By Obaike Odihue
The 10-day nationwide protests have come and gone and both the government and the citizens are now counting their losses.
The national economy is said to have lost billions of dollars due to the disruption of work by the protests as many citizens were prevented from gaining access to their places of work in several states of the federation. That was in addition to the vandalism of public property in several places. The protests also left in its trail scores of death and injuries to citizens.
Despite the failure by organisers of the protests to heed several calls on them to back down on their planned action, well ahead of its commencement, and the seeming adamant posture of the government to directly address the concerns raised by the citizens as reasons for the mass action, it cannot be said that any of the parties has gotten what they desired. Public infrastructure built with humongous tax payer’s money were mercilessly destroyed as the nation was brought to a halt while the protests lasted. The nation’s temperature rose above normal even in states where the protesters were overtly coerced into submission through the instrumentality of government agents. Aside from the record number of deaths which is still a subject of controversy between the authorities and some civil society organisations, innocent citizens also suffered personal losses owing to the vandalism of their property. The Amnesty International put the number of persons killed during the protests at over 20.
In Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Borno, Jigawa and sundry states, the first few days of the protests recorded massive participation by citizens. That was against the expectation by the authorities that the mounting tensions in the build up to the protests had been doused by a combination of appeals, threats and the alleged blackmail that they massively embarked upon to discourage the planned mass action.
As the situation began to get out of control with evidence of lives and property lost, some state chief executives resorted to the imposition of curfew and sundry coercive measures to restore law and order. Some of the states where such desperate approaches were adopted had suffered an almost total breakdown of law and order. The Boko Haram-infested Borno State was the first to pronounce a 24-hour curfew as the protests recorded early deaths. Other states, including, Kano, Yobe, Plateau, Kaduna, Jigawa and Nasarawa followed suite.
Even the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, where Minister Nyesome Wike had procured a curious court order preventing the protesters from using the popular Eagle Square, was not insulated from the rage of the protesters. And that was in spite of the heavy presence of security personnel posted across the streets as the protesters on Day-one, August 1, defied the court order and marched from the MKO Stadium to the “forbidden” Eagle Square where a violent encounter ensued between the law enforcement agents and them, resulting in a rain of teargas. However, that was the farthest they could go as the remaining days of the protests marked a significant retreat.
Surprisingly, it took about four days into the strike for President Bola Tinubu to make an appeal, through a national broadcast, appealing to the protesters to stop their action and seek dialogue. The presidential broadcast which received wide media hype with the expectation that far reaching policy pronouncements would be made to douse the rising tension across the country, had many Nigerians glued to their radio and television sets on Sunday, August 4. The President, in the broadcast, reeled out what his administration had supposedly been doing since inception over a year ago, and how those actions would usher the country into the much awaited Eldorado in no distant future.
Specifically, Tinubu harped on the introduction of students loans and other empowerment programmes targeted at the youths; interventions in the agricultural sector to boost food production and arrest food insecurity that is threatening the country currently; and other measures to bring down the rising cost of living, including the planned introduction of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, buses to ease the cost of transportation.
He then went further to justify his twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and floating of the Naira; which are believed to have orchestrated the current unprecedented hardship in the country. The policies were said to have been hurriedly introduced without proper consultations, and without putting the necessary safeguards in place. He insisted that the reforms were necessary for the economic development and growth of Nigeria.
However, the presidential broadcast elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians with most of them describing it as hollow and off point as far as the demands of the protesting youths were concerned.
“The speech as you all can see did not speak to the issues in contest. We are asking for a reversal of the contentious policies that have imposed avoidable hardship on Nigerians, especially the youths, but the President didn’t address any of those,” one of the leading figures in the protests had told Citizenship Daily.
A close ally of President Tinubu, Prof. Wole Soyinka also gave the broadcast knocks for not empathising enough with the souls that were lost in the course of the protests, especially through the high handedness of government agents. The President, instead, subtly encouraged the law enforcement agencies to step up their game to quel the protests, no matter the wider implications.
“As President of this country, I must ensure public order. In line with my constitutional oath to protect the lives and property of every citizen, our government will not stand idly by and allow a few with a clear political agenda to tear this nation apart,” the President said.
To many other leaders of though across the country, the beoadcast which was in the first place necessited by the protests was “uninspiring,” as the demands of the protesters were put in abeyance.
Besides, the Nibel Laureate, Soyinka, other prominent citizens who shared this opinion were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), and a host of civil society organisations (CSOs).
To this leaders of thought, keen observsrs and a cross section of the protesters, Tinubu didnt show any sign that he was in tune with the reality in the country as he, besides not making serious policy statements on fuel subsidy and a plan at redeeming the value of the naira, was curiously
silent on the fundamental issue of insecurity, especially in northern Nigeria where millions of farmers have been chased away from their farmlands and homes.
Recall that the protests were more pronounced in the North, with youths in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), showcasing placards with messages around the need to address hunger and insecurity.
A strange dimension was, however, introduced by the protesters in Kano, Kaduna, Borno and others northern states where they were displaying foreign national flags, especially those of Russia and China as means of expressing their grievances.
Miffed by the development of bearing flags of other countries during protests, the first ever to have happened in the history of Nigeria, the security chiefs have declared the action as treason and have been on the trail of those protesters and their alleged sponsors. Reports said the trailor who allegedly made the foreign flags has already been arrested along with a handful of the protesters.
Rising from a meeting of the National Security Coucil presided over by President Tinubu recently, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa warned that the military would not look away while some citizens were allegedly pushing for a change of government as expressed in the waving of the Russian and Chinese flags.
He said: “And besides, all of us have seen it where foreign flags have been flown within the sovereignty of Nigeria, and that is totally unacceptable. We are warning in clear terms and the President has also said we should convey this, that we will not accept anybody, any individual flying any foreign flag in Nigeria. That is treasonable offense, and it will be viewed and treated as such. So nobody shall allow himself to be used by any individual.
The protests also took place in Southern Nigeria with the exception of the South East, where the political leaders had prevailed on their people to shun the calls to go to the streets. This development in the South East could not be clearly understood by other Nigerans since the hardship in the countryis not reginal. It is believed, however, that the decision by the region’s leaders was self preservation.
Many of those interviewed in the course of the protest in some states of the North like Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto, said though they are farmers, they have been reduced to beggars because they no longer have access to their farmlands due to activities of bandits and kidnappers.
Specifically, Soyinka warned the Tinubu administration that “you can’t serve bullets where bread is pleaded.” That was his reaction to the alleged use of live bullets on the protesters.
He said: “His (Tinubu) outline of the government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis.
“My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.
“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even teargas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.
“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation. The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed EndSARS protests.”
On his part, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said: “President Bola Tinubu’s broadcast … intended to quell the fervour of public protests against his administration’s poor governance, utterly misses the mark.
“His speech neglects the pressing economic hardships that have besieged Nigerian families since the very beginning of his tenure.
“This address lacks credibility and fails to offer any immediate, tangible solutions to the Nigerian people. Given the extensive publicity surrounding the protests and the threats issued by government officials against demonstrators, one would have expected President Tinubu to present ground-breaking reforms, particularly those aimed at reducing the exorbitant costs of governance.
“But alas, no such announcements were made. The president ignored the protesters’ demands, such as suspending the purchase of aircraft for the president, downsizing his bloated cabinet, or even eliminating the costly and burdensome office of the First Lady, who has been indulging in extravagant trips at the nation’s expense.
“In his lacklustre recorded speech, President Tinubu offered a superficial account of his so-called reforms, revealing his own tenuous grasp of policy as he failed to convince his audience. While the president has spoken, it is unfortunate that his words lack substance and respect for the protesters’ sentiments, leaving Nigerians with little faith in his reform agenda – if one exists at all.
“We urge the president and his team to own up to their failures over the past 14 months and abandon the absurd theory that the protests are orchestrated by the opposition. This administration has failed on all fronts, even in the simple task of keeping a presidential speech confidential.”
Agreeing that Tinubu did not address protesters’ demands, Falana said:
“If the government takes the fight against corruption to oil dealers and crude oil is processed in government-owned refineries, there will be no basis for fuel subsidy, which is induced by the importation of petroleum products.
“A positive response to the key demands of the youths could make them review their actions. Insensitivity to their demands can only provoke continued action,” he said. Falana also applauded the protesters for forcing politicians to listen, who he said “are eating in Abuja to the plight of millions of Nigerians who are hungry.”
While giving its assessment of the president’s speech, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) said it was “gravely concerned” over Tinubu’s failure to mention the severe security situation plaguing the North West and other parts of the northern region in his speech.
The NEF, in a statement by Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the group, drew attention to the escalating issues of banditry, kidnapping, rape, and various other criminal activities devastating the region, which have subjected the population to pervasive fear and insecurity.
Also reacting, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, said the president did not address the real issues of the protest. Prince Justice Fakiyesi, National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere loyal to the Ag. Leader Chief Ayo Adebanjo, while talking with our correspondent said it was unfortunate that the president is sticking to anti-masses policy of retaining subsidy.
He said, “We never believed that just calling for dialogue would change anything. He has never changed. His neo-liberal economy is the problem – the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira and he’s bent on continuing it and he does not feel any remorse on how he wants to change but really I don’t think he will change.
“It is unfortunate because we have seen so many countries where these neo-liberal economic policies have not worked.
“I think he was pushed to read the speech because it was not a matter of dialogue or him addressing people about the exact policy that brought hunger and since he is not willing to reverse or accept responsibility, because he more or less said it was politically motivated.”
On the 9th day of the just ended protests, The Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerians led-by the former Secretary-General of The Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku paid a courtesy visit on President Tinubu in his Aso Rock Presidential Villa office with a message that the security agencies should be more circumspect in their management of public protests.
“We also talked about the current crisis of protests throughout the country. And we advised the President that in our view, the government at the federal and state levels should dialogue with the leaders of the protests. The government should take the initiative in dialoguing with the leaders of the protests.
“And secondly, we advised that the law enforcement agencies, namely the police and the army, should avoid using lethal weapons in the management of the protests, so that we do not have casualties, people were killed because of how the law enforcement agencies are managing the protests,” the group said.
To many keen observers, the management of the protests has left more questions than answers in governance accountability.
