#SomberTuesday! Electioneering campaigns continue as we went through the Christmas celebrations. Candidates continue to make extravagant promises to the electorate. If believed, they are the messiahs that Nigeria needs to rescue our nation from tarnation. But to believe them is to indulge in false consciousness. Our country needs more than platitudes and empty promises. It needs more than good intentions, for as the saying goes, the road to hell is lined with good intentions. Nigerian political history shows us that few promises will be fulfilled. The important issues are forgotten. I believe this includes the #EndSARS protests.
The youth protesters wanted an end to bad governance, impunity, violence & police brutality. But they were subjected to state-sponsored violence and brutally suppressed. This is not in line with what Nigerians want: a government that demonstrates deep adherence to democratic principles. The economy is frighteningly teetering over the precipice. Insecurity is rampant. Kidnappings & abductions are now banal realities. Those whose family members are in captivity deal with the great psychological trauma & huge financial burdens mostly in isolation.
The lucky ones have friends rally around to comfort and support them. There is also trauma among IDPs from insurgencies & citizens who due to unprecedented floods, have to contend with the deaths of friends, family, and acquaintances, injuries, and losses of property & livelihood. Two years on, #Nigeria should remember the massacre of peacefully demonstrating youths at #LekkiTollGate & other locations. We should determine to support the demands that: #NigerianWomenArise #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeriaNOW #EndSars #EndSWAT #EndImpunity
Howard Zinn’s statement remains important for us to bear in mind: “Civil disobedience, that’s not our problem. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while, the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”
Like the broken record, I keep saying: Let the kleptocrats give back our stolen wealth so that we can fix our infrastructure, schools, and hospitals, and also offer worthwhile social protection to our people. Let the masses enjoy the full benefits of citizenship in Nigeria. Let the leaders and political class repent and build peace with justice. This is no time for politics as usual. The people elected should be those trusted to bring justice, equity, and human security to the entire country, not expedient, unethical, and egocentric individuals determined to dominate for self-aggrandizement or sectional gain. We don’t need oligarchs’ continued domination. We also need a government that puts the interests of majority of citizens first.
