Goodbye to a terrific 2021

I am happy that 2021 has come to an end, but most importantly, I am thankful to be alive till the end of such a terrific year. It was a year full of memories, many of which are unpleasant, uncalled for, avoidable, unnecessary, and shameful. A year Nigerians barely kept their heads above the water, trying to find their feet.

It was a year where governors preferred to make trips to Aso Rock Villa on taxpayers’ money instead of manning up and tackling insecurity in their respective states. It was a year that terrorist groups like Boko Haram and bandits operated freely and grew in ranks and files, establishing territories inside the geographical area of Nigeria.

2021 is indeed a year to remember. A year that Ibrahim Isa Pantami is still a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after video evidence surfaced where he was seen showing sympathy with terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda, Taliban, and Boko Haram.

It was a year where President Muhammadu Buhari decided to take action against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and any group agitating for a Biafra nation in the south-east, and the best way the president could do this was to threaten his citizens that he will treat them in the language they understand after making reference to the 1967-1970 civil war where over one million people died.

2021 was a year where Buhari’s statement was pulled down by Twitter and the president responded with a ban on the microblogging site, throwing many Nigerians out of business.

2021 was a year Buhari really took action. He arrested IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu in Kenya, repatriated him to Nigeria, and has since confined him in the DSS custody. It was also a year where Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Igboho’s house in Ibadan was invaded by Nigeria’s security agencies in the dead of the night, leading to the death of two persons. He was later arrested in Cotonou and has since been detained in the neighboring country of Benin Republic without bail.

It was also a tragic year where a 300 level student of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Ojukwu, confessed to stabbing CEO of Super TV, Michael Usifo Ataga, to death with a kitchen knife. Chidinma would later become a celebrity murder suspect granting interviews with so much calmness and smiles all over her face.

How can we forget about 2021? A year where Abba Kyari, deputy commissioner for the Nigeria Police Force, was declared wanted by the FBI on charges related to wire fraud and money laundering traced to Ramon Abbas, commonly known as Hushpuppi. But the 46-year-old has only been suspended by the Nigeria Police and is no doubt enjoying his life somewhere unbothered.

It was a year where the sports ministry and Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) decided to bring shame to the entire nation at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. They took their in-house fight to the world stage and disgraced Nigerian athletes who could not get kits to train or compete because of a botched deal with PUMA. During that Olympics, Nigerian athletes also protested, carrying placards because they were declared ineligible to compete.

2021 was indeed a year. At a time when the world was battling to contain the global pandemic of COVID-19, Nigerian authorities watched its resident doctors embark on a strike that lasted for 64 days, leading to the death of many.

It was a year where prominent Nigerians were murdered in cold blood. Some of whom are former special adviser on politics to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, and Chike Akunyili, husband to former minister of information, Dora Akunyili. These are just a few of the countless killings that took place in the southeast.

The year also presented drama in the entertainment scene where Annie Idibia attacked her husband and music icon 2Face Idibia on social media and called him out over his relationship with one of his baby mamas, Pero Adeniyi. While this was getting the attention of the youth, many adults were concerned about the new wave of coronavirus and the forceful vaccination rule by some authorities.

The Central Bank of Nigeria would not be left out of the drama. They launched the eNaira platform with the pride that it is the first in Africa and the second in the world. In 2021, we witnessed the #EndSARS white paper by the Lagos state government and the one-year remembrance parade by some youth. They were denied the chance to massively step out as planned but their resilience did not stop them from taking a drive around the Lekki tollgate.

2021 was full of laughs with the federal government announcing its plan to completely remove fuel subsidy and pay some 40 million Nigerians N5,000 each for some months, believing that this will solve their problems.

The death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni brought sadness to the heart of many parents and left them with something sorrowful to remember the year for. But the launch of Bisi Akande’s book and the refusal of President Buhari to sign the electoral bill shows that there are many things to look out for in 2022.