Have I ever considered being a whistleblower?
I smiled, smiled again, and turned it into laughter 😂😂
Sometime last week, while listening to a radio station during the 7 p.m. news, the Police Commander in our state, while addressing a robbery and murder situation, said that citizens should not be scared to report the hideouts of wanted criminals or any information that could lead to their arrest. He added that the identity of whistleblowers would not be revealed because they have good measures in place to protect whistleblowers. This sounds fine and is actually a good thing, if the police truly have reliable measures to secure the identity of whistleblowers. Not just hiding their identity, but also safeguarding the lives of whistleblowers, because there are cases where these eyewitnesses need to appear in court or at the police station to testify.
Picking sides, while I do not think I can easily get involved in blowing the whistle on a crime I witnessed, there are some circumstances where, if I do not do so, a life might be lost or an innocent person could be sent to jail. At the same time, I might be putting my own life at risk if I decide to report such crimes. So, it all comes down to bravery(and...), but sometimes it is better to apply wisdom in place of bravery.
If good measures are truly put in place to safeguard whistleblowers, then I would do it with ease, without thinking twice. But for now, it is very risky because even when it is said that whistleblowers will be protected, the same people who make those promises can be bought overnight,before and after the damage has already been done.
Even at the level of the city I currently reside in, it is very risky to blow the whistle on a 19-year-old cultist. Even when they are caught, they still have sub-gangs that can come and mess me up at night, and they may never be caught. Even if they are caught, they will not regret it because those guys are already sold out to the devil, and nothing concerns them about living a normal life. I encountered some of them in the second week of this month, and it was crazy.
It becomes even worse if the crime is connected to a top figure in the town, the state, or the country as a whole. Even if law guarantees your safety, that guarantee can never be 100% certain because the law can also be bought overnight. There is nowhere to run to, even if you decide to hide for your dear life.
In my country, Nigeria, a certain pastor in the North who testified against the killings of Christians in the north region of Nigeria has been threatened with death many times, even after the law assured him of his safety. The whistle he blew was against the government and top politicians in the land who are sponsoring the killings of Christians. We already know that he is going to have a very tough time living the rest of his life because these people will not let him go scot-free. But the truth is, God is by his side.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Week 202, Edition 03 of the Weekly Featured contest in Hive Learners Community
The Image used is mine