A few days ago, I was discussing with a relative about his travel plans. He was in Abuja and was undecided about the specific date that he would return to Kano.
‘Anyway, I must return home before the planned protest.’
‘Haba? Is it that serious?’ I asked.
‘Ha! What rock are you living under? It is very serious fa! In fact, I have bought food stuff enough to last months. I have made sure everything in the house is working well including my Starlink internet. My family and I will be indoors throughout. I am not stepping one foot outside my gate until I am sure everything is quiet again. Nigerians are not smiling. Don’t you remember the 2012 subsidy protests? Is it not with my very eyes that I witnessed a peaceful protest turn into a blood bath? A man was killed in front of me fa! Inaaa! Are you not watching what is happening in Kenya? Ha! The youths are not smiling fa. And our security personnel are not the most humane…’
He continued his tirade until we dropped the phone and left me in deep thought.
Country hard? Yes. No money? Yes. Hunger? Yes. Bad roads? Yes. High cost of medicines? Yes. Insecurity? Yes, yes and yes. Corruption? A big and resounding YES!
But what exactly are we protesting for? What is the central theme of this protest? In 2012, it was subsidy removal, now; however, I am at a loss. ‘Sapa?’ ‘Country hard’? Are these our themes? What is our one major aim and specific demand? At what point do we say our demands are met and call off the protests? And where are these meeting points going to be? How do we stay protected? What measures are we taking to make sure the protests peaceful?
First thing first. I strongly believe in the voice of the people. It’s an open secret that there is discontent with some of the government’s policies. But, for our voices to be heard, a protest is something that should be well organised, carefully planned and detailed, leaving no loose ends.
Therefore, the first question that begs to be asked is this: ‘Is this protest well organised?’
More importantly, who are the organisers? In a diverse country such as Nigeria, with more than a thousand youth groups, I have seen many groups over the past few weeks either pledging their allegiance to the protests or condemning it. Notable among the ones that have distanced themselves from the protests are the Arewa Concerned Citizens Forum (ACCF) and Rebuild Arewa Initiative for Development (RAID). And even though the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has released a statement saying that they know who are behind the protests- no groups have been fingered yet. All the videos I have seen are of individuals urging people to come out and protest but there is no actual group championing the cause.
Red flag #1.
The second issue is- what are our demands? For this, I donned my anonymous investigator cap and went sleuthing about the internet. Here is their laundry list of demands:
- Toss the Senate arm of the Nigerian legislative system. Keep the House of Representatives and make lawmaking a part-time endeavour.
- Pay Nigerian workers a minimum wage of nothing less than N250,000 monthly.
- Invest heavily in education and give Nigerian students grants not loans. Aggressively pursue free and compulsory education for children across Nigeria.
- Release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally and demilitarise the South-east. All ENDSARS and political detainees must also be released and compensated.
- Rationalise public owned enterprises sold to government officials and cronies.
- Reinstate a corruption-free subsidy regime to reduce hunger, starvation and multidimensional poverty.
- Probe past and present Nigerian leaders, who have looted the treasury, recover their loot and deposit it in a special account to fund education, healthcare and infrastructure.
- They are also demanding the “Restructuring of Nigeria to accommodate Nigeria’s diversity, resource control, decentralisation and regional development.
- “End banditry, terrorism and violent crimes. Reform security agencies to stop continuous human rights violations.
- Establishment of a special energy (what does this even mean?) immediately to drive massive corruption-free power sector development.
- Immediate reconstitution of the electoral body, INEC to remove corrupt individuals and partisan hacks appointed to manipulate elections.
- Massive investment in public works and industrialisation will help employ Nigeria’s teaming youths.
- Massive shake-ups in the Nigerian judiciary to remove cabals of corrupt generations of judges and judicial officers that continue denying citizens access to real justice.
- “Diaspora voting”. (This is exactly how it appeared. “Diaspora voting”. Again, what does this even mean? I am sure this was added by our hot-headed Nigerian youth who we see protesting regularly in front of Chatham house in London).
Haba Dan-Allah! I am no Tinubu ally, but even the most optimistic of protesters, knows that this laundry list is very bogus. How the hell is government supposed to address these outrageous, not to mention non-exhaustive list of demands? Why not stick to just three main demands? Again, we need to have a central theme like minimum wage for example.
And what is the yardstick by which we are going to measure these demands? For example- now that minimum wage has been increased to 70k, do we continue to protest for it to be 250k or cross number 2 off the list? In other words- at what point do we decide ‘E don do. Call off the protests’. Remember, till date Kenyans are still protesting.
Red flag #2
Lastly, what measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of the protesters? How do we ensure that the protests do not transform into riots and lootings? Even in the so-called saner climes where tear gas is used instead of bullets, some people still lose their lives during political protests.
Nigeria’s military has vowed to intervene to prevent any violence at protests by citizens planned for next month against bad governance and economic hardship, defence spokesperson Major General Edward Buba said last Thursday. Buba admitted that Nigerians had a right to protest peacefully but the demonstrations being planned from Aug. 1 could turn violent as they were inspired by events in Kenya, where young people took to the streets and forced their government to scrap $2.7 billion in tax hikes.
So far, in Kenya, 46 people have been killed and more than 400 injured as reported by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit, an alliance of professionals that performs autopsies and tracks police violence. At least 44 people were also seized extra-judicially, according to the group, with some beaten and dumped back in the streets. The body of one young man was found in a quarry.
How do we prevent this from happening next weekend? In a country as vast as Nigeria, with protests being planned in all 36 states including the FCT, how do we ensure our safety? Do we think that this same government that has turned a blind eye to bandits and kidnappers will give a second thought to blowing our brains out if it destabilises their government? How do we protect ourselves?
Red flag #3
But maybe I am being pessimistic. Maybe a little chaos is what we need. After an initial denunciation of the protesters as criminals, President Ruto of Kenya has tried to be more conciliatory. After Parliament was invaded and partially set on fire, he withdrew the finance bill and accompanying tax hikes that sparked the protests — prompting international ratings agencies to downgrade debt-laden Kenya — and then scrapped the millions of dollars allocated to the offices of the first and second ladies. And when that was not enough, he fired his political cabinet. To this, the program director for Africa at the International Crisis Group think tank said: “It’s very encouraging.”
Who knows? Maybe a little mayhem is what we need.
Stay safe my people.
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