…As ignorance, hatred, bigotry dominate polity
…FG urged to move fast to rescue country
With all the hype, noise, threat and fear before the #EndBadGovernance protest, one would have hoped to see better life for Nigerians afterwards.
The reality today is that the protests seem to have worsened Nigeria’s fault lines with the pro- and ant-protests making mockery of the essence of the fight for the common interest of the downtrodden.
Angry at the little or nothing achieved with the protest, Chijioke Umelahi, an Abuja-based lawyer, decried that the Nigerian political class, which knows the gullible citizens too well, deployed ethnic and political sentiments to divide the masses.
“With the different shades of the protest, pro and against, it was difficult to make the needed impact. We have seen this ugly trend during past elections and we witnessed it during this August #EndBadGovernance protest.
“Like the senate president taunted during the protest that they are enjoying themselves, while we, the ignorant and gullible masses, are protesting. It is sad that the masses keep falling to this trap that has hindered development in the country since independence,” Umelahi decried further.
According to the former Abia lawmaker, the raising of pro-government elements on the sideline of the protest was a divisive coloration, while the many groups that distanced themselves from the protest were seen as betrayals by others.
The sad development pitched the citizens against each other, as many fought along ethnic lines and political interests, while worsening Nigeria’s fault lines.
“What has happened is that it is now official that one should not protest against a government headed by his kinsman even if he is suffering. It is now ‘no his is our own’ syndrome and it will weaken our fragile peace, stall development and I fear that the worst is ahead,” Umelahi said.
Read also: #EndBadGovernance protest a national call to action – PSJ Nigeria
Samuel Onikoyi, a Nigerian academic in Brussels, Belgium, is concerned that the government is not helping the matter as utterances, body language and even some policies are dividing the country rather than uniting the people.
“There are some utterances that you hear from top government officials that should have warranted their impeachment or sack in the developed world because of their racist coloration. I think that the Nigerian government should see governance from the eyes of the Western world, where the president listens and is the servant of all, and not the benefactor of his tribe, voters, or party members.
“If that is the case over here in abroad, then we immigrants will not smell any opportunity. With all the irreconcilable differences, fault lines, hatred and bigotry, no foreigner will ever wish to have a Nigerian citizenship, except for ulterior motives,” Onikoyi decried.
He noted further that the government should be sensitive to the fragile peace in the country and do whatever it takes to unite the people more than dividing them further, else the unexpected will happen one day as the signs have been on the wall for a long time now.
For Bem Hembafan, a security expert, hatred and bigotry have not only dominated the polity, but sadly the forces and security agencies.
According to him, most of the security personnel stationed at some government properties in Kano and Kaduna, turned a blind eye to the gale of vandalism of properties by hoodlums during the August protest, an action he regarded as a silent protest by the security officers.
“A lot of people died in the #EndSARS protest of 2020 and #EndBadGovernance protest this year. Some of them are children of soldiers, police and other security agencies. Of course, they are not happy losing their children and will unleash terror when opportunity comes. We saw what happened in Odi in Bayelsa, Zakibiam in Benue, and most recently Okuama community in Ughelli, Delta State, where many innocent people died. So, let’s give peace a chance and unite more because ethnicity has not led to any progress since our independence,” the Benue-born retired security officer turned security expert noted.
On his part, Shehu Sani, civil rights activist and former member of the Senate from Kaduna central district, thinks that the people should seek understanding of the realities of the time, as ignorance fuels hatred and even under development in the country.
Read also: #EndBadGovernance protests: Nigerians in anxious wait for Tinubu’s promise execution
Sani, in a statement on his Facebook account recently, noted that for ethnic, religious, and sectional reasons, Nigerians have protected, defended, praised, and refused to hold accountable their kinsmen who led the country at every wasted opportunity for five decades.
Holding the past leaders accountable, according to Sani, is a panacea for the ignorance, hatred and bigotry that have dominated the polity today, which will also be a fast move to rescuing the country.
Profiling solution, Bidemi Balogun, a senior banker, noted that what the citizens need is sincerity of the government in addressing the challenges and the root cause of the frequent protests.
“Carry the stakeholders along in your policy formulation and if a particular policy is not working, the government should own up and change it. The hardship is real and the people cannot be suffering, while huge funds are allocated for the comfort of the already rich few and you expect the poor to exercise patience,” the banker said.
Umelahi thinks that people who made statements perceived as tribal, bigotry or divisive should be summoned and prosecuted accordingly to serve as a deterrent for others.
“We have seen some respected traditional rulers make divisive statements, top politicians and even from the presidency before and during the protest and nothing happened. If we want a united Nigeria, we need to be firm with our laws, uphold our constitution more than religion or tribe, punish culprits to curtail future occurrence,” Umelahi advised.
But Onikoyi thinks that the government should be intentional with efforts at rescuing the economy in order to ensure peace and harmonious living among Nigerians.
“The major challenge is the weak economy. If the economy picks up, Nigerians will be happy again and some issues will die naturally. So, the government needs to do all it takes to see the country on top again. Even here in abroad, once the economy is bad, it affects many things and that is why responsible governments will do the little things to prevent their economy from going down rather than doing the big things to revive it after near-collapse,” he noted.
For Hembafan, the handwriting is on the wall for the government to be proactive and take youth matters seriously, especially unemployment and insecurity.
“Those who looted during the protest may not necessarily be hungry, but a show of hatred towards the government. So, if the security turned a blind eye to vandalism during the protest, it means they are not happy too, they also joined the protest and this may escalate next time. “The government is not safe. So, it should do everything to restore the economy, reorient Nigerians on harmonious living, boost national integration and peace.
“Religion and ethnicity should not be mentioned at all because they are the cancer eating up our peace and political progress in the country,” Hembafan concluded.
