By Suleiman Umaru
Between 193 and now, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who incidentally was a former governor of Lagos state, the nation’s Commercial centre , has been having it easy in Nigerian polity. This is because of the role he had played in the defunct National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, in battling Ibrahim Babangida, an Army General , rtd, and former Nigerian military President, to hand over power to Late Moshood Abiola, a multi-billionaire business ,mogul, who had won the 1993, Presidential election.
The Nigerian President who may have known the importance of the military in protecting democratically elected government had given his words ‘’to work assiduously ‘’to provide the security agency with all the necessary support to keep the nation’s troublers at bay.
The former Lagos state governor may have had at the back of his mind ’’ Take It Back Movement’’, organisers of the ongoing ‘’End Bad Governance ’’against hunger and hardship, linked to Sowere Omoyele, a former Presidential Candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, in the February 25, 2023, general election and several other activists.
Although the Nigerian Leader had said that that the right to protests is enshrined in the 199 Constitution as amended but the likes of Nyeson Wike, a former governor of Rivers state an now minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, who appears to be acting out a script have not allowed the organisers of the protests to use the Eagle Square, despite applying to use the facility.
The protests may have become worrisome when the anti-riot and counter-terrorism police personnel decided to apply force to control the protesters. Prof. Wole Soyinka, a novel Laureate may have alluded to this, when he noted that ‘’the nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of ‘’alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention ‘’.
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Prof.Soyinka, had said that the President, who is currently the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic and Community of West African States, ECOWAS, could have doused the tension in the country if he had addressed ‘’the brutal crackdown of End Bad Governance protesters by security agencies in his Sunday, August 4, 2024, nationwide broadcast but failed to do so.
The Nobel Laureate , who has been named after the National Theatre , Igamu, Lagos, by President Tinubu, had said that there was no basis for the security agencies operatives to crack down on the protesters because they have taken to the streets in major cities across the country ’’to lament the high cost of living , hardship, hunger and poverty ‘’ in the country blamed on policies of the Federal Government like the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, petrol, and floating of the naira at the country’s foreign exchange rates market.
The Lagos state born Nigerian President may have given the organisers of the End Bad Governance against hunger and hardship protests the ammunition to continue when he asked them ‘’to suspend any further protests and create room for dialogue’’ , in his nationwide broadcast, without addressing their demands.
Many had expected the President to find a way of appeasing the protesters to restore normalcy in the country but he has made matters worse when he described the ongoing protests as being ‘’politically motivated’’ Even . Ayo Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti state and Chieftain of the Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, had made a similar remarks that the End Bad Governance against hunger and hardship protests has ‘’political dimensions’’.
Indeed, the protesters may have taken the President, on his words that’’ his Administration would not stand by and allow a few with political agenda to tear the country apart ‘’ to sustain the tempo of the protests across the country.
Jamieu Abiola, one of the late Abiola’s sons, and now Special Assistant, SA, to the President on Special Duties, would want him to cast his mind back to the 199 elections to know how what happened to late Abiola, his father. The Aide, who could not hide his feelings was said to have made the President to understand that the same forces who were against the late multi-billionaire business mogul and denied him the opportunity to become Nigeria’s President have ascended on his Administration to bring it down.
The late Abiola’s son, may have shocked Nigerians when he spoke on Channels Television’s coverage of the ongoing protests across the country when he stated that the forces who had annulled his father’s election in 1993, are still at work and would not want’’ someone who had supported his father, the late Abiola, to become President of Nigeria, the most populous country in the African Continent‘’ to succeed in office’’.
He may have heard General Babangida, and first Nigerian military President in mind. The former military President who had stated in his X handle that ‘’ some of the best years Nigerians had experienced all came from the military system of government’’. The former military President was said to have cited jobs, security, affordable costs of living, good roads and education.
Accessing the country’s 25 year-old Democratic system of Government, he had said that ‘’it has taken the nation back to a much worse ‘’dilapidated state’’. The retired Army General had ruled the country between 1985 to 1993.
He may have also have in mind some members of the Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural Group as working against the president.
Note that the Protesters in Kano state, on Saturday, August 3, 2024, were sighted waving the Russian Flags during the protests, to draw the attention of Vladimir Putin, the country’s President due to the growing frustration and belief that their grievances were not being addressed by Tinubu’s Administration. The attention of the Russian Embassy in Nigeria may has been drawn to the country’s involvement in the Nigerian protest, which Yury Paramonov, Press Secretary of the Embassy had vehemently denied.
The Russian Embassy may have made the Authorities to understand that ‘’Russia does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including Nigeria’’. The Russian Embassy officials were emphatic that ‘’the actions of the protesters and their sponsors in northern states of the Nigeria in carrying Russian Flags and chanting slogans to Russian President Putin are personal choices of the individuals and do not reflect any official Russian government policy or position’’.
The protests which were mostly experienced in Riyar Lemo, Kurna, to Bachirra, in Fagge local government , Nasarawa in Kano Municipal Local government and Unguwa Uku in Taruni, local government areas of the north western state, may have defied the 24-hour curfew imposed on the state by Yusuf Kabir-Abba to bring the crisis under control. The protesters my have sent a message to the security agencies operatives in the state that there is no end to the protest until Tinubu’s Administration do the needful.
The Kano protesters may have listened to Sowere, one of the notable organisers of the protests, who had said that they will continue because the President had failed ‘’to address their concerns’’.
Back to the Kano protests and waving of Russian Flags by the protesters. True to the Russian Embassy spokesperson denial that the country has no hand in End Bad Governance against hunger and hardship protests in Nigeria, Kayode Egbetokun, led Nigerian Police Force, NPF, crack team, acting on information, were said to have arrested the mischief maker, one Ahmed, the tailor, who was alleged to have sewn and distributor of the Russian Flags to the protesters in Kano state.
Olumuyiwa Adeobi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, and Force spokesperson, had said that the mischief tailor, was arrested with seven Russian Flags in Kano state. The Department of State Service, DSS, under the close watch of Yusuf Magai Bichi, had said that the tailor was arrested with the sponsors of the Russian Flags production contract. The tailor was said to be calling for anarchy in Kano state, which is a treasonable felony offence.
In Lagos, which had witnessed the violent End SARS protests in October 2023. On Monday, August 5, 2024,the End Bad Governance against hunger and hardship protesters, were said to have mobilized at the Lkki Toll-Gate, Alausa State Secretariat, Oota, Ketu, Lagos state University, LASU, Gate, , Abule Egba, FESTAC town, Iyana Ipaja and several other parts of the state, despite the ban by Fayoade Adegoke, the south western state Commissioner of Police.
The protesters may have taken advice of Sowere, based in the North American country of the United States to resume the protest in the state to show they fully support it. An eyewitness account had said that the arrival of the Commissioner of Police at the protest ground in Ojota amid tensions between the protesters and the Force personnel , may have sparked outrage among the protests .
The Lagos protesters like the one in Kano state, were said to hae exressed their dissatisfaction with the President’s nationwide address on Sunday, describing as unfortunate as it failed to address their demands. The protesters were unanimous in their message to the Authorities had made it clear: We are angry; We are hungry.
While Take It Back Movement, organisers of the End Bad Governance against hunger and hardship protests are not ready to sheat their sword, Abubakar Kyari, minister of Agriculture and food security, says the country is expecting bumper harvest before year end that would crash the food inflation which has reached 40% in he country , according to the National Bureau of Statistics , NBS, under the close watch of Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran .
Given the tension in the country and the criticisms still trailing the President’s Sunday, August 4, 224, nation wide broadcast, may have informed why he has called off the Federal Executive Council. FEC, meeting scheduled for thi Monday, August 5, 2024 without prior notice. The meeting, according to informed source , was epected to address the ongoing End Bad Governance against hunger and hardship protests , was cancelled this Monday afternoon. Some ministers were aid to have arrived at the Council chambers at the Presidential Villa but to depart without a word from the President.
The cancelation of the FEC, meetng had come even as the protests had continued despite calls for dialogue by the President and members of the Cabinet, who looks upset.
The aggrieved Nigerian President who could not meet with the ministers as slated this Monday Afternoon, was said to have met have met with the service Chiefs. The meeting was said to have had in attendance Vice President Kashim Shetima, Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser, NSA, Egbetokun, IGP, Bashir Adewale Aeniyi, MFR, Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Nnna Nandap, Comptroller General, Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, and now Femi Gbajabiamila, former speaker , House of Representatives and now Chief of Staff to the President.
