In the past few days, Nigerians from all walks of life have been occupying major cities including the Federal Capital Territory, protesting against police brutality. What began as a mere online campaign under the hashtag #EndSARS, has metamorphosed into a national movement with no signs of abating any time soon. The protest was originally staged against the murderous activities of a unit in the Nigerian Police known as the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS). The unit is better known by its original acronym, SARS.
SARS has been bemoaned nationwide as a monster that transformed itself from the noble task of protecting Nigerians into the treasonable act of summarily killing uncountable numbers of citizens. It is fingered in the mysterious disappearances of young people, routine arrest, detention and collection of ransome from innocent citizens. It was this malignant and unrestrained murder of citizens by a group created and sustained by taxpayers' funds that provoked the spontaneous citizens' demonstrations across the nation.
Prior to the onset of these protests, the typical response of the Nigerian government to complaints about the behaviour of SARS was to set up committees whose outcome the public never knew, while the accused SARS officials continued to roam the streets, threatening - and in some cases, even eliminating - those who had dared to report them. To observers of human behaviour, the current protests did not come as a surprise. The suffocation of the citizenry by SARS with no room to breathe was an explosive waiting to detonate.
The last straw that broke the camel's back seems to be the mounting economic hardship in the country occasioned by a rise in fuel prices, electricity tariff, food prices, insecurity and a deterioration in security nationwide. An opportunity for Nigerians to demonstrate their anger was first offered by the Nigerian Labour Congress and other unions in the wake of the increment in fuel prices and electricity tariff. The protest which was well publicized was however aborted, leaving the angry Nigerians with a sour anticlimax. Any sensitive government would have exercised caution and made haste to assuage the citizenry. Not Muhammadu Buhari's government. Instead, the government reportedly made a budget of over 300 million Naira to handle its critics under a dictatorial hate speech legislation. This was at a time when hundreds of thousands of Nigeria's young people had been out of school for months due to a nationwide strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The combination of economic hardship, insecurity and the Buhari regime's hatred for citizens' criticisms seems to be the detonator for the current wave of protests.
Since the protests began, the federal government has tried to make concessions. The Inspector General of Police began by banning SARS from routine patrols and checkpoints on the roads. The protesters rejected the intervention as mere window-dressing. Next came the total disbandment of the unit and the creation of a replacement unit better known by its acronym as SWAT. Rather than assuage the situation, Nigerians were enraged at the government's desperate attempt to ignore the depth of the people's demands. The call for an end to SARS also now included an end to SWAT even before its constitution was complete. About two days ago, the federal government and state governors agreed to the nationwide establishment of committees of enquiry into the crimes of SARS and the establishment of victims' support fund. But the protesters are unrelenting. Instead, the protests continue to spread as more states and cities join across the nation.
The latest response from the federal government seems to be one of threat and intimidation. The Nigerian Army yesterday announced the commencement of its "annual" nationwide military operation codenamed "Operation Crocodile Smile." While the Army is trying hard to sound like the timing of Operation Crocodile Smile is merely coincidental, rhetoric from government officials including Lai Mohammed the Minister of Information, seem to suggest otherwise. The minister was quoted last night as saying government would take "firm action" to protect "innocent Nigerians."
One must warn the federal government to resist every temptation to use force on the protesters. There is a tangible inexhaustible reservoir of angry Nigerians who haven't yet mobilized to the streets but who are in support of the protests in every way. Any misadventure to unleash force on the citizens will immediately lead to a volcanous tsunami whose inferno the Nigerian state cannot survive. It will empty into the streets that reservoir of angry Nigerians whose anger the crocodile's smile may not contain. If there was any time when the crocodile needed to smile with caution, it is now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say your mind here