By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
The Nigerian end-bad-government protest has come and gone but the issues and the lessons are still with us. One of the critical observations is that of the negative responses from the authorities that are obviously fretting the protest. The speech of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the protester four days into the scheduled ten-day protest is an issue that require critical analysis.
The speech was seen by many concerned Nigerians as an affront to the people demanding good governance and accountability. The speech did not address the issues and demands of the protesters but dwelt on matters considered irrelevant and diversionary.
On the 1st of August, 2024 Nigerian youths from across the Nigeria began a nationwide protest demanding an end to bad governance. Among other things, they want an end to wrong policies that brought hunger and untold hardship on the citizens.
The protesters want the country to be restructured, an end to banditry and insecurity that put the citizens into fear, end to profligacy wastefulness and high cost of governance. They also demanded oil and power-sector reforms; the reconstitution of the national electoral body and massive shake-ups in the Nigerian judiciary to remove cabals of corrupt generations of judges and judicial officers. Again, they demanded the restoration of the fuel subsidy and a review of the nation’s constitution to allow for true federalism and national unity.
From the onset, there was evidence that the government tried to stop the protest at all costs including mobilizing joint military task force not to protect the protesters but to quell the protest which is an aberration given that protests and civil disobedience are vital instruments of citizens participation in a democracy.
Before the beginning of the protest on the first day of August, there were anti-protest marches in Abuja and Lagos allegedly sponsored by government agents. There were also insinuations that the government stooges sponsored infiltrators to cause mayhem during the protest in order to discredit the protesters and their organizers.
At end of the day many of the protesters lost their lives from bullet wounds from government’s trigger-happy security agents, many injured and many more arrested by the state security operatives.
The implication of the whole scenario is that the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is more interested in stifling protest than listening to the protesters.
The government is insensitive to yearnings and aspirations of the masses and instead the government is more interested in hunting and punishing the alleged organizers and sponsors of the protest rather than the cause of the protest. And all these can be deduced from the controversial address to the nation by Tinubu.
The summary of the said Tinubu’s speech seems like this: I have heard your noise. Your protest is politically motivated. You have no reason to protest for I have been working for you ingrates. Stop the protest, go back home and endure your hunger. Subsidy is gone and gone forever, there is nothing you can do about it.
He did not tell Nigerians what he will do to end hunger, unemployment, and insecurity, declining economic fortunes neither did he say anything about profligacy and wastefulness that characterized his government. He was silent on the issues of nepotism and lopsided political appointment, fuel subsidy and high tariff on public utilities.
Tinubu government has been accused of being punitive and divisive and I saw it in speech. Tinubu’s agent were busy mobilizing resources hunting sponsors and organizers of civil protest but did nothing about those threatening people in Lagos only half-hearted statement of warning. This is Tinubu’s word to the ethnic bigots in Lagos:
“To those who have taken undue advantage of this situation to threaten any section of this country, be warned: The law will catch up with you. There is no place for ethnic bigotry or such threats in the Nigeria we seek to build.” But, we know he said this to fulfil all righteousness. Ethnic tension and bigotry have increased in Lagos leading to wanton destruction of properties and assets of people from a particular ethnic group in Lagos with the alleged tacit approval of the Jagaban.
Many believed and rightly too that the Tinubu’s nationwide address to protesters was hollow and deceptive. He said among other things, “Under the circumstances, I hereby enjoin protesters and the organizers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity…” Again, this clearly shows insincerity. It is reported in the press that about 1,300 people were arrested by security operatives in connection with the protest and even a few days after the end of the protest many were still being hounded and this is Tinubu talking glibly about dialogue with the protesters.
Clearly, the protesters demands are legitimate. They are asking for economic and political reforms that will be for the benefit of all; not the few at the corridors of power living in opulence at the expense of the masses. But the government’s failure to listen to the voice of the people is not acceptable; it is just like postponing the evil day. Observers believe that there is a possibility of a bigger protest coming if the government continues to ignore the plea from the people to rejig the economy and reduce
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK
