices and dwindling customers. His business is further crippled by the insecurity, as supply chains are disrupted and customers are afraid to travel.
- Mama Ngozi: An elderly woman in a rural village, facing hunger and desperation as the cost of basic necessities skyrockets. Her village is now under constant threat from bandit attacks, and she fears for the safety of her grandchildren.
- Tunde: A charismatic activist and social media influencer, who sees the potential for the online movement to create real change. His activism takes on a more urgent tone, as he highlights the government’s failures in addressing both the economic and security crises.
- Pastor Joshua: A local pastor whose church has been targeted by violence, representing the targeted persecution of Christians.
The Story:
Aisha’s online rants now carried a desperate edge. “They banned solar,” she typed, her fingers trembling, “while our cities have been plunged into darkness! When Fulani Herdsmen kill many, bandits roam our highways, and our children are snatched from schools!” The #30dayrantchallenge had become a beacon of hope, a cry for survival. A way for people, often unrepresented, often unheard to scream their disgust at the government of Nigeria.
Chidi’s market stall, once a bustling hub, was now a ghost town. “No one comes,” he muttered, “not with this inflation, the fear in the air.” He watched Tunde’s live streams, his words echoing his own despair. “They steal our future,” Tunde declared, “they steal our peace, and they steal our lives! I am 32, yet I cannot boast of having land, my job has packed up, they said they can’t do business in such a hostile country, I still remain a burden to my parents, and the sun is so hot these days. I look at other 32-year-olds in places with a working government and I want to cry for myself.”
In Mama Ngozi’s village, nights were filled with terror. The whispers of bandit raids were now a constant dread. “They come like shadows,” she told her grandchildren, “they kill people and then they take everything. So be careful. Wash your face and let’s go to bed.” She has to tell them this, young as they are, because Nigeria does not protect the innocence of its youth. She prayed for Pastor Joshua, whose church had been attacked, for the lost children, and for the nation as she prayed with her grandchildren before bed, hoping that hunger would not twist their insides as had happened the day before.
Pastor Joshua, his voice hoarse from grief and outrage, spoke of the growing persecution. “They target us,” he said, “because they are evil. But we will not be silenced. But we will not be afraid. We will not lose hope. Even as Boko Haram agents have taken control of the Nigerian army base in Borno, and evil seems to be encroaching farther and farther inward, we must not lose hope ”
Tunde, fueled by his personal pain and egged on by the collective pain, calls for a nationwide day of mourning and protest. “We will march,” he declared, “for those they have stolen, for those they have killed, and for those they have left to suffer.”
The protests were unlike anything Nigeria had ever seen. People marched with candles, with signs bearing the names of the lost, kidnapped, and killed. They marched in the dark, a symbol of the government’s failure to provide light.
The government, shaken by the intensity of the protests, responded with force. But the people, driven by desperation and grief, refused to back down. They demanded action, they demanded justice, they demanded change.
The story has not yet ended. But join the fight for Nigeria’s future. This is a fight against darkness, against violence, against corruption. Against a government so far removed from the plight of its citizenry. Against unfeeling people. Against the anyhowness that characterizes Nigerian politics.
The #30dayrantchallenge is a cry, a demand for a new Nigeria.
