Still living in denial

There is evidence that government has refused to learn lessons from the anti-hunger/EndBadGovernance protests. That much is perceived from responses of government and security agencies. The authorities are yet to repent from over-reliance on propaganda and indifference as ways and means of communicating with citizens.

They’re yet to own up to the fact that they created the environment that engineered the protests. Instead, they’ve denied their high-handed mismanagement of the protests, blaming political enemies and other sponsors. Who caused the surge in inflation, the massive unemployment and devaluation of the naira, not to mention the pervasive hunger without borders?

The denial began with President Tinubu’s remorseless broadcast in the morning of August 4, even after it was reported that a number of youths were murdered by security operatives in the course of the protests. What was supposed to be a mournful Sunday speech, an opportunity to confess the losses and address the triggers of the protests became another time to flex and brag about the good intentions of this government.

Nigerians are not demanding good intentions, the time for that was during the 2023 campaigns. Citizens want to live a better life after the harrowing eight years of Buhari government. They do not have the luxury of time and patience to endure more years of hardship under the same All Progressives Congress (APC).

The protests had gone messier and out of tune in the North, and needed careful management to de-escalate. Linked to the President’s lack of empathy and disconnection with the realities of the moment, the protests became riotous on Monday, August 5, yielding more casualties. Even on Wednesday, August 6, when there were attempts to smuggle a remake speech to correct the previous blunder, it was still an unsympathetic plea for time and endurance.

Some protesters demanded that fuel subsidy should return to the setting prior to May 29, 2023. Even though that didn’t seem likely with present chaos in the oil sector, the President could have shown tact, to begin to cut down on the size and cost of governance. That didn’t happen, instead, President Tinubu was busy making fresh appointments.

Last week, the President appointed new members to the Board of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), with former Governor and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, being chairman. At the end of that list, what we have is a collection of former politicians/party faithful getting patronised for their partisan/filial relevance, not for their capacity to make useful interventions.

Last Wednesday, Tinubu also appointed 10 persons to serve on the governing councils of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa Ibom State, and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State. The President also appointed governing councils for 13 Federal universities and institutions, some with strange names one didn’t know existed.

Each of the institutions has five council members. These appointees will draw various allowances to add to the cost of governance. Though statutory, some of the institutions have similar contents/objectives and could be better streamlined at the governing council level to reduce cost.

After all, the councils are not the ones running the institutions. They only come around quarterly, or at other intervals to peddle influence and pick allowances. A prudent reformer and manager of men and resources, as Tinubu was touted and advertised by his disciples, should know how to do things differently, not in the same profligate and decadent manner the Second Republic was run aground.

All that portrayed a government that is grossly insensitive, trifling while citizens wailed under historical poverty and bad governance. To worsen matters, despite video and photo evidences, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, reported that no citizen was killed during the protests. Sharing at the joint security media briefing last Tuesday, the IGP denied that the Police and other security agencies used excessive force on protesters and did not use live ammunition.

The Amnesty International had reported that at least 21 persons were killed in the protests. Amnesty’s Director in Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, said the group had verified killings in Kano, Azare, Kaduna and in Niger State. The family of 24-year-old tailor, Abubakar Adam Abdullahi, told the BBC that the tailor was shot in the chest and later died in the hospital. Kaduna Police claimed they were not aware.

Force Police Spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said those who died during the protests were killed by terrorists and local vigilantes. He forgot to add, that thugs and area boys allegedly hired by government to counter the protests could be complicit in the killings. There were reports of such shameful tactics in Lagos and Abuja, where pro-government protesters came out peacefully and made their point, and in other instances, roughly, to harass and intimidate. The media were not spared, as reporters and camera men were manhandled, assaulted and their vehicles and other tools vandalised.

Let those who are in government today realise that there is expiry date for every misbehaviour and abuse of power. People who used to be veterans in civil and pro-democracy activism have now become obstacles to protests. One day, some of them will be invited to the International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague, Netherlands, to explain the roles they played in the assaults and killings.

This should include the judges who issued one party (ex parte) restrictions on locations citizens cannot congregate, in disregard of constitutional provisions that guarantee freedom of movement and peaceful assembly.

Russian Flags. It was a matter of curiosity when protesters bore and waved what was identified to be Russian flags in core cities of the Northwest, whereas the campaign was simply to end hunger and bad governance. The spectacle created consternation, but not for those who have watched the events in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS,) with concern. How come, that the intelligence agencies had no inkling of the flags before they left the tailor’s abode for distribution to protesters?

To compound the puzzle, spokesperson for the State Security Services, Peter Afunaya, said they arrested seven Polish nationals for joining and raising Russian flags during the protests. Others reported Spaniards. Russia and Poland are not friendly neighbours, particularly since the outbreak of war with Ukraine. One is a NATO member and the other is not, so what is the connection?

As we, ordinary Nigerians leave the security experts to unravel that which is hidden, what has been in the public domain is the fact that Russia has heightened her presence in neighbouring countries of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, since soldiers took over these countries, beginning with Mali, in 2021, Burkina Faso in September 2022 and Niger, 2023. The three countries have cut relations with the West- France and the United States as well as with ECOWAS.

President Tinubu, as chairman of ECOWAS, back in July 2023, proposed the use of force by the regional body to restore democratic rule in Niger. That did not work because northern Nigeria did not support the use of force in that country, which shared linguistic, cultural and religious relations as well as strong economic ties with people of northern Nigeria.

Relations became tense between Nigeria and Niger while ECOWAS imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions on the country. Nothing has changed, even after easing of sanctions. Russia has conveniently taken the place of the U.S. and France in these countries. Citizens there have come to see Russia as their symbol of liberation. They waved the Russian flag and cheered the military when they staged their coups.

It was to prevent contagious transmission of military influence in ECOWAS that spurred the chairman of ECOWAS to propose combat along with sanctions. That affected communal and trade relations between citizens of Niger and their neighbours in northern Nigeria. The ties are so deep, such that Tinubu enlisted northern leaders and clerics to prevail on the military Junta in Niger to reinstate ousted President Mohammed Bazoum. That did not work. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have abandoned ECOWAS to form another regional body.

Scholars and diplomats had faulted the attempt by ECOWAS to use force on Niger. They had reasoned, along with former political leaders, that good governance is the panacea to military incursion into democratic space in the sub region and in Africa. They decried the absence of dividends of democracy, particular the creation of employment opportunities for young people, who are in the majority.

Perhaps, the youths who waved Russian flags misunderstood the rally for anti-hunger protests to mean a call for the military to intervene because in their chants, they chorused their love for soldiers. Some of them are likely to be naive teenagers, who did not really witness military rule in the country. Ignorance, they say, is not an excuse before the law, however, a deeper interrogation is required to see how the country moves forward.

Many are living in denial, even among the intelligentsia. Nigerians know deep down in their hearts how disappointed they have become with these 25 years of democracy. It’s unfortunate that starry-eyed northern teenagers may have been misled to bell the cat. This is where the APC has landed Nigeria.

Going forward, let government admit its failure, take hold of the Russian flags and set fire to them. Gather the teenagers and even the older ones and enrol them in schools. Not the regular schools, they need to be re-Nigerianised and re-nationalised. Many citizens have lost their Nigerian-ness, they are just struggling to keep pace. Apart from running the economy, APC has ruined national cohesion as well.

Once upon a time, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, boldly remarked during a session with the National Assembly, that only democracy can defend itself. Not soldiers. Never mind what tribalists are preaching, everybody knows the truth. It is the political class that must rescue this democracy, and the country at large.