Aftermath of #ENDSARS Protests: The need for calmness in the Land

Dearly beloved, good afternoon. I have been following events of the last few days in our nation and it has been a mixed _pourri pourri_. At one point, you see some loosely organised young men and women in a general contraction called the youths finding time to expend youthful energy in order to give a voice to their frustrations in the name of *#ENDSARS*.

These frustrations are borne out of the fact that due to the criminal activities of some other people within their age bracket, some misguided members of a unit of the law enforcement agency, the Nigerian Police, called SARS has turned their lives miserable. They are now all deemed *guilty until proven innocent*. They look at them as suspects, all of them. One of them said to me: “Look at me. I have zero tolerance for crime but look at my long afro hair. To SARS, I am already a suspect. I am already guilty.

So, what do you want us to do? To continue to live in fear? To change our hairstlye, our pertain of life because of some poorly trained, poorly motivated, poorly paid person who has been give AR-15 and AK-47A in the name of law enforcement who, because of his or her limited abilities as far motivation and training harasses us daily, making our live miserable?” He went on to say, “they even look dressed worse than the criminals they are supposed to chase. They just want to intimidate you and if you are timid enough, they extort from you and if you aren’t timid but know a bit of your rights and attempt to exercise them, you are brutalised, and in that case, you are among the lucky ones, otherwise, you are sent to your early grave.

This is our frustration. So, is it now a crime that we have appropriated the rights given to us by the Nigerian Constitution, the right to freely gather and the right to freely express our opinion without any hindrance to anyone? Is that a new crime? If so be, then the Nigerian Constitution needs an urgent amendment.” What can we say to that? For me, speechless. Nothing to say. So, they took to the streets.

They came out in their numbers. Yes they did. In fact, the current COVID-19 induced lockdowns and shutdowns of the educational institutions also ensured that they had spare time since many are not doing online studies. The facilities are just not there. This was another motivation. No adequate educational facilities. I call these, *the original group*. Some have graduated many years ago and no jobs and when these heard that food and booze flow aplenty at the gathering points, they cashed on.

They felt like, “let me give my parents a break from reminding me everyday that I am doing nothing only to sit at home eating their food after they spent all their earnings to put me through University. At least, as long as this “show” lasts I am guaranteed of free food and booze.” To this group it is a show. They call their friends, they chat. Don’t forget that this is the information age. It is very cheap and easy. To reach everyone is just a click of the button. You get the message instantly just as you will receive this one. While these are gathering, then those who are just the regular _agberos_ where watching like the vulture which is waiting for the last breath of its would be meal so that it can swoop down and feast. These are the hoodlums. These ones are the low class vultures, as I classify them. Then there are those who see this as an opportunity to prepare for 2023 elections.

They want to be President, Governors, members of the National or State Assemblies, Chairmen of Local Government Councils. They see it as an opportunity to discredit the government of the day: at the National level, at the State level, at the Local Government level, etc. These are the ones I call the real miscreants. They are the high class vultures.

The initial group has now turned into a mixed multitude. They are no longer *the original group* which planned and started to leave Egypt. (Please note that Egypt here is a metaphor. Also, bread, meat, water, Moses, Mariam, Aaron and Joshua are all used as metaphors) So, since they have become a mixed multitude, all the other hidden cravings set in: they want bread, they want meat, they want water, Moses is too harsh. Even his family members, Mariam and Aaron, complain about him because they believe they can do a better job than him. Some of them have seen a Joshua around him. They suspect him. Moses might actually be preparing Joshua to takeover from him. In fact, even in the beginning, before Moses told them that he can assist them leave Egypt, they didn’t believe him. So, he ran away. Now, he has come…. Ha! So, a peaceful process is hijacked and attempted to be turned into an event.

But an event, it cannot be because the issues being raised are all multifaceted and intricately interwoven. Time has to be given. Timelines and milestones have to be set. *The original group* thinks it is wise to look at the issues as a process but they are now *fewer in influence*. The mixed multitude roars *”NO”*. What can the originals do? They know the character of the mixed multitude and and even the passer-bys. Before long they will be accused to have sold out. To have been settled. To have been bought over. So, what to do? They decided to just tag along. Their initial 5-point simple demand has grown to 7-point. It has grown to 32-point.

In fact, the demand is now *regime change*. What can they do? They know that this was not their initial mission. They just wanted to be heard. To be assured that there will be reforms in their primary area of concern, the major reason they actually came out. They also wanted to indirectly help their oppressors and traducers. This is because if these SARS officers or whoever that comes to replace them is properly trained, well kitted, well paid, given befitting accommodation, improved work environment and conditions, everyone will be better for it. But the narrative has changed. The process has been hijacked by the mixed multitude. More powerful voices have entered the scene.

They have entered the fray. They have the resources to carry on even for a month. After all, it has been noised somewhere that if this continues for at least 30 days, the US, no, the UN will ask the present government to go. This is, maybe, a new policy or law in the UN. It is certainly so because Hong Kong protests started on March 15, 2019 and only stopped by COVID-19 early this year, 2020. It lasted for almost 11 months. So, this UN law or policy is definitely a new one, and maybe, *for Nigeria only*. So, the voice, the demand, the request, desire and aspirations of *the original youth group* became one of the demands, one of the requests, one of the desires, one of the aspirations, one of the….. What a sad story.

And as the sad story it transmorphosed out to be, it has to end with a sad story. A gory ending. A mind boggles and chilling ending. *A massacre!* Was there one? Was there none? Who truly knows? Who truly knows?…. Except God. Except God. I weep. I weep. If there was a massacre, was it necessary? In almost all of the close to one year of the most recent mass protest as evinced in Hong Kong only two lives were lost.

Yes, there were about 2600 injuries, more than 10 thousand arrests but only two deaths. It is not like any one should die. But there were no massacres. Just two lives and I use the word *just* with _tongue in cheek_. Why a massacre in our own case. Oh! There were no massacres here too, I hear. (The Numero Uno of Lagos State said so on National Television). So, why spread a story or rumour of massacre? To what end? To further shake the current fragility of the nation? Are there dark hands behind the scenes that want to break us?

To what purpose? Are there some evil puppeteers somewhere hoping to reap bountifully from our collective misfortune, anarchy and chaos? I read a former respected representative of Nigeria in the United Nations advocating that we break up. He gave the example of the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and the former Czechoslovakia. Great examples. But he didn’t tell us about what happened before Bosnia Herzegovina was created. He didn’t say if we should break up along ethnic or religious lines.

Going by what he said, I am certain that if along ethnic lines, even in my Rivers State of about 7-10 million people, in a case like that you won’t hear anymore of Niger Delta. You will hear of Kalabari, Ikwerre, Ogba, Egbema, Ogoni, Etche, Wakirike, Obolo, Ibani, Engenni, Udekema, Nkoro, Ekpeye, etc. These were all nation-states before the amalgamations. I don’t know all of others but some I know some, like Igbo, Hausa, Nupe, Fulfulde, Igala, Igbira, Afonja, Ibibio, Urhobo, Etsekiri, Ijaw, Isoko, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Idoma, Junkun,etc. And even among the wider Igbo and Yoruba you will hear many more. So, we have to be calming down (as that little child told us months ago. Or we can off the mic for a while).

We have to understand that the matters that confront us as a nation are endemic and must be approached gradually. We also have to understand that we have in one way or another helped to create it or allowed it to foster. Some of us had been in positions of authority or influence while issues festered but chose to do nothing and looked the other way. At that time, we felt it wasn’t convenient for us to address them. At that time we were on the *_”chopping”_* participating in the *_”chopping”_*. Now, we are no longer there and it seems like we have been excluded. We should understand that they are not an event but a process and we need to to approach them systematically. We must not issue ultimatums even though they are urgent.

The youths have brought in their own. So, we should take that as first on the line. We should draw up action plans with verifiable timelines and milestones. We should agree to put in place a credible monitoring processes. We can if we are willing and transparent. This doesn’t mean that Governments at the various levels should not do other things. Government is a multitasking and multifaceted organism and should function in that light but priority attention should be given to the issues the youths have raised. In solving these demands, some others will be solved as derivatives. Even law enforcement shall become easier and enjoyable. The truth be told.

Presently, what motivates a lot of people to enlist into the Security agencies is not because they are interested in the security of the nation. It what they will use the opportunity to get illegally or unlawfully, that is what motivates them. Even the SARS people we want to crucify now are victims of the system. They need help. Of course, there are few of them who were just criminal in their operations. We should find a way to deal with them such that it both motivates to be a security agent and demotivates to use that agency to perpetuate and perpetrate evil and wickedness and selfishness.

Please, let all of us be calming down as we ask God Almighty to help us while we undertake to do the needful, as it is usually said, as we seek God’s face. He said, *_if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal and restore their land_*. Thank you and remain blessed. *God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.* *_Rt. Hon. Sokonte Davies, Ph.D._*