My neighbor told me last week that he has been looking for acts of mercy from reports about Boko Haram activities. Yesterday, he came to me and said he had a dream in which he saw a glimpse of his wish. I quickly reminded him about that famous charge from legendary singer Mr Bongos Ikwe to ‘show me a virgin in a maternity ward.’ But he countered that it was presumptuous to say there were no virgins in a maternity ward. If there were none among the patients could the same thing be said about their carers? Both the carers and patients are in the maternity ward!

Nothing I did would deter him from sharing his dream with me. What did he see when he slept? He said he saw that Boko Haram footmen had adopted the use of fake suicide vests. Again, I quickly interrupted him. I told him it was not a dream he had. That he was retelling the story of Usman Khan, the terrorist who stabbed some people last week on London Bridge before he was killed.

I told him that the three terrorists that stabbed some persons on the same London Bridge in 2017 were wearing fake suicide vests too. It wasn’t a dream. He was talking about historical facts but he insisted he saw Boko Haram footmen wearing fake suicide vests. I tried to tell him that he had muddled up things. That the dream he claimed he had was the result of his thoughts going into overdrive about the incidents in London.

The British and Nigeria have a special historical bond together. If terrorists in Britain are beginning to use fake suicide vests, their counterparts in Nigeria might soon adopt the same because of the tendency to share, etc. But he would not budge. He continued to insist he had a dream. I knew it was

pointless to argue any further with him. I wasn’t cutting it with him. So I let him be. Perhaps he is right. He’s the one who had the dream, not me. I wasn’t there with him.

Doesn’t he have a right to hope again, which in fairness to him, looks like the whole point of his dream? Perhaps our redemption may come from dreams such as he had.