To the Nigerian youth, the present Federal Government can never be able to convince ordinary folks that it isn’t highly insincere, never to be held by its word, at least most of the time…and never to be trusted.
If you still wish to ask how, why, and what exactly that means, just take a good look at the present happenings on the national stage.
They are clear testimonies to the doubts cast by the youths, who in October 2020 occupied some major streets across the country, especially in Lagos, protesting police brutality and bad governance. It was generally tagged #EndSARS.
Or how else do you explain the government’s alleged clampdown on those they suspected had played prominent roles in the well-coordinated and most peaceful protest ever in the history of Nigeria?
For a fortnight or more last month, youths across Nigeria marched on the streets and launched the social media campaign, with the hash tag, EndSARS. They were asking for a more equitable Nigeria with the right atmosphere for them to aspire and achieve their dreams, generally. And I ask, what, in the name of everything reasonable, is wrong with that?
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SARS was notorious for maltreatment and mistreatment of people, especially the young ones of this nation for flimsy reasons like their physical appearance and or lifestyle.
A sobriquet for the erstwhile Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS was a unit of the Nigeria Police Force notorious for intimidation, harassment, and brutalisation of young crime suspects.
So, the well-coordinated protests continued peacefully, until very powerful forces in the country allegedly hijacked it. And all hell broke loose. Violence erupted in many parts of the country, especially in the south.
Not surprisingly, things began to head south, figuratively, soon after. A peaceful protest, even without defined ringleaders, would immediately be hijacked by so-called hoodlums, who began to kill, maim, burn public and private property. Ostensibly, these fifth columnists were hirelings of pro-government politicians.
The protesters maintained they had no leader when the government reached out to them for negotiations. And if anyone thought they did not know what they were doing then by saying they were leaderless, events of today have proven them right — that what we have is a very insensitive government, ever ready to crush dissenting voices.
Or how do you explain the freezing, on the order of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), accounts of those suspected to be the leading force behind the protest? How do you also explain that 50 of them have been sued by a suspected agent of government purportedly for their roles in the protest? How again can one explain de-registration, by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a firm linked to a promoter of #EndSARS?
The CAC responsible for the incorporation of businesses in Nigeria had November 10, 2020 announced, via a tweet, the cancellation of the registration of Enough is Enough Nigeria, a business organisation linked to a promoter of #EndSARS, Ms Opayemi Adamolekun.
CAC said, “The name was cancelled based on the provisions of section 579 (2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).”
Opayemi is believed to be the main target of CAC in de-registration of the organisation said to have begun operations in January 2011 but was formally registered in July 2012.
The organisation had criticized human rights violations and police excesses in the past and actively participated in the #EndSARS protest.
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In announcing de-registration of the business, CAC said the name is deceptive and tweeted: “Based on the provisions of Section 579 (2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, (CAMA), the Corporate Affairs Commission has cancelled the registration of the Business name “Enough is Enough BN 2210728” with immediate effect.”
No doubt, the commission has the power to cancel the registration of a business name where the name is “deceptive or objectionable.” According to the government agency, EiE was registered in 2012 to engage in general contracts, and sale of sports equipment/promotion but has “deviated from its main objectives with time.”
However, and against what was circulated by CAC, the human rights organisation, also in a tweet, said it was registered as “The EiE Project Ltd/Gte” with RC 1047750, separate from the EiE.
Incidentally, de-registration of the organization was coming at a time the federal government had taken repressive actions against protesters and promoters of the #EndSARS campaign.
For instance, a lawyer, Modupe Odele, had her passport seized by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), thus preventing her from travelling abroad, although it was returned days after the service said it had concluded its investigations.
Obianuju Catherine Udeh, popularly known as DJ Switch, is reported to have fled the country, claiming threats to her life.
Among those affected by the CBN order, according to reports, are Bolatito Rachael Oduala, Chima David Ibebunjoh, Mary Doose Kpengwa, Saadat Temitope Bibi, Bassey Victor Israel, Wisdom Busaosowo Obi, Nicholas Ikhalea Osazele, Ebere Idibie, Akintomide Lanre Yusuf, Uhuo Ezenwanyi Promise, and Mosopefoluwa Odeseye.
Gatefield Nigeria Limited, owners of Gatefield, an advocacy group that supported the media coverage of the protest by providing funds to journalists, had its Access Bank account frozen.
Several persons, besides, have allegedly been illegally detained by the police in Lagos, Osun, and the Federal Capital, Abuja, without trial, a development that has been condemned by activists and legal experts across the country.
Blocking the accounts of #EndSARS protesters on the pretext that they were terrorism suspects no doubt indicates the Federal Government’s insincerity.
Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Raps Nduka, in an interview with a national daily, actually described the #EndSARS campaign as lawful and the demands genuine.
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Sudden clampdown on them therefore, only goes to show that the protesters were right to insist that they were not going to leave the streets because, over time, the government would promise something and do the opposite. The action of the CBN lends credence to the promise-and-fail rhetoric of the youth.
Government, actually, has made it look like it is trying to silence people from talking about the ills of society. That is why prominent Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, also believes the Federal Government’s tagging of the promoters of the protests as terrorists is unlawful, unconstitutional, and insensitive since the rights to protest were guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.
“So, the government does not know that the herdsmen are the real terrorists? The government does not know that Boko Haram members are the real terrorists? The government does not know that the rampaging kidnappers are the real terrorists? The government does not know that the bandits are the real terrorists? The government does not know that those in government stealing the commonwealth belonging to the people are the real terrorists?”
It is insensitive, immoral, illegal, unconstitutional, unlawful, and wrongful for the government, through CBN or any agency, to tag peaceful protesters as terrorists.
Every rational thinker knows that blocking of the bank accounts of the campaigners was an attempt by the Federal Government to intimidate the various state governments from expressing views contrary to its own via the various panels of inquiry to investigate the root causes of the protests.
Recall that this same federal government had encouraged states like Edo, Lagos, Ondo, and Ekiti to set up judicial panels of inquiry to look into the root causes of these protests and what can be done. What a deceitful act, indeed, because by already condemning the #EndSARS campaigners, the Federal Government is intimidating the states. How?
Under the circumstance, how will anyone expect any state government panel to come up with views that run contrary to those of the federal government?
Little wonder the action of the Federal Government does not come as a shock to many, giving that a government that has been doing everything to reshape terrorism narrative in the country and turn Boko Haram members into freedom fighters or agitators, could as well label peaceful protestors as terrorists.
Therefore, it can only be under the very precarious situation that we find ourselves that the apex bank, which is not a security agency, would be getting itself involved in such politics at the risk of losing its credibility.
Profiling of the #EndSARS promoters as terrorists by the CBN is truly ridiculous. How is that the apex bank’s statutory duty? We used to think the CBN, in addition to being the banker to the Federal Government of Nigeria, was also a regulatory agency in terms of ensuring compliance with fiscal policies. How and when it became a body to designate or profile anybody as terrorists may remain one of the legacies of the Buhari administration.
Isn’t it dubious that while we live in a country that is talking of rehabilitating or re-radicalising known terrorists that have taken up arms against the state, it is people who embarked on a peaceful protest that are being tagged as terrorists with their rights hugely violated? Meanwhile treasury looters, for instance, are decorated in the robe of saints! What a shame!!
But the youth are of a different generation. They call themselves the Soro Soke, or Woke generation. Although patient and laid-back to a point of being called ‘lazy youth’, they have so far proven that they can kick.
You can call them lazy or docile at the moment to your detriment, for they are proving to be among the most resilient, educated, articulate, detribalised, collaborative, digitally savvy, patriotic, artistically talented, and most law-abiding generation of Nigerians, against all odds.
Their peaceful protest against bad governance may be hijacked with shiploads of thugs but there is time for everything under the sun…A time to clamp down on peaceful protesters and a time to #EndBadGovernance. Or #EndSars.