We don't use words like "Happy Burial" to celebrate the demise of a person. We don't use the words "Happy Anniversary" to celebrate something that is negative. We don't use the words "Happy Injury" to remember an injury that happened some years ago.

So, what does Happy Independence mean in the Nigerian context? Aren't we a people wounded by poor governance, killed by security agencies who ought to protect us, mentally and intellectually destroyed by men who ought to give us mental and intellectual shelter?

How does "Happy" come into it? Or is it that by mere virtue of our unbroken structural existence we have achieved something to be happy about? I frankly don't understand this. Are we simply celebrating getting old or the things we achieved as we got older?

If the former, is age the essence of happiness? If the latter, what exactly warrants this our unholy happiness? Brothers maimed! Families ruined! Dreams shattered and inferiority bar raised ! Draculas in power quenching their taste with the blood of poor peasants with mummified minds! What exactly does this mean?

I need an explanation.

dingbang:

Don't derail if you have nothing to say.