YEWA, A LAND WHERE GUNSHOTS ARE TRADED FOR SURVIVAL, A LAND WHERE PEOPLE GET KILLED WITHOUT JUSTICE, A LAND WHERE GOVERNMENT GENERATES HUGE REVENUE BUT LACKS MODERN AND BASIC AMENITIES, A LAND THAT IS AS BLESSED AS THE OIL-PRODUCING STATE BUT GET ISOLATED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Oh My Darling Yewa! I know you understand that my heart belongs to you. Thank God that I'm from a clan that has a beautiful variant terrane. But why am I really so Obsessed with my Yewa? Is it because we are defined by a systematic agricultural values, rich cultural values, and an island (Tongeji) enriched with Oil?  Is it the Amazing cloud view along the Ilashe axis? They said we are local; yet they forgot that we are sensible  ( an average person from my town can boastfully express him/herself in at least 2 languages [either local dialect or French]).

I'm from a town where  gunshots are traded for survivals. I'm from a place where the men who cover  FORBES magazine are scared to invest, because it is thoughtful to put one's money where the mouth is. Where I'm from, we smuggle to earn a living. In a nation where border town is deprived of industrial development and social amenities, all that concerns the govt is the customs excise, tariffs. Yet, me and my people still survive. We still do the hustle so as to spend the Naira and the CeFas. I still feel those butterflies in my tummy whenever  the track "Level Yen" by Remilekun Shafaru pops up the radio (Level wan le oo, Ajilete wan le oo).

The rate at which government agencies kill my people (both smugglers and innocents) is alarming. Yet, neither our oil is being exploited, nor craftsmanship is  preached. On July 10 2016, Precious Igbonwelundu of TheNationOnline  tagged Tongeji island thus: "Blessed by nature, cursed by government…Sorry tale of a riverine community"; while Kayode Adeoye of The Guardian Newspaper on the 17th of August,2016 also wrote a column with the headline: Abandoned opportunities in Tongeji oil island!

Now we need to enrich ourselves through Art, Workshops and Summit. Now is the time to empower each other so as to avert the death toll in our lands. I am planning to have a fundraising website where goodwill ambassadors can donate to our enlightenment course . The aim is to set up seminars and workshops for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs. And also have more state of art facilities in the great Yewa (Yes, we got talents). Together, me and you can be the change we yearned for. It's up to us to create that paradise for ourselves.

A Yewa that will never see her indigenes suffer or die like animals anymore.
Rest In Peace Apapa
Rest In Peace Onibode
Rest In Peace Toba
Rest In Peace Ogboye
Rest In Peace Orumila
Rest In Peace Elijah
Rest In Peace Haruna Omo Iya Eleko

And to my innocent people who caught stray bullets just like ORIYOMI PAUL AYOMAYA. I pray you all Rest In Peace. We don't want to die by the GUNS of the civilized hunters anymore.
Long live YEWA!!!
N.B: These are just few people I could remember. The mortality rate is alarming than my highlights.

Credits: Abodunrin Kabir