THE incumbent political leadership in Nigeria is dealing with its opponents in a harsh, decisive and cruel way. This leadership relentlessly persecutes those who fight against its regime. Protesters have been prosecuted and imprisoned. Activists who spoke against the regime have been forced to flee the country to avoid incarcerations and/or untimely deaths. Despite fleeing to save their lives some of these harmless activists have been extradited from overseas to Nigeria to face criminal charges. Public protests are not allowed. It is a truism, therefore, that the old ‘military autocracy’ is still the overriding factor in deciding the patterns for our recently formed ‘democracy’. Today some unlucky persons in Nigeria may have gone to prisons for political reasons. There is a situation now that makes most people to carefully craft their utterances; and Nigeria claims to be a democracy. But the thuggish ways in which the Aso Rock deals with challengers is an insult to human intelligence and makes a mockery of our legal system. This regime is more severe and cruel, in myriads of ways it is highly autocratic, hypocritical and false.
Consider the response to #EndSARS protest that started at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 8th 2020. The response is mere tokenism because it gives a look of the practice of hiring people who belong to minority group to hijack the protest only to prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly. There are claims that on October 20th 2020 Nigerian military forces fired live ammunition at pickets sitting down in the road to peacefully protest against police brutality, reportedly killing at least 15. The after effect is the government’s heavy- handed response, alleging that soldiers had only fired blank bullets. Before the protest, the Aso Rock had been considering the herders’ request to open grazing route across the Nigerian rural and urban landscapes. Mr. President had engaged in tricks redolent with the smell of basil, appearing to construe himself as herder-in-chief rather than commander-in-chief, and the president of his tribal people. Evidently, he addressed the Benue state delegation, after the New Year day massacre of harmless farmers by the so called herders in 2018, saying: I ask you in the name of God to accommodate your country men. You can also be assured that I am as worried, and concerned with the situation. It is worthy of note that the militant groups masquerading as herders have been occupying acres of forest and plundering villages in some parts of the country as well as kidnapping innocent children and adults by force in order to keep them as prisoners and demanding millions of naira in ransom.
The tragedies of human kidnapping by these bandits have heightened Nigerians’ awareness of the need for improved safety measures. It must be bore in our minds that security is about feeling safe from harm or danger;it is defence, protection and reservation of core values. Security is not only physical, but also virtual. The calls by Nigerian peoples for adequate security and high standard of living are their fundamental human rights, which are parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was accepted by the General Assembly of United Nations in 1948. It states that: “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequately for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”.
There is no sign that the president is ready to do anything to address the issues of insecurity in this nation, there is a clear indication that this leader is not truly concerned about the killings and maiming of his followers by the bandits. Moreso, the inaction of security agents coupled with their beatings and forcing indigenous groups that still live in an area to accommodate criminal herders and the fear within them to arrest and tame the bandits brought suspicions that presuppose culpability of the government. By now, this government should realise the fact that conflict is built into the particular ways societies are structured and organised, and that problems like political and economic exclusions, nepotism, injustices, poverty, diseases, exploitations, and unfair treatments among others are sources of social conflict. These above-mentioned factors are ineradicable problems that have culminated in peoples’ open reaction to the unjust nature of this leadership and the intending domination of one class over the majority as well as the exploitation of the working class. Now, frustrations, fears and the needs on the part of different cultural groups in Nigeria to satisfy their interests are forcing them into act of protestation. They cannot stand to accept practices that will destroy their identity and other deceptive actions that are detrimental to their cultural positions. They are being forced to react against factors, groups and institutions that they see as being responsible for threatening their sociopolitical needs and real existence.
Noticeably, this old ‘autocratic-styled’ regime is vehement about the need for pampering the marauding groups occupying our forests leaving the literates and illiterates of this country for far too long in limbo making their minds to read thirteen to the dozens, trying to decide what to do next. The abandonment of the indigenous citizenry left them no option but to agitate for self-determination and restructuring of the old order.On the 3rd of July 2021 agitators from South-Western Nigeria took part in nonviolent/peaceful demonstration, against the government’s insensitive position to insecurity issues, in the city of Lagos. If these demonstrators have thrown stones, if they have smashed windows, then of course they should have been curbed by security operatives. But if someone has done nothing, if they just want to go to a demonstration, then it is different. There is a sort of manipulation that these agitators fight. For an instance, before the start of this demonstration, home of the chief agitator was raided, some personal belongings and documents seized, and he and some other agitators threatened with criminal charges. His supposed “crime” was fighting to rescue his people who are being raped, molested and killed by the bandits and kidnapping groups hiding in the forests.
In the eye of Mr President, any group resisting injustices, nepotisms and exploitations is against his incumbency. The Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has, however, advised him in a BBC interview to address the nation in very stern unambiguous terms and to say openly: “Yes I know I am the patron of the Cattle Rearers’ Association etc. etc… I am a cattle rancher myself, it is a business and I run my business on business terms. I do not run my business by killing people. I do not run my business by rapping, by displacing, by torturing. I do not run my business by occupying land that does not belong to me and I am warning all business people in the food commodities, all you cattle rearers, whatever comes to you for illegal occupation or for trespassing on other people’s properties is your business and I am ordering the army, I am ordering all the security forces to back citizens’ efforts in flushing you out”. He said further: “Nothing less is expected, even at this stage it is very late already, but it is not too late. This is the language that is expected from President Buhari and as long as that language is not coming he must be considered quite complicit in what is going on because the bulk stops at his desk”. But Mr President is unlikely to yield.
- Elebute is Associate Professor, Media, Journalism and Cultural Studies at the Bowen University, Iwo
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