Aback-and-forth saunter through the gates of yesterday and tomorrowrevealsthe relevance of ChinuaAchebe’s58-year-old adage:“When the moon is shining, the cripple becomes hungry for a walk.”

Oftentimes, I have wondered how it would be to say that when fire burns, the cripple thirsts for a run.Whichever one you take, all is in a bid to aptly describe our predicament in this our beloved fatherland.

It is no longer about power tussle and the centre periphery dynamics. No! The centre is firm already.We now fight for bread. It is painful to think that the bloodshed of our forefathers in battle to defend a holy shrine has resulted in a simple fight for bread, while the shrine is put on auction. What about tomorrow? Let me be sharp to imagine that if Karl Max were to live in this era in Cameroon, he would simply weep his way to the grave. I can’t imagine what Robinhood would do.

When foreign intruders fought physically and mentally to subdue our ancestors, they resisted to death, yet, they won for us “Mickey MouseFreedom”. Now that we fight for bread, what will we win for posterity? If we were to meet today with William Wordsworth, he wouldn’t say again that “the son shall become the father of the man”; at least, not when we are failing to father our fathers.

Our centreking preaches emergence in 19 years to come, yet he keeps dishing out currency to bread winners who pinpoint trivialities and magnify their emptiness. Just hope he doesn’t end like Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby”.

However, in 19 years to come, I would have lived for about half a century. What about you? As for him, he won’t be there at all. Think of yourself where your progenies will be, but remember thata chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted the very day it hatches.

Truth be told, you and I know that we will all be enforcing a vicious cycle of life in this country if we keep seeking bread in our comfort zones; if we keep crossing the Atlantic to well decorated deserts; if we keep listening to those who say the country is bad already; if we keep hailing prophets of Christ who seek only their own bread; if we keep listening to those whose job is to tell us we cannot; if we keep asking for a change of wine in the bottle, not the bottle itself; if we keep…you know better. Rome was not built in a day, brethren.

Pray till your knees are sore, you will only be doing your oppressor’s bidding. Go to school till you grow mad, you’ll only be learning the guidelines of slavery. Fight hard for bread. Yes, but you’ll only eat your way to sadness.

We’ve been going to school. Yes, but what have we been learning? Power will change hands. Yes, but the system will remain. Our elders have failed us;reason why they fight hard to remain in power/service in order to hide their shame. Be not a fool, for, if a child washes his hands, he can eat with kings.

It is true that an old woman is always unhappy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.On this road to emergence, there is need for self-emergence. For any change to come, we need to change our mindsets and learn the real things. The fight is ours, but the benefits of winning will go to posterity.

When you put on the amour of war, remember that a child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm and when you are confronted by cynics, tell them that those whose palm kernel were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble. My dear brother,if I fall down for you and you fall down for me,is it play or is it war?