On 20/10/20, while we
were still basking in the euphoria of our 60th ‘Independence’
anniversary celebrations, our defenceless 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 extreme desperation of the government to
change the narrative. The great Lai called it the first
massacre without corpses;(the corpses have been identified); our
usually hardworking Governor Sanwo-Olu denied any knowledge of how the soldiers
came calling( it was later revealed that he invited the soldiers); the soldiers
said they never left their barracks on that day. Eventually they said they were
at Lekki 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 at 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 (Ik Muo, 2021, End SARS: we are where we were).
Sunday, 20/10/24 was the
anniversary of the inglorious EndSARS affair and our security operatives
behaved in their usual manner. They teargassed and arrested the memorialists,
herded them into the infamous blackmaria,
the kind of vehicle with which the colonial masters would have ferried the corpses of Enugu Coal Miners on 18/11/49; and
one of the detainees reported that the ‘cash at hand’ dwindled by
about 50% after he was released. Even
before then, not much has changed. As
recent as 18/10/24, some overzealous
policemen at Federal Bus-Stop,
Ipaja-Ayobo accosted one Bidemi, accused
him of yahooism(just because of his appearance) chased
him into the canal and unfortunately, the man died. And
last week, a group of power-drunk soldiers manhandled and mal-handled a young
couple for overtaking then on the express way built with taxpayers money!
Since the 20/10/23, a lot has happened , all indicators
that our security forces have not repented one bit. On 29/3/23, some policemen
in Edo State deliberately drove over a handcuffed man! I don’t know whether our
police go on special training on how to deal with unarmed
Nigerians! In February this year, a group of policemen extorted $3000 from a
fellow Nigerian in Port-Harcourt, while another group upped the ante by
extorting N30m from a compatriot in Abuja! In March 2024, Barr Olamide Olaniyi was beaten like a common criminal
when he went to a police station in
connection with his client’s case. We also know how the Okuama community of
delta state was inflicted with the scorched-earth treatment over
the unfortunate murder of some soldiers. The same treatment was extended by some unknown soldiers to Igbomotoru community in
Southern Ijaw LGA of Bayelsa in connection with the same Okuama massacre. At another time, some women
in the Oteri community in Ughelli North Local
Government Area of Delta State decided
to protest against police brutality. They tasted the ire of policemen for
daring to protest as they were greeted with live bullets and 5 of them ended up
in hospital beds. However one Monday Okocha, from Abiriba was not so lucky; he was
murdered by trigger happy policemen
because he refused extend a handshake to
them. Many EndSARSers were detained and
are still being detained.
In July 2024, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, ruled that
Nigeria violated the human rights of
EndSARSers, specifically,
Obianuju Udeh and two others. However just
after that ruling, the End Hunger
& Bad Governance ( EndHuBaGo) protests erupted in Nigeria and what the
government and security forces did was to repeat the same
awful things they did during EndSARS and even did more in some
instances, an indication that we have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.
This musical interlude is a prelude to
the EndHuBaGo protests
The
poor man a feel it! Gas gone up, Bus Fare gone up, the rent gone up, meal gone
up, car parts gone up, onions gone up, red beans gone up, black pepper gone up,
chicken gone up; parents them angry, because picken them hungry-Peter
Tosh, 2002
Under pressure Nigerians
under pressure, no food in our belly, no money in our pocket, no bed to let m
rest… some are crying, some are dying some a re weeping, some are welling,
under pressure ’verybody under pressure, got no future, we go under belly… I
just kumo kumo yeah Ras Kimono,1988
Peter Tosh and RasKimono(
who mostly spoke in tongues) were singing in the good, old days, when things
were a little bit normal, when leaders were human and humane. But that is by
the way.
Initial Government response to the EndHuBaGo
affair was not surprising: threats, sowing seeds of discord amongst
brethren, pitting the north against the south, Moslems against Christians,
buying the mouths and consciences of
various individuals and groups, with government megaphones like the Secretary
to the Government of the Federation , the Senate, Shetima and APC governors advising the people to give the government
more time forgetting the advisory of
Daniel Bwala ( now BATified)
in 2023 year and the clamour for more time for PMB until he completed two
tenors of 8 years. The buffoonery
Akpabio taunted the masses that they
should protest while they( the demigods) would be eating.
Many organisations spoke
against the protest while some admitted that they were procured to say so.
Because the protesters gave notice, the government sponsored the strange protest against protest; against
a protest that had not yet taken place! These anti-protest protesters were protected by the
police; they were not attacked by hoodlums but unfortunately for these procured
protesters, some of them were deceived and the protest was done on credit
as it was not cash backed!
The protests started from unusual quarters-in
the North-with the advance action in Goronyo LGA of Sokoto State(31/7/24) and
then nationwide . Before long, the usual things also started happening:
bonfires, assault on and vandalization
of public properties. This was followed by coffees all over the
place, especially in the north and the
policemen, who shared water and biscuits to Lagos- protesters in February, when they protested against TINUBUlation,
turned 180degrees and did their usual deeds. At times, I imagine that Nigerian
police were specially trained in the school of wickedness on how
to deal with Nigerians. They fired life bullets, murdered many, wounded many
more and arrested several of them, including minors, even though the
irrepressible OBJ had warned that uscling & criminalising them will only
radicalise them further!
There were jocular sides to the protests as a lady blamed bad governance for her inability to get married while another came with an empty pot. There was also the story that Plateau State Police Command released 750 dogs to enforce curfew in TudunWada but that only 3 returned to give account of their operations! And while shooting, killing and maiming the protesters, for saying that they were hungry, they went in search of alleged sponsors or financiers and organisers just as in the days of End SARS. Government outlandish claims were top-notch because apart from claiming that some small-boy rascals in the north were planning to overthrow the Government, the Minister of Trade declared that it was a set back to business as it cost N500bn including N52bn worth of goods. The VP later said the cost of the protests was N300bn. Beyond the conflicting figures, when and how did they collect the data and when did this government start thinking about businesses? A government that knew more about taxation than good old Zaccheaus, the original tax-master? A government that started with ‘subsidy is gone’ mantra and floated the Naira, and other policies. which are strangulating our businesses?
The day that the Government vowed to deal with sponsors and enemies of the state was also the day it was announced that the documents of NDDC forensic audit was missing. Nobody has dealt with those who made the document to disappear! About 1135 protesters were detained nationwide. Nobody has even bothered much about the sponsors of Banditry and BH! And before long, the security identified the REAL sponsors, including Joe Ajero of NLC, a war they took to the world stage when they arrested him on his way to a global labour event. They readily arrested the masterminds of Kano Printing Press attacks and Michael Adaramoye, a hunger protest mobiliser. They also mounted a global manhunt for a 70-year-old British citizen Andrew Martin Wynne, aka Andrew Povich, whom they named the chief coupist. The office of SERAP was accidentally raided at that time and the courts came into the picture as injunctions were procured to destabilise the plans of the protestants. And the judge who restricted them to the national stadium happened to be Wike’s brother but Justice Peter Lifu on the other hand dismissed a motion ex-parte seeking an order of interim injunction restraining Nigerian protesters under different platforms from continuing with the ongoing protests.
And before long, Russian flags started flying around with people who did not know the spelling of Russia asking for Russian intervention and even chanting regime change. That was how the issue of treason came into the picture. Funny enough, parents of Ahmad Yusuf Muhammad, arrested in connection with producing the flags declared that the young man did not know how to handle a sewing machine. And then as it was done in the days of Jonathan, BATified mock-coffins surfaced on the streets. In all this, the Southeast was suspiciously calm and as if in one accord, non-pulsed.
Anyway,
Nigerians were shocked when they were released because
the images of freed protesters they saw
differed widely from those they saw at
the courts. How come that minors were arraigned but adults were released?
Well, there were 32 minors and 44 others and the press, out of compassion,
mischief or predetermined agenda, showed only the minors. Furthermore, the ex detainees were welcomed as heroes and in line with our usual
antics, they became instant celebrities, and were rewarded by the governments.
Kaduna State government gave its own people N100000 and Android phone apiece
while Kano gave N50000, promised to pay their fees and offered automatic
employment to two of them. Do you offer
employment to minors? I also wonder how these gestures will keep these fellows the streets!
Is this a reward for the looting,
vandalization, arson and mayhem? Should they have released the minors with the
bearded adults? How about others being tried
in other courts across the land? Instead of freeing the minors and charging the
rest with rioting, arson and actions likely to perjure public peace (rather
than treason), we FREED all of them. Furthermore, some EndSARS detainees are
still in detention. Has this got
anything to do with the location (North and South)? Anyway, one mans
‘treasonist’ became another man’s hero!
During EndSARS, unarmed
protesters were arrested, maimed and killed. Suspected organisers were trailed
and their accounts frozen. The government denied any killing or gave a haircut
to the figures. Those in detention were subjected to inhuman treatments and
were forgotten in detention facilities long after the event. All these were also what happened
in the EndHuBaGo affair, the only difference being that
minors are involved in this instance. As in the case of EndSARS, after the
protest came attribution and retribution and that is where we are now.
Incidentally, a spontaneous protest about hardship erupted again at a time the
Coordinating Minister of Economy thundered that there is no going back on
the reforms! And the subsidised
rice sold for N40000 under the kind of conditions for applying for US visa, was
abruptly stopped( I heard from a fellow spirit that civil servants who bought
the rice resold it in the open market!) And the wife of the president and the
Security Adviser,( who used to release a list of MOST corrupt politicians in
his first coming) felt that the best
thing was to organise national prayers for economic turnaround and insecurity .. Luckily, they
changed their minds. By the way, during EndSars, documents related to BATs
trial got missing or burnt in Lagos. During EndHuBaGo, Ganduje’s trial documents
also got missingin Kano. Both of them of the APC. One the Chair, the other it’s
star product. Are these accidental?
Meanwhile, time changeth all things,
including perspectives. This is a story told by Shettima, our VP some 12 years
ago when he was Governor of
Borno State As my friend and his wife were driving through the streets of
Kano, some young men broke the windscreen of their car, telling them ‘bastards,
you are enjoying and we are suffering’. The urchins did not run away; it was the
victims who ran away. Very soon we will reach
the boiling point unless we wear our
thinking caps and work for the people. And the most important yardstick has to
do with the quality of governance. There is more to leadership than primitive
capital acquisition-Kashim Shetimma( about
12 years ago as as Governor of Borno state; ( When Shettima saw the
future, Daily Trust, 7/2/24). Now, Shettima is in power; he is in a
position to wear that thinking cap and work for the people. But what have we
seen?
As these were going on,
our creative cartoonists had a field day, capturing the reality for generations
yet unborn. Enjoy these cartoons!
One more thing. I wept( others wept also) when I saw the before and after pictures of
Engr Khalid Aminu, MNSE, detained for 3 months over EndHuBaGo
and Dr. Ganiyat Popoola, a Registrar in
the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna with
her nephew who were detained for 10 months by Bokoharamic bandits.
Compare those pictures; which one do you think is better: the one detained by
the police for just three months or
those one detained by BH for 10 months.
What does that tell us?
By the way, police
brutality has continued unabated as a young man was murdered by a policeman attached to Otuocha Area Command on 3/11/24,
over a N100 handshake and Professor Joy Ezeilo told us that our police services
have been commercialised, as they charge
amounts as high as 300k (in Enugu, for example), and hardly responds to poor
crime victims requiring their intervention.I was a part of the #ENDSARS
Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality. She also reminded us that the
decisions from the various endSARS Panels
of Inquiry nationwide have yet to be implemented She
knows because she was one of the panelists
I wish to end this
intervention with the advice given to Nigerians by three elders from other
climes
-
“Find a great mentor, someone who has already been through the many challenges of being an entrepreneur..” -Jodi Levine
Entrepreneurship in Practice: Cases, Challenges and Lessons By IK, MUO PHD is now available on Amazon, since 14/5/21. Click here to view Available for order +2348033026625 | Delivery: Worldwide
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