#EndBadGovernance protests day 10: The heroes and the villains

By Onyedika Agbedo, Gbenga Salau and Gbenga Akinfenwa

10 August 2024   |   5:02 am

• Nigerians Count Gains, Losses Of Exercise
• Say It’s A Warning To Ruling Class To Curb Luxurious Lifestyle

As the 10-day #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest ends today, Nigerians are counting their gains and losses, even as they are naming the heroes and villains of the exercise, and sharing the lessons learnt.

 
Despite assurances that the protest would be peaceful, it expectedly turned violent in some states, especially in the northern parts of the country, with 22 deaths recorded, 175 persons injured, and many public and private properties damaged while 1,154 arrests were made by law enforcement agents.
 
However, given the anxiety that pervaded the country before the protest and the destruction and deaths that trailed it, analysts believe that the protest has so far achieved its goal, while they gave kudos to the organisers.
 
According to a public affairs analyst, Mr. Jide Ojo, Nigerian youths who genuinely wanted an end to bad governance in Nigeria are the heroes of the protest.   
 
“I will give kudos to those Nigerian youths who decided to risk their lives, come together and build a critical mass to demand for the betterment of Nigerian lives. They are the heroes of this struggle and it shows that truly and genuinely the future belongs to the youth. So, I commend them for their valour, bravery and courage. Even in the face of intimidation, they were able to dare all the odds to come out and call attention to the bad governance in the country,” he said.
 
Ojo insisted that the protesters succeeded in making their points, stressing that they drove the authorities to frenzy and to speak out on their programmes and policies.
 
He added: “Perhaps the President would have kept mute about those statistics that he reeled out last Sunday in his broadcast. So, we now know how much support has been given to state governments; we know the kind of initiatives that have been put forward for Nigerian youths in terms of empowerment, skill acquisition, students’ loan and credit scheme. So, we now have figures with which to hold the government to account. Even in the area of agriculture, the CNG initiative and housing, we now have statistics. Even in terms of public finance, we now know that rather than using 97 per cent of our revenue to service debt, the figure has been brought down to 68 per cent and that the government has been able to clear five billion dollars from some of the foreign debts that were owed. So, if not for the agitation of these youths, perhaps we would not have had these figures that we now have to work with.
 
“I also think we should give kudos to the media for the wide coverage of this protest. Even in the face of intimidation, we saw major broadcast networks having live telecasts, which ordinarily would have cost millions of naira if it were private individuals or entities that demanded that kind of live telecast. The media, both broadcast and print, dedicated both space and time for the coverage of this protest. Only a fraction came out to protest but Nigerians were able to follow in the media space what is going on across the country. Some journalists were attacked in Abuja and Kano and it tells you the hazard associated with practicing journalism in Nigeria.”   He also applauded Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for giving tremendous support to the protesters.
 
“Some CSOs even set up Situation Rooms that were tracking developments across the country,” he said.    Ojo stated that given that the youth are not homogenous, the villains of the protest emerged from among them.
 
His words: “The villains are those who looted public and private facilities, those who went rogue, those who are calling for insurrection and military takeover and those who are exploiting the situation to their own advantage.  Among the villains are also the political elite, who are also surreptitiously egging these youths on to engage in destructive activities. All these issues of flying Russian flags and calling for military takeover in some northern states are not organic to those young boys and girls we saw; they are sponsored. So, those who sponsored those misguided youths to go and cause mayhem, loot and call for military takeover are the villains.
    
“Those who also sponsored attacks on innocent protesters are the villains. We saw that in Abuja where some people attacked peaceful protesters.” He stated that the lesson of the protest is that the political class should stop to toy with the destinies of the masses.
 
“They need to tone down their luxurious lifestyle, which actually is part of what has infuriated the youth. All these issues of buying billions of naira vehicles, building the vice president’s house with N21 billion and a governor commissioning a borehole or one kilometre of road and going there with a convoy of 50 vehicles have to be checked; it is not a good optics for them. I think they need to read the mood of the country and shed the toga of their luxurious lifestyle. Nobody is saying that they should not live well, but they should not rub it on the masses. The time calls for a sober and moderate lifestyle on the part of rulers.
 
“On the other hand, ordinary citizens have to take their destinies in their own hands. The issue around hunger will be with us for eternity. Even in the Holy Books, we saw it; so individuals must take responsibility and start adjusting and readjusting their family lifestyle. Even now that we have a new national minimum wage, by the time the government starts to pay, you will find out that the cost of living will wipe it off. So, people must start having discussions within the family setting on how to navigate through this time.”
 
Sharing his view about the aftermath of the protest, Declan Ihekaire, an activist, who participated in the protest in Lagos, not only commended the resilience of the media and the Nigerian people, but also maintained that  the great lesson that has been learnt from the protest  is that the voice of the people is higher than those in the government.
  
He said: “It is just to let the whole world know and show clearly that despite the oppressive tendency of the state apparatus, Nigerians were still able to speak up. However, our demands, till date, haven’t been met.
  
“We are still saying that even if the protest is called off on the 10th day, it continues within the mindset of the Nigerian people. One, it is clear and acknowledged, even by the President, that Nigerians are hungry and you know a hungry man is an angry man and so it might get to a time where there might be no notice of any protest and that would not be too good.
 
“The government should have bought into the protest that we declared; at least we gave them notice to have done the needful. But I can assure you that the anger of Nigerians is still imminent and no one can tell when such would explode.  
 
“However, it is very clear that lives were lost and those lives that were lost could have been avoidable if the needful was done by Mr. President. A notice was served to the government and a responsive government should have listened to those demands. Dialogue made by the president after people had been killed would have been made manifest at the inception.
  
“As far as we are concerned, the heroes are Nigerians and the villains are the people in government. It is the first time in our history where a protest would make the people at the helm of affairs to be running from pillar to post. Hence, it is clear that the heroes are the masses who stood their ground and who will continually stand their ground. So, I repeat the heroes are the people.”
 
A member of the TakeItBack Movement, Kunle Wizeman Ajayi, said the #EndBadGovernance protest is another milestone in the history of civil disobedience in Nigeria, having moved northern youths massively for the first time in a long time.
 
He stated that Nigerian youths who continue to find their compass of building a new Nigeria from #EndSARS to #EndBadGovernance are the major heroes of the protest.
 
He added: “Omoyele Sowore, the global convener of the TakeItBack movement and the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 elections is the biggest hero of the #EndBadGovernance movement as an individual. In spite of losing badly at the polls with less than 20,000 votes his party got during the general election, Sowore and his comrades remain the rallying point of the civil society. 

“And despite the attacks and propaganda against his personality and politics, Sowore has broken another record of being able to inspire three grand national actions within five years from #RevolutionNow to #EndSARS to #EndBadGovernance.

 
“Deji Adeyanju, Haruna Magashi and Inibehe Effiong are also heroes who remained vocal against bad governance. Deji’s collaboration with Sowore in terms of activism and his becoming a human rights lawyer has paid off thus far. His defences of celebrity activists like VDM, Ijele and others helped to steam the momentum for #EndBadGovernance. Inibehe is the National Legal Adviser of the AAC and also leads a national team of lawyers who play great roles in freeing protesters across the country and especially in the North. Haruna Magashi is the lead of TIB lawyers who has helped to defend Kano and Kaduna protesters. He was Sowore’s vice-presidential candidate at the last elections.
 
“The northern youths are also a great inspirational addition to the national civil society. This time, the removal of subsidies raised their collective anger and they have had the largest turnout thus far in the #EndBadGovernance protest despite giving the largest votes to the Tinubu government at the 2023 elections.
 
“Other civil society groups like the Youths Rights Campaign; Yoruba Revolutionary Movement (YOREM); The Masses Forum; Arewa Twitter Community; and many others are heroes of #EndBadGovernance.”  On the lessons from the #EndBadGovernance protest, he stated that the protests show that revolution is imminent not only in Nigeria but all over Africa.
 
‘The Russian or military flags being displayed by northern protesters is an allusion to the military-led revolts in Mali, Burkina Faso and nearby Niger.
 
“Electoralism is also a lost illusion. Those asking the protesters to wait for another election are only sad that the illusion of electoralism has lost its effects with the current generation of youths. The two-method ways of struggles at the ballot and barricades employed by the Sowore’s TIB/AAC has now been effectively adopted by the youth. They will not wait till another election to hold the government to responsibility,” he noted.