These, indeed, are troublesome times in Nigeria, especially in Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve centre which prides itself as a mega city and Centre of Excellence. The state is bleeding amid uneasy calm.
On Tuesday evening, this state was coloured in red with the blue blood of innocent Nigerian youths when, according to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, forces beyond state government’s direct control moved to make dark notes in its history with the shooting and killing of some #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Plaza.
The spontaneous reactions and events of the past few days in the country reflect what William Shakespeare, the celebrated English playwright, described as insurrection the cause of which, he explained, was either that there was civil strife in heaven or the earth, too saucy with the gods, had incensed insurrection.
In Nigeria, contrary to Shakespeare’s society, the insurrection we have seen in the last five days has nothing to do with the gods, but everything to do with failure of leadership which is at the core of every agitation in the country including the #EndSARS protest.
Till date, 72 hours after, there’s no clue whatsoever to where the faceless elements alleged to be soldiers from the Nigerian army are. Nobody has been arrested and nobody is being brought to account for that dastardly act. What we have seen is an emergency season of curfews in many states of the federation.
We are alarmed at the speed with which many state governors are imposing curfews in their states as though it were a fad or an antidote to violence. Regrettably, even in the midst of the curfews, looting, arson, chaos, anarchy and destruction are everywhere, particularly in Lagos and a few other states where individuals, institutions and government are counting their losses including lives of loved ones.
So far, Lagos, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Osun, Ogun, Abia, Imo, Plateau, Ondo, Ekiti, Imo, etc, have imposed curfews on their states, some not even stating the period and when it will end.
A curfew is an order issued during troubled times, specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, it refers to the time when individuals are required to return to and stay in their houses.
But what we have seen and continue to see is a situation where curfews are imposed in states and yet hoodlums, masquerading as genuine protesters, continue to occupy the roads and highways, killing, maiming, and destroying properties without any challenge from security agencies.
This, in our view, is not how and why curfews are imposed. The aim of imposing curfews should be to keep people at home and more to stop escalation of violence where it exists. That is not, at the moment, playing out particularly in Lagos.
Before imposing a 24-hour curfew, later extended to 72 hours, Governor Sanwo-Olu had noted that criminals had hijacked the #EndSARS protests “to unleash mayhem,” adding that he had “watched with shock how what began as a peaceful #EndSARS protest degenerated into a monster threatening the wellbeing of our society”.
“Imposing this curfew was difficult, especially as we have just returned from a Covid-19 required lockdown; this curfew will allow security officials to immediately restore order to the state, arrest thugs and miscreants that have disrupted the peace,” the governor added, howbeit, fruitlessly.
Regrettably, this did not happen and so, from Tuesday evening when the curfew was imposed, up to the weekend, the state witnessed the reign of terror and massive destruction that have kept its residents in cow and awe.
To our dismay, the security agencies, not even those who shot at peaceful protesters, were anywhere to be seen to take control of the situation.
We recall that, earlier, Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), had ordered nationwide deployment of riot officers to end two weeks of increasingly violent protests, explaining that Police Mobile Force (PMF) was needed “to protect lives and property of all Nigerians and secure critical national infrastructure across the country.”
It is sad to note that all the state and national assets that were destroyed happened after IGP’s decision and directive to the Commissioners of Police in various states, raising concerns as to whether action was delayed or the decision was reversed.
The ensuing mayhem, in spite of the curfews, tells us that the people, including the hoodlums, have no more regards for the police. It also shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Nigeria’s security architecture such that the command and control have a lot of issues.
It is simply laughable that some governors have imposed curfews in their states without any clear, urgent or justifiable reasons for doing so. That, in our opinion, is very wrong. Curfews should not be imposed just for its own sake. There must be a need.
We urge both the federal and state governments to rise to the occasion and stem the rising tide of anarchy and destruction, build confidence in the people and secure their lives. After all, the central aim of governance is the protection of lives and property of citizens. Nigerians don’t deserve anything less.
