Human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has said Nigerians always find ways to make themselves happy despite living almost miserable lives.

Sowore stated this while responding to a question from Toyin Falola on the reconciliation between the security challenges bedevilling the country and the elaborate social events held in the country.

Falola asked: “How do we reconcile banditry, killings with the elaborate social events in Nigeria, Obi Cubana, Buhari’s son’s wedding ceremony?”

Sowore said the Nigerian state is already riddled with an internal crisis and Nigerians, young and old, simply find a way to keep their hopes alive.

He said: “The Nigerian state is riddled with internal contradictions and these contradictions are multi-layered, some of them we can explain within sociology, some you can explain within the realm of religion, some you can explain within the realm of just keeping hope alive.

“You see, young people embrace some of the most ridiculous means of interacting and engaging with themselves, while I get upset sometimes, I just understand that they have been beaten so badly every day, they never had a great life, they never had a government, no social security, they have to fend for themselves and it is just human to find a social outlet to make yourself happy when you are a Nigerian and you’ve had 60 years of unbroken record of abuse in the hands of leaders that have been on national stage.

“That’s what you see and call parties. The other layer of it is the complete political distraction too, socio-political distraction that I like to call it, they just allow some things to thrive so young people or old people will not have the presence of mind to pay attention to socio-political events that will destroy their lives.

“Religion, social activities, fun, betting, all these things are the reason why the Nigerian society is the way it is but there is also another layer to it, that Nigerians are unique in a special way, they have what has been described as the Cannabis gene, that is peculiar to Nigerians. We are like the happiest people on earth even though we live the most miserable life, nothing can explain why we are like that except that there is a gene somewhere sitting at the bottom of our abdomen that has made it easy for us to be happy or find a way to be happy even though we live in misery.”