SOMETHING GOOD IS HAPPENING
October was a month of happenstances. Beyond the Independence Day anniversary on the first day of the month, which happened to be a non-event — not in any way made better by the president’s uninspiring speech, the month had a full news cycle.
The #EndSars (or #SoroSoke) protests came like a bolt from the blue and stirred the hornet’s nest. The ripples of that grand event have not vanished.
October’s anti-police-brutality protestations bring to the fore another protest in recent history — the ’Occupy Nigeria’ protests of January 2012.
The 2012 protests were against the harsh, but not unexpected, removal of fuel subsidies, causing a steep rise in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) from 65 naira to 141 naira. Many Nigerians who had travelled to their hometowns for end-of-the-year festivities were stranded, and couldn’t make it back to their bases. The anger was almost national except for certain states that believed the remonstrations were targeted against their ‘son’ who was in the villa. Unfortunately, resistance in Nigeria, especially in this republic, has often been perceived as having ethnic colorations. It’s often us against them: the uprising is against our son in the villa, and we shall not join the protest.
From 141 naira, the labour negotiators got a slight reprieve for Nigerians. The pump price was adjusted to 97 naira with the promise of physical palliatives in transportation to cushion the effects of the price hike. Many of those promises never materialized, and the ones that came about were half-hearted or ineffectual. For instance, the Sure-P (Subsidy Reinvestment Programme) became another fiasco.
However, the protest bore tangible fruits down the line. It indirectly galvanised the opposition of the ruling party to form a coalition and the electorate still angry with the many unforced errors of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) voted massively for a new brigade — the ‘change team’. That experiment is now five years old with mixed results.
It might be simplistic to conclude that the #EndSARS protests would lead to the end of the road for the ruling APC in 2023, yet such a conclusion is not without premise. Ultimately, time will tell, but it is palpable that something is astir.
The October protest has put on full display the dishonesty, disconnection, and disrespect of the ruling elite for the general population. It is painful to see in full display the haughtiness of the president in the face of the goings-on. In an ineffectual speech, he called the protesters ‘so-called’ and reminded them that the acquiescence to the 5-for-5 was not a sign of weakness. There were also warnings to the international community to mind its business. Nigeria often gets bold against really harmless citizens but is quick to negotiate, rehabilitate or cower to renegades who take up arms against the state.
After attacking the epicenter of the 14-day-old protests with an all-day curfew, and a deployment of soldiers, the state government suddenly blames forces beyond its control. Days later, facing iron-clad evidence, both the military, and the state government sing discordant tunes. We’re seeing ineptitude or intentional obfuscation.
Only the undiscerning would not have expected a military onslaught against peaceful protesters when suddenly there was the declaration of Operation Crocodile Smile — such an incongruous personification. The crocodile never smiles, it bares its teeth to consume prey. The reptile is often submerged, but emerges to hunt prey — so we knew what was afoot.
In a way, the military might have lost overwhelming support in its fight against Boko Haram with its use of inordinate force. But again only time will tell. No one, however, needs to wait for time to conclude that there is satanic wickedness in the ranks of the governing class with the discovery of so many warehouses stashed with food items received from the private-sector-led initiative Coalition Against Covid (CACOVID).
The last time the president made any direct statement concerning the pandemic was in May when he rolled back the major restrictions meant to stem the spread of the virus. That address, to many Nigerians, effectively marked the end of the federal government’s involvement with covid, especially when the presidential task force charged states to take the lead.
It was therefore stunning and jarring to see the discovery of palliatives stashed in warehouses from state to state with very interesting excuses to explain the delay in distribution of the food items — some of which had gone bad in some places. Some legislators, still having not repented from their lying, claimed they wanted to distribute them on their birthdays. This is an even more exasperating excuse: that hungry people should wait for the help that has come to them until you are one year older! Food items that really belong to them. This is the very same way many government types have run the finances of the entire populace put in their trust.
Now there is a sudden recourse to strangulate social media. It smacks of intolerance, and complete confusion, to blame social media for the looting that trailed the violent disbandment of the nationwide protests. Social media present problems of misinformation and other abuses the world over. This is why the US legislature is having a running battle with social media companies on Section 230.
The legislature needs to have a talk with social media companies as well as lawyers and communications specialists on how to establish a governance model for the internet — there is hardly any policy in that direction albeit Nigeria’s internet economy is substantial and keeps growing. An uninformed regulation borne out of anger with the unbridled freedom and anonymity of social media that gets under the skin of public officials would not bode well for our democratic aspirations especially as the internet seems to be the only way citizens can directly engage with their elected uppity officials.
The people, especially the youths, know the power of the internet, they have used it with effect and won’t turn back now. Elected and appointed officials should meet them halfway by strapping on their boots and doing the work they are paid to do. Public office is no place for laggards — your actions and inactions directly affect people's lives and livelihoods. Those who cannot stand criticism should remain in private practice.
If the current enthusiasm does not wane before the next general elections, the political class must brace up for actual change. The not-too-young-to-run law passed by this administration has given many young people wings to fly, and October 2020 would be that impetus for mass action.
The melee and criminal activities in the wake of the #EndSARS protests have temporarily taken the shine off the need to end police brutality but the fact remains that Nigeria’s police service is underfunded, poorly trained, and poorly remunerated — all symptoms of governance that is not concerned with providing the basics for its citizens. After 60 years of independence, and 21 years of an unbroken republic, we have still not moved beyond looking for solutions to everyday things of life that we ought to have taken for granted.
For the hapless youngsters who lost their lives in the general clamour for a civil police force, and universal wellbeing in their motherland, they are the true heroes whose acts of audacity struck fear into the hearts of modern-day feudal lords who abhor change, and the events of October even though they ended in blood might carry a silver lining for downtrodden Nigerians in the coming months.
