Choose Your Fight Very Carefully

By

Shehu Bashir Esq.

We all have one thing or another that we are not pleased with in the system. No one can pretend about the shortcomings and it is an age long thing. There is no such thing as a perfect system. While we try to cope with it in any such circumstance, we can only work to sanitize the system with the best of sincerity if given such opportunity to do so.

However, as angry as anyone may be with these shortcomings, what makes the difference in achieving the sanitization goal or not is our approach to that grievance. It is all about your emotional control, strategy and goal focus.

Sometimes, you do not use your words when you only need a gesticulation to pass a message. It may not only be a waste of saliva, it may also be a wedge on your mobility especially if you use that word very carelessly.

I have seen a lot of truth, facts and sincerity in certain people’s expression of anger in a certain matter relating to the rot within the system, but the poor presentation turned the case against them, making mess of the entire socal project. Too much emotion in the presentation of a truly bad situation within the system may sway your cause into a pit of failure, vulnerability and liability.

A guilty system with a fang of teeth is always looking for the flesh to inject the venom. Do not try to thrust your leg in that burrow, you may become the victim of unrestrained trespass with a pang to deal with. Unless there is a divine intervention, the agony may last a life time.

Nigeria as a project has suffered and still suffering completion deficiencies. The architectural drawing is as deficient as the civil, electrical and mechanical construction and installation. The parts are disjointed so the whole body is in ache. Whatever that is wrong with the economic management is wrong with the financial mismanagement. Whatever you see that is not going right in the criminal justice system can also be seen in the political process dislocation. The focal point of the malfeasance is corruption. No sector is spared as of today.

However, while we hope to fix all these issues, how do we not do it in a way that may not further damage the entire system or blackmail the system or even blacklist the entire nation as an irredeemable entity. This is where a smart man who is probably a true patriot, who wants to fight to save the system must not use one axe to pull down the entire structure so that such will not come with unexpected consequences.

Experience has shown a situation where a victim of armed robbery who tried to defend himself and his family on an attack in their own yard become the suspect of manslaughter or even murder for overpowering a man who came to annihilate them. The turn around time between the right and the wrong is just a split second. It takes your caution and emotional control even in your own self defence, to retain your victimhood or become the villain.

When the system is ready for you, they will use all the instruments of the state to fight you. Hence, you must know what you are doing.

If you want to fight for the public, you must be sure you have the public support to yourself. Do not assume without scientific survey that you have the public assurance, you may end up a foolhardy.

If you do not enjoy the maximum support of the general public, do not go to the war with a self-assumed sympathy. When the chips are down, you may be left alone to your opponent to deal with, who might be stronger than you are by far. Hypocrisy of the system mostly favour the mighty. It is not everyone that will want to fight your own battle when they have an embedded interest from the same opponent you are fighting. It is a complex nature of give and take, albeit hypothetical. However bad a situation is, by the nature of human (unprincipled) character, some people rely mostly on social favour to pitch their tent.

Take note, public opinion is very fickle. There is always a reason to support or oppose a cause. Know the trend and understand the terrain so that you will not become a loser even before the fight begins.

What is right in the sight of the majority today may become the wrong in their sight tomorrow, depending on presentation and cause. Avoid rabble rousing as much as possible, not even everyone who likes your cause will want to cause a trouble for a nation for your own sake. We view in different ways and we don’t clad to clamp in the same way and for the same purpose.

If the system you want to fight is still useful for some others who might not want to lose the grace of that system, do not try to make a generalized denigration of such system, it is not a smart idea. If the majority of the people who should have been part of your army are still packing the perks from the opponent you want to fight, you may not fight in the immediate term. Delaying your fight time is not cowardice, don’t get yourself burnt out with exuberance even before the fight begins, anxiety may exhaust you too early, too quickly.

Retreating from fight in the interim is not a surrender to the horrendous situation. It is called strategy and bravery for better planning.

If the victim must not become the suspect, you must be very circumspect in your approach and presentation. You must mind your words and how you use them. Even the right words said in a wrong way can place a burden of liability on you. And when you must fight, pick your target carefully. Don’t allow the suspect to seek and secure the sympathy of the system or majority of the public which may enjoy the immunity of sacredness and protection.

Intellectual asset is a veritable tool in the war of words, but be careful not to use it raw. Cook your words and serve it garnished with a calculated escape route strategy just in case you might lose the sincerity and honesty of those who should ordinarily enforce the credibility of your words.

Choose your fight very carefully, know why you are fighting, choose the right strategy to fight whoever, don’t be a lone army in any fight, know whom you are fighting particularly, don’t fight too many people at the same time then be clear about the goal you want to achieve. How achievable is the goal and when do you think that will be done. These are all necessary calculations before you start a journey of contest.

Multiple fights with multiple opponents at the same time is not a good way to fight even for a good cause and even by any greatest warrior. Otherwise, the conspiracy of the biased system may consume you. It is called “government magic” in the voice of Fela Anikulapo.

This strategy is applicable in all fronts of confrontations, whether you are fighting an institution or facing an individual. Do not go to a gun battle with a knife. If your opponent is more armed with a piercing weapon, get yourself a ricochet vest to prevent a damage to your vital organs.

Finally, when you are fighting, know when to stop. You cannot engage in an endless war without getting yourself exhausted at one point. A fight for a good cause does not have to be fought and won in a single day. Take a gradual approach process to achieve a lasting benefit. The battle for a cause is not to consume the fighter but to vindicate him. Do not become the victim of your headiness. He who fights and runs, lives to fight again.

GOD IS HERE.