By This Time Last Year, I Was On The Abuja-Kaduna Train

Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo has come out to share his thoughts on the state of the nation.

He recently had his say via his social media page, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the recent pandemonium that broke out at the MKO stadium is proof that Nigerians are angry and bitter, and they are just looking for triggers.

RMD added that at this time last year he was on this same train to kaduna, and passengers talked about how unsafe it was and the risks they were taking.

His words, ”My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their lives, the wounded and those who will be traumatised by this incident for a long time. At this time last year I was on this same train to kaduna and we talked about how unsafe life is and the risks we were taking. We are the lucky ones.
Again a month ago I was on the Lagos /Ibadan train and it was the same spectre of death and attacks that plagued our minds. This is not to disregard the comfort and timeliness of the train ride and how desirable it is.”

“A few weeks later we heard reports of the same train breaking down on the tracks due to lack of Diesel. Again I was lucky that this didn’t happen to me. Point is, it could be anyone any day. On the road, at the airport, train station, no where is safe anymore. This is the extent of our brokenness.”

“If anything is an indication of how broken we are today, then the shameful storming of the pitch and destruction of the MKO national stadium abuja, is a clear indication. People are angry and bitter and are just looking for triggers. And boy! they are plenty.”

“See the initial reactions to the quite clear tweet of the young doctor who died from gunshot wounds from the train and you will see that we’ve also lost our humanity.”

“Nothing surprises and shocks us anymore. We’ve seen and heard it all. Ridiculousness has been enthroned by our leaders at every level.”

“There is an urgent need to declare a state of emergency in this country. We are heading for the precipice and it doesn’t seem like we are interested in pulling the breaks. After now it’s a free fall.”

“The government needs to do more than just promises to apprehend the perpetrators and truly save the lives of WE THE PEOPLE.”

“#Rmdsaysso”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.