As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of true representative democracy, “When will you be satisfied?”. We can never be satisfied as long as the Nigerian is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of state brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the dividends of true democracy. We cannot be satisfied as long as the average Nigerian’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For The Rich Only”.  We cannot be satisfied as long as a Nigerian in Nigeria cannot vote and truly believe in it and a Nigerian in Nigeria believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no……we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of true representative democracy, “When will you be satisfied?”. We can never be satisfied as long as the Nigerian is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of state brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the dividends of true democracy. We cannot be satisfied as long as the average Nigerian’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For The Rich Only”.  We cannot be satisfied as long as a Nigerian in Nigeria cannot vote and truly believe in it and a Nigerian in Nigeria believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no……we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow encounters with narrow minded leaders. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of political brutality and deception. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Abuja, go back to Anambra, go back to the South, go back to Jos, go back to Lagos, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Nigerian dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Katsina the sons of former poor men and women and the sons of former peasant farmers will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the states sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my two little children will one day live in a nation where they will not bejudged by the extent of their wealth but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Jos North , with its vicious trouble makers, with its selfish politicians having lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right here in intolerant Nigeria , little Muslim boys and Muslim girls will be able to join hands with little Christian boys and Christian girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the Jos with. With this faith we will beable to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if Nigeria is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of Obudu. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of Plateau. Let freedom ring from the heightening Adamawa Hills!
Let freedom ring from the Mambilla!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of Pankshin!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Zuma Abuja!
Let freedom ring from Zamfara! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Nigeria. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Muslims and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, Shia and Sunni will be able to join hands and sing in the words of old “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Note: the opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not represent the views of viewpointnigeria

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Martin Luther King’s speech para-phrased by Stephen Inji Makama