They told you we were difficult. They whispered in the corridors of power that we are “Stubborn,” “Unyielding,” and “Defiant.” They painted us as the storm you should avoid, the fire that refuses to be tamed.
But they forgot to tell you why.
They didn’t tell you that our “Stubbornness” is actually the deep, gnarled roots of an ancient achi tree clinging to the soil that birthed us. They didn’t tell you that our “Defiance” is the only language left to a people whose inheritance is being traded like a commodity in air-conditioned offices.
The Soil of Our Ancestors. To the world, the boundary between Amasiri and Oso-Edda is just a line on a map, a series of coordinates over which “disputes” arise. But to us, that land is not “real estate.” It is the sweat of our grandfathers. It is the sacred ground where our umbilical cords are buried.
When you see us standing firm, you aren’t seeing a people looking for a fight; you are seeing a people refusing to be EREASED. We are the guardians of a legacy that predates any political appointment, and we will not be the generation that let the earth go cold.
It is a bitter pill to swallow when the person sworn to protect all, chooses to shield only a few. We have watched with heavy hearts as the machinery of the State, the very same power we helped build is turned against us.
When the cries of Oso-Edda are treated as gospel, while the pleas of Amasiri are dismissed as “incitement.”
We see the tilted scales. We feel the cold shoulder of an administration that seems to have forgotten that leadership is about equity, not favoritism.
They warned you about us because we refuse to bow to a narrative that paints us as the aggressor while our farmlands are being encroached upon and our rights are being auctioned. They warned you because an Amasiri person who knows their worth is a threat to a tyrant’s peace.
#ProudlyAmasiri
#IStandbyAmasiri
Yes, I am the Amasiri you were warned about (by Michael Nduka Ijoma).
