The Sacrifices Of Our Heroes Past- Pope Jay

"...I send this message so that our past would always be remembered, for in those memories... 

WE LIVE ON! "

As a Nigerian child who enjoyed a reasonable level of Civic Education, the clause "The Labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain" is one that echoes in my very subconscious but I have often wondered if the word labour is enough to describe the contributions of these heroes past. Perhaps it refers to the early patriots, the ones who initiated and completed the process of independence; Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Tafawa Balewa,Chief Nnamdi Azikwe and others.
Labour is defined as one's physical or mental effort but our history books tell us that these men didn't just make effort, some were imprisoned, some tortured and some ultimately lost their lives in patriotic service, it would then be an understatement to describe the contributions of these legends as just labour.
  

 

  In OAU, one of our legends is Iwilade George "Afrika". Afrika and the July 10 martyrs are and would be remembered not just for their labour but for their sacrifice and in as much as it saddens us every July 10 that they had to ultimately pay with their lives, we are consoled knowing that their death is not in vain. Recently I had the opportunity to visit another school, a tertiary institution in the southwest and I realized the magnitude of what the July 10 reawakening did to OAU. I would then like to call on the entirety of Great Ife that we move aside our struggles and superficial internal crisis because today is the day we dedicate to the Sacrifices of Our Heroes Past!

#July10 #WeSayNoToCultism

Pope Jay