On the Upcoming 10 Days of Rage

By Obong Ekpe

I am ANGRY. Angry that the way of life I worked so hard to build for myself has been destroyed by bad governance. Angry that my business is ruined. Angry that it seems I was deceived into believing that honesty is the best policy in Nigeria. Angry that everyday l see new policies that will further impoverish me. Angry that if I fall sick now, I am likely to die because of a common ailment.

So I feel like smashing and burning everything around me. Especially those who I hold responsible for my predicament. Those who are drinking champagne while I am drinking dirty water. I want them to feel what I’m feeling. To taste ashes in their mouth as I am tasting. Since they refuse to do the obvious.

But today, I am called an elder, and age has forced wisdom borne of experience on me. So I feel what the youth feel, because I’ve been there, 32 years ago… we were on the streets.. we were strong… we did some smashing and burning…over 200 of us died.. watering the tree of “democracy”… and we earned ourselves one day in the Nigerian Calender. June 12, but everything remained the same, and is even getting worse.

We protested against a military government. We were brave, we feared no bullets, we shook the country, we showed our anger…but, alas, little did we know that we were simply pawns in a game of chess…whipped into an emotional frenzy by one side, and promptly discarded once we had fulfilled our task.

And so I watch the next generation getting ready to do their own show. Mice on a treadmill. A lot of motion but no movement. Enjoy your day in the sun but eye go clear una eventually.

I know that hunger fuels anger and passions are high…so your ears are blocked and you don’t want to hear anything. Adrenaline is pumping and you are in berserker mode…no wahala …let me say my own while you do your own.

When was the term, “day of rage” last used on the African continent? Let me enlighten you…it was on February 17th 2011, in Libya. But, you may ask…why a “day of rage” in Libya. After all, Libyans enjoyed the highest standard of living in Africa. Every Libyan university graduate automatically got a house and a car. They were given grants to get married. Education and health were absolutely free, and every Libyan received a percentage of their oil revenue in cash!! What could they have been angry about? Simple …they wanted “democracy”. Not realizing that they were being manipulated by malignant and demonic foreign forces. And where are they today?

Didn’t Ghaddafi join protesters on the street? Didn’t he pay billions of dollars to the West in compensation for the PanAm airlines bombing? Didn’t he eventually open up his oil industry to the West? Were they satisfied? Are those who instigated the Libyans to a “day of rage” not the ones carting away their oil for free today? Has their country not been smashed to pieces?

How about Iraq ? Were the weapons of mass destruction ever found? Were any of the prosecutors of the WMD lie that was used as an excuse to destroy Iraq ever tried by the ICJ? Who is carting away their oil today and making them pay for reconstruction …after paying for the bombs that were used in killing civilians and destroying their cities, all in the name of installing democracy? What of Sudan and Afghanistan? Why do you think Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are panicking?

My dear Compatriots, Nigeria is too rich to be left alone by them. OIL, URANIUM, LITHIUM, GOLD, SUNSHINE, ARABLE LAND, MILLIONS OF WOMENS OVARIES WAITING TO BE HARVESTED, HEALTHY ORGANS etc, etc. Such treasures are too precious to be left in the hands of Africans.

That is why they interfere in our elections. Or do you think there was no foreign manipulation of our last elections? The computer glitch was an all Nigerian affair with no foreign support? What of the court cases? Were critical documents released on time ? I laugh in Japanese. I laugh because I see the same pattern from the same playbook being re-enacted. The masterminds never come out themselves…they always work through local indigenes who don’t even know they are being used.

First of all, ask yourself, is it in the West’s strategic , economic and national interest for Nigeria to be a strong, united and productive country? If you answered yes, then please stop reading .. as the rest of this letter is of no relevance to you. For the rest, please ask yourself…are you being manipulated ? Today you want to enact your own 10 days of rage…but you’ve forgotten where days of rage led to in other countries.

I’m angry. I want to smash and burn. Forget that story about “peaceful protest”. If it is peaceful then know that it was an arrangee protest. Like the one Tinubu and co arranged in 2013 that led to the emergence of Buhari.

The protests that are not arranged must end in chaos. And the chaos will be instigated by either government or other local or foreign destabilization agents. Protesters do not have ID cards… anyone can join…so all it takes is one agent provocateur to fire a shot into the crowd or at the security forces. We react or they react and we smash, we burn and we loot ..and chaos ensues… When the dust settles, it is either we go home , to mourn the dead, or we jubilate that we have brought down the government. What happens next? Will a new set of angelic leaders materialize and take power? Or will some military generals take over and restore order? And quickly pledge allegiance to either the West or the East to ensure their survival?

Please, check the aftermath of what happened in all the countries that experienced a “day or rage”.

Frankly, I think the West is tired of our President. In their books,
he has committed 4 major, unpardonable crimes, and is seen as a bad investment.
1. He failed in using ECOWAS to crush the Niger coup
2. He failed to allow them create a military base in Nigeria
3. He failed to pass strong LGBTQ support laws
4. He is romancing China and Russia.
They will throw him under the bus in the chaos, and under the aegis of “peace keeping ” forces, we will join them in installing a more compliant leader. Our smashing and burning is just the excuse they need. And we will jubilate on the streets once it’s done..just like we did when Jonathan lost the election and Buhari was sworn in.

And if that doesn’t work…then the chaos will be made to last for 20 years . With warlords controlling various territories. And our oil and gold, Uranium and Lithium, trees and female ovaries, kidneys and livers will be harvested and carted away in the 21st century re enactment of the slave trade.

But don’t forget, it isn’t everyone that will suffer. Even during the slave trade, the African slave masters and their collaborators were “enjoying”…so shall it be this time around.

BLACK MAN ! SHINE YOUR EYE FOR ONCE!!
A protest with 20 nebulous demands is not designed to help the downtrodden masses. If it contains demands that entail the government committing suicide or being humiliated out of office, then the protest is not designed to, and cannot end peacefully.

If you must protest peacefully, then make your demands few and actionable. Fuel (N100), electricity, (N50) exchange rate (N250), electoral reform and death penalty for corruption. Liaise with the security agencies to keep protesters safe.

Give government 2 weeks and reserve your rage for those that are the actual masterminds of the rape of Nigeria and their local collaborators. Reserve it for those who extracted your oil for 60 years and felt it was better to ship it to refineries in Rotterdam rather than build refineries in Nigeria.

In all this, President Tinubu should realise that this is a golden opportunity to free himself. He knows what to do but his hands are tied . Tied by things that happened in the past .Of course he knows that removing fuel subsidy and floating the naira will trigger hyperinflation. He said so himself a few years ago and he couldn’t have forgotten. But he has done it…because he feels his hands are tied.

This protest is the perfect excuse to unshackle himself. If he knows what to do. If not, he will make history, but not in the way he envisaged.

For the rest of us, if the real masterminds have done their job well, then it’s time to say “each man for himself and God for us all.”
Shikena!

Peaceful protest is a democratic right and can achieve a lot. However, the organizers and the rest of us must think deeply about the aftermath and how to mitigate the disruptive actions of reactionary elements and hoodlums. All Nigerian protests must not always end with finger pointing, blaming each other and commissions of Inquiry. Now that we are aware of the larger context, if it must go ahead then let this protest chart a new constructive course for Nigeria.