Hungry and angry

Times are hard, and all are crying. Nigerians are hungry, and Nigerians are angry. Where can we buy food to eat? That is the question in many hearts and on many lips. And where and when they find food, they still must ask, and, indeed, they ask: how can we buy the food? How can we feed ourselves? How can we feed our children? How can we feed our families? Why are we hungry in a country that is so immensely blessed?  Why do we suffer want when the Creator has generously endowed Nigeria?

With meagre resources at their disposal, with the naira constantly depreciating in value, Nigerians seek answers. But they receive no satisfactory answers. And while they search for answers, those who are supposed to give answers are unavailable, unapproachable, untouchable and unaccountable. Those into whose hands are entrusted the riches of our land respond contemptuously. They deceive, intimidate and humiliate.

Dialogue is the food that nourishes common life. Whatever concerns all must be discussed by all. Dialogue is a defining feature of true democracies. Those who represent the people in the executive and in the legislature ought to consult and be accountable to the people. Sadly, that has not been the case. Nigerians have learnt to be skeptical.

Government suffers from a huge deficiency of trust. And, after making it impossible to dialogue with government, government functionaries deploy propaganda to delegitimise justifiable expression of dissatisfaction. Dissenting voices are branded unpatriotic by those whose conduct and utterances woefully fail the litmus test of patriotism.

Not only are Nigerians who are asking questions ignored, labelled and maligned, they are even scolded for daring to ask questions.  Their sensibilities are violated by exhorting them to be patient.

They have, for far too long, been patient. But they know that while those who are eating what belongs to all are suing for patience, the bowl of food meant for all is being emptied by the same people who are suing for patience. They know they have been taken for granted so many times and in so many ways in the past. They no longer trust the political class. They no longer believe those who sue for patience.

Here is a country famous for religious fervor. Yet, it is becoming increasingly clear that the religion of materialism has led many to satisfy their own hunger by starving their neighbour.  Indeed, cruelty is being made to look like a philosophy of governance.

It is irreligious and more than cruel to inflict pain on a people and forbid them from crying or protesting. It is patently unjust to pronounce a person guilty when you have no evidence of his guilt. Those with credible democratic credentials engage in dialogue, not in cheap propaganda, not in character assassination, not in intimidation of dissenting voices, as the President’s men and women have been doing. Spokespersons of government ought to be winning friends for the President.

But they are winning him enemies. They ought to be bridging the gap between government and the citizen. But they habitually dig a wide gulf in between. And that is not good for our democracy.

What should worry us is not the EndBadGovernance protest but the arrogance and insolence of deceit and injustice repeatedly inflicted on Nigerians by the ruling elite in the political parties in the land, especially by Presidential spokespersons.

What should worry us is not the protest but the dangerous separation of morality from politics.

What should worry us is the immorality of people who live in affluence and on self-awarded allowances while the people who voted them into office are dying of hunger.

What should worry us are men and women who enrich themselves by impoverishing Nigerians.

What should give us apprehension is that some persons sent their thugs to mingle with EndSars demonstrators in 2020, and now, veiled threats are being issued, using security agencies, that there will be violence.

What should worry us is that security operatives in Africa are trained and schooled not to protect but to intimidate, brutalise and humiliate the people.

What should worry us is the arrogance of power addiction. It is this arrogance that makes government officials talk down on Nigerians. A minister is a servant. But, as the Minister of Internal Affairs did on Channels Television a few nights ago, when you watch government officials talk down on Nigerians, you get the impression that they are the landlords, we their tenants. You feel like singing like Sonny Okosun did during the apartheid era: “We want to know who owns the land.”

What should worry us is that the voice of racist South African Prime Minister, Pieter Botha, can be heard in the voices of Black African leaders today. During the Soweto uprising, Botha said in 1976, “This uprising will bring out the beast in us.”

What should worry us is that Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda since 1985, has just declared in 2024, threatening young Ugandans: “They are playing with fire.”

We need justice and we need peace in our African countries. We need dialogue between government and the citizen. The question is: can African governments sit down and engage the people instead of engaging with rulers who cannot be truthfully said that they represent the people? Can they dialogue with the people instead of their show of force?

The people are hurting because of your policies. And you say they shouldn’t cry. Nigeria’s service chiefs are speaking like an army of occupation whose allegiance is not to the people but to the state and to state functionaries. They are threatening to use force on demonstrators.

No right thinking person would support arson. Violence cannot be the solution. Neither violent protests nor police and military brutality will provide solutions to the problems we currently face. Nigeria is in dire need of compassionate leaders who will not insult our dignity by giving us crumbs, calling it palliatives; leaders who will not disable us; leaders who will not erode our capacity to feed ourselves.

Father Akinwale, OP is a Dominican priest and Professor at Augustine University, Ilara-Epe, Lagos State.