BY MICHAEL WEST
I shudder to entertain my fear since the #EndSARS protest started as we might actually be at the threshold of a prolonged agitation that may likely blow the wind of sweeping changes that are long overdue. Should the protest extend beyond next week, government will require a careful and strategic approach to manage the situation. The spontaneous nature of the protest in many states across the country should get government strategists and handlers thinking. They need to respond to the situation with equanimity to stave off the protest from slipping out of control. The most difficult protest to contain or control is a protest without faces or coordinators. Therefore, extreme caution is needed to manage this delicate moment. Employing intimidation, repression or confrontation may escalate the already tensed situation.
Like what happened in Ecuador where a nationwide protest became a
tool to express bottled up discontent and oppression of the masses over
the years, I see the on-going protest beyond the call for an end to SARS
and its atrocities. In a matter of days, political and economic
agitations may become a dimension that will further prolong the protest
until some fundamental national questions are frontally addressed. I see
the possibility of the protest leading to outright restructuring of the
country. I see the protest ushering some reprieve for long cheated and
deprived segments of this country. I see federal character principle at
the core leadership structure. I see sufficient devolution of powers to
the three tiers of government. Should the beneficiaries of the present
lop-sidedness resist the change, the inevitable consequence may be
unpredictable.
Some people are of the opinion that since the government is yielding to
the demands of the protesters, they should calm down and allow for the
implementation of their demands. But there’s lack of trust and
confidence in the government that it will do what it promised. Twice in
the past, SARS has either been pronounced disbanded or reformed but the
atrocities of its operatives kept soaring. Therefore, until evident
actions are seen, there may be no stopping the protest. Also, the swift
change of name from SARS to SWAT at the peak of the protest is
ill-timed, ill-advised and suspect. The hasty action may keep the youths
longer on the streets as #StopSWAT is now trending in cyberspace.
“A common trend in an emerging revolution is that the demands keep
increasing. As government tries to respond, more demands from the
existing ones will surface. The circle of demands will continue like
that until government becomes overwhelmed.”
President Muhammadu Buhari administration should learn from other
countries where similar nationwide protests have rocked their spaces in
the past. Our government should study how they managed the situation and
successfully navigated their ways through. It should also learn from
how such protests had snowballed into a revolution which ultimately
consumed the government in power due to recalcitrance and acts of
impunity. I hope this will not be the eventual situation with us.
In Chile for example, while demonstrators clashed with security forces
on a Friday evening, President Sebastián Piñera was pictured dining in
an upmarket Italian restaurant – a sign, some said, reflected the chasm
between Chile’s political elite and the people on the streets. Chile is
one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries, but, like Nigeria, also one
of its most unequal – it has the worst levels of income equality among
the 36 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD).
In Ecuador for example, the government backtracked and suspended its
fare hike in an effort to quell the protests. But the protests
continued, growing to take in wider grievances. Reuters news agency
quoted a protesting student as saying “This is not a simple protest over
the rise of metro fares, this is an outpouring for years of oppression
that have hit mainly the poorest.”
Lebanon has seen a similar unrest with plans to tax WhatsApp calls
prompting wider protests about economic problems, inequality and
corruption. Protests of this nature have also taken place in countries
including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Austria,
France and New Zealand. Participants have glued and chained themselves
to roads and vehicles, and tried to disrupt busy city centres.
In July/August 2019, Omoyele Sowore-led #RevolutionNow protest was
swirling the political space. I knew it won’t go far because the
mobilisation and sensitization were grossly inadequate. More so, the
convener, Sowore, was blackmailed as a frustrated political jobber who
resorted to calling for a revolution after losing at the ballot to the
incumbent President Mohammadu Buhari. He was arrested, detained for
weeks and subsequently charged to court. He was later granted bail on
some stringent conditions.
A prophetic dimension was introduced to the #RevolutionNow protest as a
video containing a prophecy by Prophet T. B. Joshua suddenly went viral
on the Internet. For me, I don’t subscribe to T. B. Joshua’s spiritual
authority for reasons known to discerning Christians. However, I
solemnly believe that everybody is endowed with innate talents and
spiritual gifts from the Creator. One does not have to be a Prophet or
an Alfa to see visions or receive revelations in dreams. The Bible says
the “gifts of God is without repentance” – meaning that whatever gift or
talent whether physical, mental or spiritual that God has created one
with is never withdrawn under no circumstance. Once God gifts you any
natural or spiritual endowment, it is permanent. It is on that premise
that I watched and started observing what T. B. Joshua has said in the
video.
He started by enjoining the government to “carry the youths along.” He
told his congregation to please note and document the prophecy and
“follow it up.” He asserted that “God showed me” the revelation. It is
not a press statement but “a revelation from God.” He went further to
say “I’m seeing a revolution! And every revolution starts like a
protest. I’m seeing people take to the streets. At the beginning, the
protest will be quelled by security forces.” But later, a renewed
protest, he said, will spring up and it will usher in a revolution. “You
can stop protest but nobody can stop revolution because everybody will
be ready to go for it. This I see happen. Nigeria, pray!” He gave the
prophecy on Sunday, July 14, 2013.
So, when Buhari-led government subdued Sowore-led #RevolutionNow
protest, I ticked the first part of the prophecy as being fulfilled.
Then, I was keenly waiting for the fulfilment of the second and final
part. When the on-going agitation started last week, I began to feel
this might be it. I think so because many Nigerians have had similar
dreams or revelations about Nigeria before now. The spate of the protest
is beyond expectation. Then, the protest is faceless. This makes it
much more delicate. Virtually all protests that snowballed into
revolutions across the world are usually faceless because there are no
arrowheads, leaders or coordinators to discuss or negotiate with.
A common trend in an emerging revolution is that the demands keep
increasing. As government tries to respond, more demands from the
existing ones will surface. The circle of demands will continue like
that until government becomes overwhelmed. In the face of mass action
like this, the use of force will be counter-productive as it will rather
aggravate the fragility of the situation. In days to come if the
protest is not diffused, Nigeria may become an emergency situation to
the global community. And in an event that the United Nations decides to
step in to contain the situation, only God can tell if the country
called Nigeria will still be available on the map of the world.
West wrote via mikeawe@yahoo.co.uk
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