By Okikiola Oladele

The story is told of a man who has a whole lot of work to do but was stuck at home with his Ten year old daughter because the mother of the house was out shopping. The young girl gave him no rest as she constantly came calling for one thing or another. In a bid to buy himself some space to finish his work, he found a magazine and tore out a page with the map of a country on it and tore the page in bits. He handed it out to his daughter with the clause, "don't come back to me unless you are done putting the map back together"

Confident that he had given her something that will occupy her time for the rest of the week, he settled down to get some work done, but in a few minutes she came running and he couldn't believe his eyes as before him was the well-arranged map. So he asked how she figured it out so easily and she said "it was easy because I discovered that on the other side was the picture of a man and so all I had to do was fix the man and the map was automatically fixed"

Her reply is the moral of the tale; if we want to put this country back together we must realize that the repair starts and ends with individuals. Once we fix the "MAN", we fix the country, state, local government, office, church, homes etc.
This is why "Global Heroes" is cycling from Ilorin to FCT bearing one message "peace we need, spread the word". The Global Heroes team has been training for this ambitious activity for about three months, and unlike the norm, these guys are amateur cyclists exploring their more adventurous sides while bearing this single message of peace across the Nation, which is what we need now more than ever.

With this in mind the Global Heroes team took off from Ilorin on the 17th of October flagged off by the Kwara State governor himself, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed. The cycling duo consist of Okeowo Ademola, the visioneer (aka Molly) and Doyin Kugbiyi (aka Diz'l). It was quite a wet day, but that didn't dampen the spirit of the two Heroes. One would normally think that they would probably tire out soon and give up midway but with a resilience like theirs, one would be making a costly assumption. Molly and his team are determined to make the point that now, more than ever, Nigeria needs peace and this is their own voice, a cross country cycling. Prior to the event, they mapped out their route with plans to stop at Land mark places like Okene where churches were burnt and people killed. They also planned to stop at designated mosques along the way over the 450 kilometer long cycling trip. Other ports of call include Local government Offices along their way as well as the National assembly with a brief stop at the National stadium all in a bid to drop their message, Nigeria needs peace and we need it right NOW!

According to Demola in an interview with The Sun newspaper of September 23rd 2012 in a response to the idea that their motivation is maybe money or media attention, he replies "Money or cheap publicity never crossed our minds. Our aim is altruistic. We are driven primarily by the patriotic zeal to help engender a nation where we, the youths, would have enabling environment to fulfill our potential and God assigned destinies. The youths of this country are full of positive energy, and if properly directed, they could help in bringing peace to our land. That is our goal"

The Global Heroes team is no stranger to daring initiative. For example, a little while back they embarked on a 60km endurance trek to Offa, Kwara State from Ilorin as charity to raise funds for widows of our fallen heroes. According to The Sun Newspapers, the Two million Naira raised from the walk and sponsorship contract was given to the widows. In the same vein, the Cycle Naija initiative was sponsored by corporate bodies such as The Sun, NTA etc.

Day 1 of the event was flagged off at the Kwara State Government house by the Governor himself at 8am. Our two Riders, Doyin and Demola took off with great zeal and resilience, pressing on towards their mark. With the Global Heroes team bus behind and their medical staff, they weaved stealthily through the Ilorin traffic towards the outskirt. The first port of call was the Omu-Aran LGA headquarters where the guys met with the Chairman of Omu-aran Local government bearing this one message, "Peace We Need". Despite tyre leaks and weary muscles, the guys made it to Odo-Eri LGA in Kogi state to rest for the Night.

Day 2. The duo took off early in the morning and pressed on, cycling persistently through Odo-Eri, Odo-Ere, Egbe, Isanlu and Mopa. Between Mopa and Kabba the duo experienced several bad patches of road which made cycling very difficult. This calls the attention of the Road Management Authority. Our roads are very bad and this is one more thing the Cycle Naija initiative has been able to point out. We need help for the deplorable state of Nigerian roads. Eventually the Heroes made it to Kabba Bunu LGA bearing the same message of peace. They met with the Local Government Chairman and had time to rest their weary muscles. Pressing on, our heroes resumed their cycling with Okene in mind as their next port of call. At Okene the team was able to visit their designated point and yet had some time to freestyle and have fun. The Global Heroes team was able to make it to Lokoja by nightfall to rest for the Night and prepare for a final Lap. It is very amazing that these guys were able to cover about 300km within two days and without and would make it to Abuja the following day.

Day3. Our team of Heroes prepared for what would be the final lap in the trip. It was Lokoja to Abuja and there was no stopping these guys now. Motivation was high, morale was at its maximum and there was no breaking their spirit. All over my BBM people had keyed into the movement and were supporting and cheering these guys on throughout their trip. Even at that some unexpected problem found their way to the surface. There was a problem with Doyin's Bicycle and Demola just kept cycling on. According to the tweet by Cycle Naija's officialtwitter handle "Demola is Nowhere to be found". Not to worry, the Global Heroes team was more than capable. A brief stop to fix Doyin's Bicycle and then after a couple of miles, Demola was finally found. Our cycling duo on the Lokoja-Abuja Express way encountered some trafficjust after crossing the Niger Bridge, but that didn't dampen their spirits. They are tougher than that. A couple of hours later, they berthed in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. All the way from Ilorin, this incredible feat was achieved in 3days.

The first point of visit was the National Stadium, Abuja before making a final call at the NTA headquarters. The Cycle Naija team is, as of the time of typing this post, in the city of Abuja.

What has this taught me as a person? Impossible has been redefined. When I first heard about it, I laughed it off and dismissed Demola as a jokjer I now know this wasn't a joke. The event has taught me the power of resilience and dedication to a cause. People may laugh at you but when you are focused and determined on succeeding, you will succeed. I imagine several minds still not believing as they read this, that doesn't change the fact that the mission has been accomplished. An idea that started off as a dream now coming to fruition, there is no greater joy than that. Many people have gone out trying to preach this message of peace but the zeal died out along the way because of lack of passion. This event is the voice of Global heroes in preaching this single message "Peace we need" They were ambitious, they prepared and now they have achieved their goal and you can bet that they are fulfilled, albeit very tired. I do hope that this event can inspire more people as I have been inspired to be better than what we presently are. I hope we can find a reason out of this to ensure that peace reigns in this country. I hope one day we can all sit down round a campfire and look back at the circumstances bringing us together and still be glad that above all, we embraced peace.

My name is Okikiola R. Oladele and I embrace peace