Walls That Speak

Where are our human rights if you ban free speech? Where are we heading if we can't speak?

One day, my dad and my two siblings, bibi ad toyin were traveling to the North. Then Mimi, the youngest of us all, saw the words #EndSARS inscribed in red on a wall in Abuja. She said, "#EndSARS." Immediately, my memory flashed back to 2015, when SARS, which was meant to protect me, stopped little me on my way back from school. They told me to hand over my phone because I looked like a Yahoo boy. Ha! It was a as if those guys are there to bully.

"Hmm! Daddy, what is SARS?" she asked with her eyes locked on mydad's eyes. Inresponse, da said that SARS was a special anti-robbery squard put in place by the goverment to get thieves.

She didn't know how brutally SARS tormented people back then, but these wall inscriptions remind us of how far we have come. Free speech ensures an open, egalitarian society with the right to freedom of expression, and art is a method we have chosen to express our deepest fears, pains, and cries.

"Nigeria is bleeding," inscribed on a wall, with a mother carrying her heavy child along Jos Express Road, tells us about the incidents in Jos, where the lives of many youths were taken by banditry.

What about the famous images of our past leaders on the walls of secretariats, museums, and famous stadiums in Lagos? They remind us of our heroes' past efforts.

Bibi saw one of these at the stadium, and she used it to answer one of her examination questions at Yaba College a few years back.

These messages and pictures are meant to wake us up! However, it becomes an offence when we begin to inscribe on private property or on property that the government does not permit.

Additionally, promoting adult images on walls should not be allowed, as most of them corrupt growing minds.

However, in recent times, we have seen how placards, posters, and many other forms of public expression require authorization or approval from the local government. These are ways to monetize such content and also regulate it.

In my own view, I know that laws protect freedom of expression, and I also know that laws preventing extreme cases exist. Now, I think these laws should be revisited and explained to the public to help raise corruption-free future leaders.

In fact, if these images can be covered under free speech, then they should trive. If these images are meant to convey a meaningful, long-lasting message, they should remainm. Also i they add beauty to society at large, without negatively affecting either minors or adults, then we shouldn't castigate or ban them. A society that values free speech should be willing to tolerate ideas it dislikes while still holding people accountable when their expression causes commotion, demonstrable harm or violates the rights of others.

Thank you.

Bye!!!

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All images are mine.