EDITORIAL: Managing nationwide protest through better statecraft

Fireballs that had stirred up in Lagos and other major Nigerian cities, over the escalating cost of living since President Bola Tinubu assumed office, magnified into a conflagration with a nationwide protest that started last Thursday. The mass action, which the organisers say is billed for 10 days, was headlined by the triad of hunger, poverty and inflation.

Coming under the auspices of many groups, it would appear that the drivers are largely amorphous. But, some of them have leaders with recognisable faces, such as those of the #EndBadGovernance, #RevolutionNow, and #TakeITBack movements. They have remained implacable even as the government, though belatedly, tried to wave an olive branch to them.

Its pushback resulted in the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and others distancing themselves from the protest. But this did it not vitiate the storm, going by its intensity on the first day.

The outbreak of violence was recorded in a number of states in the North. But the protest was moderate in the South. However, the rage has so far left about 17 people dead nationwide. Specifically, six people were reportedly shot dead in Niger State; a bomb went off in Borno State, killing four persons; the headquarters of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa State was burnt; just as Government House in Gombe was attacked.

Shops were looted and vehicles burnt in Kano State. One person was reportedly killed in Abuja and the police arrested 25 persons in Kaduna State and 320 suspects in Kano. These eruptions culminated in curfews being declared in about seven states in the North, which mitigated its ferocity on Friday.

In Lagos, protesters received large doses of tear gas and pepper spray from the police, especially those who defied the Lagos court order that restricted them to Gani Fawehinmi Park at Ojota and Peace Park in Ketu. Ironically, protesters at the Ojota Park were dared by pro-government protesters to come out of the venue to continue with the protest. It was an invitation to a duel and anarchy.

The Lekki-Ekpe Tollgate, a dreaded rendezvous of the 2020 #EndSARS protest was also a beehive of restiveness. Highways were blocked.

Ominously, protesters in Ibadan said Thursday’s whirlwind was just a “dress rehearsal.” Given the eerie build up to this protest and government’s ensuing panic mode, banks, businesses, and schools were shut in most states. Transportation was paralysed too. So far, the optics are bad. The economic loss in the first day was over N100 billion, experts claim.

We had expected a government that harped on observing the rule of law, civility and the admission of citizen’s right to protest as a constitutional one to act accordingly; and in the process, win the hearts of the protesters.

Instead, it allowed counter-protests the same day, which inflamed anger at Ojota. One of such protests, which many consider as being pro-government, was held at Tinubu/Shettima campaign headquarters, Abuja, with the Minister of State for Police, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, being present.

Worse still, the police gratuitously assaulted journalists covering the protest. It was an orgy of madness that cut across nationwide. For instance, a PREMIUM TIMES journalist, Yakubu Mohammed, was hit with gun butts in Abuja, despite identifying himself with his Identity Card. He also wore a press vest. As he scoffed at this brutality, he was impudently reminded of the arrest of the Chairman of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja chapel.

If harmless journalists could be so harassed and brutalised by the police, what protesters go through is better imagined. On the eve of the protest, the Inspector-General of Police had said that “even peaceful protest should be shelved for now.”

We believe that it is unprofessional for law enforcement agencies to stoke the fire during a national crisis such as this, and call for caution on both sides of the divide. Evidently, the government’s strategy has been one of double standards. In one breath, it recognises citizens’ right of protest, as espoused in Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which deals with lawful assembly and freedom of association; and in another, it abhors any protest at all.
As soon as Lagos State government obtained an ex parte injunction that confined the protesters to two locations, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, followed suit. None of these worked out as expected.

Allowing the protesters to use preferred public spaces as rendezvous points, with police surveillance, would have helped to contain or control the excesses of the protesters. Official attempts to frustrate peaceful assembly through court injunctions, in this circumstance, must have incensed some protesters into an overdrive.

We condemn the destruction of property, as reported, and it should not continue. More disturbing is the loss of lives. The police killing of protesters, not provoked by lethal assault against security personnel, as it has been observed, we dare say, is criminal and indefensible.

Even journalists were shot at, at MKO Abiola national stadium, Abuja, a confined location, with the intent to kill. Crowd control during unrests in modern policing has transcended the use of live ammunition.

There are non-lethal bullets the police can use to demobilise their targets. The use of undercover officers to identify ring leaders and perpetrators of violence; positioning of cameras at protest venues; publicly describing the provisions of the law with regards to violence, in order not to overstep its bounds, are among the litany of measures deployed in saner societies to de-escalate protests and save lives.

Statecraft is badly needed by both the federal and state governments to navigate the country out of this tempest. Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State displayed this dexterity when he came out of Government House to address the protesters, pleaded with them for a violent-free protest and assured that their requests would be forwarded to the President. We hope that more governors will embrace this strategy.

To be clear, Tinubu hit the hornets’ nest with his dual policies of fuel subsidy removal and deregulation of the foreign exchange market, without proper implementation strategies. He dithered too on the upward review of salaries until two weeks ago, when he signed the N70,000 new minimum wage into law.

Empirically, the package is of no significant value when weighed against the National Bureau of Statistics’ food inflation assessment of being at 40.87 per cent; and headline inflation at 34.19 per cent in June, and which are both headed south in comparison to the rates in May. Fuel is currently selling for N900 per litre in Imo State.

Government should stop rhapsodising about the N70,000 wage hike because it is only about $44 in value, per month, and ranked 10th in Africa, according to SBM Intelligence. Nine African countries have better figures, from Kenya’s $136; Angola’s $120; Cote D’Ivoire’s $96; Tanzania’s $61 and Ethiopia’s $52. Morocco’s $286; South Africa’s $248; Egypt’s $157 and Algeria’s $140 are the top four.
It is quite unfortunate that the minimum wage of N125 in 1981 was more at $215 in value, unlike the N70,000 for which the authorities are in self-adulation. Hunger in the land is real. The 20 trucks of rice given to each state are yet to go round.

This protest goes beyond hunger to include calls for good governance, transparency and accountability. These are democratic values the protesters want entrenched through far-reaching electoral and constitutional reforms. We share in this call.

Others, in their motley of demands, are seeking the introduction of live transmission of election results and real autonomy of the electoral umpire, to guarantee the integrity of electoral outcomes, going forward; cutting the cost of governance by 50 per cent across board, alongside implementing the Stephen Orosanye report on the reduction of MDAs to save costs.

Also, reverting to the old pump price of fuel; improving healthcare; reforming the judiciary to oust its state capture; implementing the #EndSARS report; recovering looted state funds; and intensifying the war against corruption, etc.

Tinubu should take these demands seriously and forget the ill-conceived notion that offering tokenisms in the form of palliatives will be the magic bullet. Instructively, at a time he was busy trying to stave off the protest, the Vice President of INTERPOL for Africa, Garba Umar, was in Abuja and he confirmed what we already know: the daily ill-gotten capital flight out of Nigeria, perpetrated by public office holders without consequences.

Therefore, a profound engagement with the protesters is still a necessity. The President made a nationwide broadcast on Sunday and sued for peace and dialogue. Unfortunately, he made no concrete offer in response to the protesters’ demands.

However, we urge them to accede to the President’s overture. But it should not be a dialogue to be forged through the pleas for more patience, but one driven by the leadership of personal examples: shunning an ostentatious presidency, and showing a clear road map that will extricate the country from its present socio-economic mess.

Enough is enough of the country having elected/appointed public officers luxuriating in obscene wealth, while millions of Nigerians starve to death as the economy further unravels.