Sorosokewerey: The Uprising
He had semi-dirty dreadlocks sitting squarely on his almost perfect oblong head. One of the ears had a ring dangling conspicuously from it. He had on a red tee-shirt with #endsars insignia on it. His jean torn at the knees is in consonant with the exciting fashion trend of the times. A pair of Nike flip-flops adorned his feet and his toenails sticking out from the edge of his footwear needed a desperate visit to the pedicurist.
He briskly joined the throngs of bodies heading for the makeshift stage at the exit-end of the Lekki-Epe toll gate. A loudspeaker blasted expletives deriding the Government of the day for permitting the excesses of its security agencies vis a vis the brutalization of the notion of ‘human-right!
Colorfully dressed youths of age ranging from the teens to young adults hugging the wrong side of forty and budding grand-ma and pa (s) in their fifties gathered Infront of the stage put up the night before. The DJ suddenly changed the track to the ever-green Fela’s song “suffering and smiling’. The crown embraced momentary lunacy as everyone caught up in the mob frenzy jiggled their appendages to this song by one of African Most Iconic Freedom Fighters.
Shouts of “Sorosoke werey” saturated the air. This slogan is an absurdly attractive way encapsulated the spirit of liberation that had united the diverse population of Lagos age, gender, class, and ethnicity.
“Sorosoke” a simple way of telling one to speak up in varying situations where your voice may not be loud enough as a result of extraneous noises, attempt to speak in low tones to attenuate the reach of one’s voice, or simple refusal to speak up due to fear of harm whether physically or otherwise!.
Having been at the receiving end of countless police brutality for years and the government’s lethargic response to the overzealousness, and outright wickedness of the police has birthed this rebellion.
Sorosoke, therefore, became the rightful appellation for encouraging past victims of the impunities of these gatekeeper’s excesses to speak up and be heard.
The “Werey” added wasn’t an afterthought though, and it does not strictly speaking connotes the ‘Wèrè’ that translates in Yoruba Language to Lunacy. It is simply an endorsement of street vocabulary and apt involvement. After all, the street is where all the atrocities that incited the push for emancipation took place.
Werey on the street carries the meaning of the everyday life of street-folks. Friends who have mutated into brothers will often greet each other on the street with the shout of “Werey nibo lo n lo?” meaning “guy where are going”.
Werey is also a validation of the camaraderie on the street as you can only refer to a close associate by that term least you goof and commit a street Faux Pax, breaking the code of friendship by referring to an acquaintance as such. You might end up with a broken tooth, swollen lips, and in extreme cases broken bones!
Endsars has gone but then we must encourage ourselves to always ‘Sorosoke’ in the face of naked impunity, government high-handedness, and gross indifference to the plight of the polity. Not only for the “Werey” or brothers that we are to each other but for those who haven’t earned the street right to call us “Werey”.
Sorosokewerey
Fadeyi Micheal.
Thoughtinstones 2021 Copyright
