EndSARS: We are where we were and Basket of Questions for Gbajabiamila!!! - Ik Muo,PhD.

 

On 20/10/20, while we were still basking in the euphoria of our 60th Independence anniversary celebrations, our defenseless youths, who were passionately singing our national anthem and patriotically waving our three-coloured flag (1:Green; 2:White; 3:Green: abi no be three?) were mowed down by unknown soldiers at Lekki.  Their offense? They had the guts to say enough is enough. They demanded that the indescribable excesses of our police officers who were being paid to protect them, be stopped thenceforth. The Lekki affair was painful and shameful, especially given the extent to which the government went to change the narrative. The great Lai called it the first massacre without corpses;( the corpses had been identified); our usually hardworking Governor Sanwo-Olu denied any knowledge of how the soldiers came calling( it was revealed that he invited the soldiers); the soldiers said they never left their barracks on that day. Eventually they said they were there but that they did not shoot and then that they shot but did not kill anybody( there has been a scientific evidence that people were shot).  DJ Switch has claimed ad nauseam that at least, 15 people were murdered in that one-sided combat while the Lagos EndSARS Panel admitted autopsy reports on 99 people killed during that period , at least 3 of which were killed in Lekki. The autopsy report was presented by Prof Obafunwa, the Chief Pathologist of LASUTH. The Nigerian Police Force (who put FORCE in their name sef?) went to court to challenge the panels established to probe their brutality and then turned round to deny the court case.  Most parts of the country, especially Lagos was brought to a standstill. Then the protest was infiltrated  by area boys mobilized by those who usually have businesses with them and then the looting and mayhem started and  what started peacefully ended up anarchically!

It was when I heard I heard the courageous and articulate young lady, DJ Switch, speaking to a global audience on the Lekki Massacre last week that I checked my records and remembered that it was already 1 year gone. Incidentally, that same day, I read about the regrets of Lagos State Government concerning the amount they had lost to the closure of blooded Lekki TollGate1  and how the accursed monument of doubtful parentage( may be we need a DNA) was being repaired for  reentry to the money mining business.  That same last week, I also read commentators on the UGM recrudescence in Anambra state reminding us of how government people infiltrated the peaceful EndSARS affair with  street-masters and then turned round to use the pickax  on the ant because the protest had been hijacked. The police had also warned that nobody should think of anniversary protest while Sowore, who  professionally fishes in troubled waters (or even troubling the calm waters before fishing) had assured that there would be an anniversary protest.  And then, the EndSARS movement announced a memorial car procession in remembrance of Lekki UDPs( Unknown Dead Persons).

However, protest or not, the Lekki Massacre Anniversary MUST be observed. This intervention is my own way of observing the anniversary.

My deep concerns about EndSARS have led to six previous interventions: A tale of two wars: War against Coro and War against SARS( subtitled: And then from SARS to SWAT… Just like that(16/10/20); EndSARS: No eye had seen and no ear has heard(22/10/21); A nation in turmoil, a president who doesn’t speak and giving the monkey a cup of water(29/10/20); Worrisome developments post EndSARS: An elders proverbial analysis ( 19/11/20); Igbo-Ukwu Riots and EndSARS effects: The son of man wept and A Toxonomy of looters, rioters and arsonists( ND). Today I just want examine briefly, sundry EndSARS-related developments, pass a verdict and stone Gbajabimila with a basket of questions

An x-ray of the media reports (my usual front-page analysis) and collation of Nigerians experiences with our security forces has shown that the people involved (security forces) have grown more brazen in their wickedness and oppressiveness, and that the people in power had just paid lip service to addressing the End-SARS concerns. Last week, a parent asked us to join him in thanking God because his son, who just finished university education, was accused of being an UGM and asked to pay some millions or be ‘wasted’. They ended up paying N200000 before the police discovered that he was not an UGM. They also generously gave the boy N10,000 for transport. The same last week, as I was going home from work, the policemen on AgoIwoye-Ijebuode route stopped a taxi,  asked a young boy to disembark(most-likely, a student), marched him to  corner where they parked their ‘mobile business office’( their van), and ordered the driver to leave. It was at the middle of nowhere and the boy was thus automatically stranded and as is the case with many students, the fare he paid may be the last kobo.

On 10/7/21, Sahara Reporters released the identities of 9 End-SARSers still enjoying their holidays in various Lagos  detention facilities while one Nicholas Mbah, an EndSARS detention alumnus, (detained from 5/11/20 to 15/6/21), alleged that at least 500 of his colleagues were at Kirikiri. Of course,  we are aware of the case of Kemisola Oguniyi, who gave birth in prison while undergoing EndSARS purification. She was arrested in October 2020 as she went to buy drugs for her mother. She was eventually granted a N10m bail.

Kemisola and her EndSARS- detention baby

 The only chaos experienced by the Lagos EndSARS Panel was when it decreed that the Lekki Toll Gate 1 should be reopened, which led to some protests during which more protesters, including Macroni( Febo Adebayo) were arrested and rough-handled.  Even beyond EndSARS, the highhandedness of our friends, the Police, continued unabated.  Two students were killed and 12 detained for protesting school fees hike  at College of Education, Gidan Waya Kaduna. The family of a 33-year-old man, Dauda Danladi, had accused the Bauchi State Police Command of torturing him to death on 8/7/21 while on 11/7/21, officers of the FCT command assaulted, arrested and detained Solomon Odeniyi, of Punch, together with other journalists for daring to cover developments in the Dunamis Church, where 6 activists + a blind Saxophonist, Samuel Iwatonaiye, were arrested for wearing BMG T-Shirts ( BMG? Buhari Must Go!). The thing even got close to me when policemen murdered one Okada-man at Igbo-Ukwu, which led to ‘akshion’ and the torching of the police station, which had just been upgraded through communal efforts 

Teaching a lady how to dress decently, the military way!

Youths protesting in Rivers over death of Keke Napep driver killed by police

We also recall the riots that shook Pitakwa (PH) when police men murdered a Keke driver in Rukpokwu over N100 bribe; just N100. It was later, the turn of Bayelsa, where another set of policemen opened fire on traders doing their own thing, accusing them of causing traffic snarl. Jude Oguzie was  was not so lucky as he was murdered by the police on his way to a wedding in Owerri. They also went to the extent of arresting an EndSARS WhatsApp administrator at Osun State. Our  Soldiers are also doing well  as they brutalized a lady in Ota axis of Ogun State over indecent dressing, roughened up another young man, Godson, at Asaba for no apparent cause, a fate that befell Bolade Adedeji, a physically challenged compatriot in the hands of a female soldier at Oke-Itunu, Ibadan on 4/12/20. Soldiers also mercilessly flogged Olaide Idowu in the Sangitedo area of Lagos for failure to greet them( na by force?) the latest and viral case was that of a female military officer, Lt Chika Anele dehumanizing Ifeyinwa Ezeiruaku a female Corper  for exchanging pleasantries with male  soldier.  One was flogged for not greeting while another was humiliated for greeting! Head or tail, idle civilians  are the losers.  Just a week after Lakki Massacre( 27/10/20) a soldier flogged and forced curfew violators to swim in muddied waters in Osun State.

Soldier flogging and forcing civilians to swim in mud water

In May 2021, the NLC reported that El-Rufai hired 50 truckloads of thugs, who were empowered with N500 apiece, to disrupt their protests. This affirmed one of the sources of thugs who had infiltrated EndSars protests. In a strange twist, Sowore was accused of privatizing EndSARS proceeds while Canada refused to grant asylum to a SARS Officer, citing their highhandedness. Seun Kuti and  his group, MOP, had also been harassed. Even vigilante people have joined in this highhandedness as one Miss Sovereignty Iteregbe murdered by a vigilante ‘officer’ in front of her mother, in Udu, Delta State for having the audacity  exchange words with him.

Sovreignity Iteregbe: Gunned down by a Vigilante officer!

We are also aware how the government, which set up panels to assuage the EndSARS rage, went around to freeze the EndSARSers accounts. Godwin Emefiele who could not trace the accounts of multimillion Dollar terrorism financiers, accused the EndSARSers of economic sabotage while  Justice  Tsoho of FCT High Court declared in June, the closure of EndSARS related accounts saved the economy and strengthened the Naira against the Dollar. I don’t know when he became a Judicial economist and what both of them will be saying now that a Dollar is going for N600 (if, and when, you see it)! Passports of others were also seized.

Duplicity in action; BusinessDay,10/11/20

One attention seeking Adamu Garba said EnSARS was a failed Biafran movement while our dear PMB that promised to fulfill the demands of the EndSARsers and even apologized while admitting that my government has not done enough( after Prof Osinbajo had done so earlier) turned around to say that it was an attempt to topple his government.

 On top of all these, Buratai, the former Chief of Army Staff and now an honourable diplomat declared that  it was his SWS (spiritual warfare strategy) that prevented  deaths at the Leki Tollgate. The reported deaths thus evidence the incoherence and failure of the SWS. Femi Adesina, who has been saying what he has been paid to say, also told us that we were lucky because PMB exercised the patience and tolerance of a father. Assuming he exercised any patience and tolerance, what of his mouth-soldiers like Femi Adesina and Lai Mohammed? How patiently and tolerantly did they behave in those days of rage?

Well, my verdict is that we are where we were. The spirit of SARS was not exorcised. The snake was just rattled and it recoiled and came back with vengeance. There were some motions but not much movement. The various EndSARs Panels sat forthrightly, awarded monetary compensations( Lagos Panel awarded N410m damages)  and castigated some  guilty parties.

But what happened to the Military, which along the line got tired of telling their lies and decamped outrightly for the Lagos Commission? A repeat of the Oputa Panel scenario in which some people decided not to attend and nothing happened?. The Nigerian Insurance Association has also reported that its members had settled N9bn in claims( (718 cases of vandalization,93 cases of looting, 113 cases of theft, 136 cases of loss of cash, 99 cases of malicious damages, 8 cases of business interruption 455 burglary attacks and 912 fire and burnt sites and 3 deaths). However, we know that compensations do not assuage the pains of death and other deep psychological wounds. The Military and Police authorities have also been more forthcoming in condemning acts of brigandage and gangsterism of their members, arresting some of the culprits and promising to leave no stone unturned in meting out punishment and ensuring justice.  Is there  still any stone unturned in Nigeria after all these years of leaving no stone unturned. However, as can be seen in the brief x-ray above, and which did not cover up to 10% of the reported cases, the men in uniform just went on a brief retreat and came back with full force. We, the idle civilians are still at their mercy (that is if there is any mercy) and our youths across the country continued to be the endangered species as they are dehumanized, extorted and denied the right to say ‘we no go greee’. The various briefings and debriefings by the military and police authorities have not yielded much, except in Lagos where it appears that  members of LASTSMA ( Lagos State Traffic Management Agency)  have repented and become a little more friendly and helpful

Where are the initial SWAT-men who were hurriedly recruited and sent for training in late 2020? Have they not yet finished their training or was the training of no effect? Do we need another EndSARS or will the Police et al on their own do the right thing? Meanwhile, I remember EndSARS with shudder. I remember all those who lost lives, limbs and property in those days of manmade but avoidable RAGE.  I still await strategic and inclusive efforts to bridge the gap between we the people and the police authorities.

The broken bridge. BusinessDay, 12/11/20

 Meanwhile, in my intervention of 24/12/20, I concluded thus.‘Well, the positive EndSARS effects  are indicators that we attempted to learn some lessons from the EndSARS experience. However, the fact that people in uniform, maintained with our money, still go about murdering our citizens with reckless abandon and that some government agencies are still making some inflammatory statements and taking some hardline steps are indicators that we still have far to go. The further we are from the EndSARS period, the more people forget the essence and lessons from the EndSARS movement. And as sure as day follows night, EndSARS shall return to ensure the sustainability of its gains. How and when it will be, the son of man cannot tell. (The IgboUkwu Riorts and EndSARS Effect: The Son of Man wept; 24/12/20). This serves as a refresher and a warning to all of us

  And now, Questions For Gbajabiamila

And now, a basket of questions for Gbajabiamila, who SPEAKS in the House: You swore never to sign the 2021 budget unless compensation for EndSARS victims was included (he even included ASUU monies). How far now?  What category of victims were you speaking about? Did you include those whose businesses were finished at Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos and the car dealers in Abuja? In any case, how many were the victims? How much was budgeted and how much has been disbursed? I need answers before I organize Occupy NASS and when an elder occupies… the ancestors get interested in the outcome!

- Ik Muo,PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU Ago-Iwoye. 08033026625

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