By Christie Doyin
In the last two, three weeks, the #EndSARS discussion has dominated the Nigeria clime, in the world’s polity. It became the air, the water and indeed, the psych of everyone in and out of Nigeria.
The End SARS protest became a deviate of what it was originally. The original plan was to decry and agitate against Police brutality, extra judicial killings and other abuses against fundamental human rights. However, within the space of ten to twelve days, barriers of the protesters were broken and infiltrated by hooligans, touts of all cadres as well as other miscreants.
All their attempts to keep the criminally minded touts at bay failed when the ‘man’ died! The man in the perseverance, in the tolerance, in the commitment and the man in the determination to keep going and to the peaceful realisation of all their requests. How the rouges and hooligans did it remains uncleared but there have been finger pointing and accusations.
In fact, government and some other top notchers in the private sector as well as corridors of power have been named as culpable in the alleged killings of the innocent protesters.
The development has thus made it rather difficult to actually put a name to what went wrong. But this much can be said, everything went haywire leading to accusations and counter accusations, allegations, claims and denials which have even added more crumbles to the rubbles.
Indeed, the development caused a lot of skirmishes in homes and among friends. I remember writing (and telling those who cared to listened) that I actually was not for nor against the protest but that all I cared about was for sanity to be restored into the system and all human rights abuses stopped. My friends didn’t agree it works that way, they felt the youth were culpable. Some others felt the police and government were the culprits, but my take now is that we were all guilty.
And when it got to the issues of the alleged killings of the protesters, I and some families and friends had some altercations that threatened almost 40 years relationships. I mean I saw and heard shootings at the Lekki toll gate protest venue as I watched the television and I remember I had to hold myself together to avoid smashing the screen or running out as a result of fear, all for some persons to start insulting my psyche that there were no shootings and if there were, then the shots were to the air and not directed at persons. It’s a long tall tale, I would say, rather too tall.
Now all those weren’t really my headache but the fact that miscreants and rogues actually took over the protest and that they resorted to looting, harming and destroying public property as well as properties of innocent private persons.
To say the least, I was flabbergasted! I was more than dismayed and felt so bad that a cause so good could suddenly turned so bad. In reality, we have bad eggs across boards. In the police and armed forces, civil service, public and private organisations so here we are.
From information gathered, some of the culprits involved in the devastations have been arrested but grapevine revealed that those arrested are possibly those who went to scoop leftovers from the original marauders, especially in Ilorin and that seems to be why there are more women and young kids. That however, does not excuse anyone.
My dismay and serious concerns now are in parts, these are, how are the private individuals whose properties were stolen, damaged or destroyed going to start off again in spite of governments’ promises to help alleviate the situation? That is if it will be done.
How would those who might have lost their jobs or even limbs and so on, going to cope, because as it is, things may never be same for them again? Where is government, which have overtime been claiming to be broken, going to be able to put those structures damaged in place again and how especially would government be able to put up new infrastructure and other social amenities?
Part of my concerns is that you and I are mostly affected and not the leaders who for selfishness, have kept for whatever reasons, those commodities that would have made life a little bit more comfortable for the people. My take is that we have only given many of them rooms to steal and steal, again and again. But then, those items stolen by the culprits, if shared appropriately and at the right time would also have helped in making governance easy for them.
I can assure you that a typical Nigerian only wants food on his table for his family, a good or near comfortable shelter over his head, clothes on his back, a good car or enough money to pay his fare to and fro office or trading points as well as an occasional outings with family or friends. Nothing outlandish at all. And these are things government could have easily and readily provided to the citizenry and accomplished more with the seemingly ‘free gifts’ from donors instead of keeping them and depriving Nigerians of access to those things.
I, once or twice have said that Nigeria has become a nation that once was. Try to recollect the scenario as it was when there were employment and employment opportunities, when graduates were creating and getting jobs, when trading and production were in sync for the benefit of all and see if it could be compared to what it became up till some few weeks ago before the arsonists and thieves even took over. Actually, I am not saying there weren’t banditry, criminality, or unemployment before, no, far from that. My take is there were less to be bothered about.
A time it was when lawmaking was not a business at all, talk more of it being a full time or thriving business. But now all elected and appointed persons in politics have taken their positions as full time paying jobs and money spinning life business. Outrageous and mouth gaping salaries and other remunerations have given a few undeserving persons lots of advantages over more than 95% of others.
This, of course, has given them the ‘ostrich neck’ and the ‘turkey’s pride’ to think those that are sweating profusely to make ends meet and whom are being denied enough to take them home as salary are sluggards or foolish. And wouldn’t you say it might have become part of reasons for brutality of security agents among others?
Uhmmmm and to say they wouldn’t loot given such opportunity!
As a matter of fact, kidnapping has also suddenly in the last couple of years become one of the very lucrative businesses in Nigeria. I can tell you that it even now has become exceptionally lucrative and one can only be more security conscious than ever know that it is important to take self precautions at all times as there are no more SARS/SWAT to check the menace and the regular police are not ready for the brawl.
Now is the time for self appraisal, where did we get it wrong, how did it get to this level, who are to blame and most importantly, where hence now? As it is now, the only person to trust in Nigeria today is yourself and your self alone.
*Doyin writes from Ilorin via e-mail: [email protected]
