By Igbotako Nowinta
More imperatively, we have heard of some agents of retardation trying to heat up the polity like the Fulani Nationality Movement, even as the #ENDSARS phenomenon has become a stunning reality. In the interest of continued existence of this country, the authorities must do everything to put such fifth columnists in a big cooler, never to use them to escalate the present tension in the country. If we must avoid the route to Kigali or Rwanda, if we must prevent a reoccurrence of the wholesale slaughter that was the Nigerian civil war, the current All Progressives Congress (APC) government being led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (RTD), must sincerely treat the systemic problems cum challenges that ignited the #ENDSARS protests, in the first place, and the matters arising from it presently, with the transparency and urgency it requires without delay. If the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960 which occurred in a police station, under the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and snowballed into a gigantic movement, that mercilessly and continuously ravaged the soul of that nation, and placed it on a pedestal of no return, is any lesson to draw from, the recent Lekki massacre in Lagos, must be seen by patriotic Nigerians, as a historic tonic to embark on every necessary relentless peaceful process that will ultimately lead to the comprehensive social, political, economic, educational, scientific, technological etc., reforms in this much troubled nation.
The news came like a thunder bolt and hit me very hard; that the Nigerian Army cracked down heavily on peaceful, defenseless and non- violent ENDSARS protesters in Lekki, a suburb of the city of Lagos, on Tuesday night, October 20th, 2020.
Why did Nigeria Army choose to complicate the present delicate issues on the ground, when the wanton atrocities committed by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) are still raging in the minds and spirits of our youths nay the Nigerian people?
Agreed that the current Lagos State Government being led by Babajide Sanwo-Olu dramatically imposed a curfew on the state in an attempt to disrupt or curtail the activities of some hoodlums who had succeeded to hijack the ENDSARS protests in some isolated cases in Lagos State.
But, why the sudden and reckless resort by the officers and men of the Nigerian Army, to hit the peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll gate in Lagos, with such maximum force of arms?
The international convention is that when protesters get unruly, rubber bullets or tear gas should be readily applied. Why did the Nigerian Army descend to this gutter of uncivilized antics at a time like this? Why the recourse to this type of stark criminality and brazen violence?
Now, having looked at the books, it is even outright illegality for a sitting governor of a state to impose curfew in a democratic setting such as ours. Now, in Edo State of Nigeria, similar curfew had earlier been imposed on the civilian population, but the security authorities in the state have tried so far to manage the situation with utmost caution and systemic wisdom.
The struggle of the #ENDSARS protest is a struggle for the soul of Nigeria and its future, for insisting on a new Nigeria, reformed with true federalism, equity, justice.
The Lekki massacre paints a picture of a fast, and ghastly decaying country in the hands of an inept government and political elite, so preoccupied blindly with plundering of the wealth of the nation.
As frontline human rights and pro-democracy activist, a conflict resolution professional, l vehemently abhor violence in all its ramifications. Experience and studies have taught me that, no matter the gravity of any conflict situation, it must finally end on the table for ultimate resolution; for a win-win solution.
When Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (NAZI) went on rampage in Germany in 1939, by instigating the World War II after all the horrors he unleashed on humanity, he and his demonic colleagues were eventually brought before the Nuremberg International War Crime Trials in 1945.
Though, Hitler had succeeded to cheat the hangman’ s noose earlier in 1945, by committing suicide in the deep Chancellery bunker in Berlin, his henchmen like Rudolph Hess, Henrich Himmler, Herman Georing were made to pay heavily for their crimes against humanity.
The point here is that, at the end of the day, the United Nations Organization (UNO) was birthed in 1945, to pave the way for peaceful resolution of global conflicts.
What most patriotic Nigerians expect urgently at this stage of the #ENDSARS protest is absolute sincerity from the Federal Government of Nigeria, not some devilish remotely, strategic or tactical manipulations to aggravate the already delicate situation?
We expect from the authorities to exercise the greatest level of restraints; to calm the burning nerves of Nigerian people that have been pierced with the most unkindest societal knives; knives that have shattered families mindlessly across the nation; knives that have inflicted the most horrible form of wounds; wounds that shall definitely not go away except a thorough fundamental and holistic surgery is assiduously performed on all facets of life within the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The #ENDSARS massacre brazenly hatched at Lekki Toll gate, in Lagos, is like a mountain of pains that have been inflicted on the collective psyche of the Nigerian people.
No amount of palliatives, public relations stuff on the part of the authorities will lift this mountainous affront off our chests; no sophisticated panel of inquiries to be set up to look into this grave blunder, will assuage the families, colleagues and friends of the dead.
No sweat talks or oratory; nothing other than putting a transparent process into motion to fish out these accursed enemies of the Nigerian people; these cowardly, heartless assassins and cold blooded butchers will help to pacify the people.
Moving forward, the Nigerian people will resist to the last blood in their veins, if a situation of ‘unknown soldiers’ is reenacted to protect those soldiers and their superiors who ordered and committed this heinous crime.
A situation such that befell the late Afro-beat super star, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, when soldiers invaded his compound ‘ the Kalakuta Republic some decades ago, and unleashed unprecedented carnage and destruction, which eventually led to the death of his 78 years old mother, Mrs. Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti, must be avoided.
More imperatively, we have heard of some agents of retardation trying to heat up the polity like the Fulani Nationality Movement, even as the #ENDSARS phenomenon has become a stunning reality.
In the interest of continued existence of this country, the authorities must do everything to put such fifth columnists in a big cooler, never to use them to escalate the present tension in the country.
If we must avoid the route to Kigali or Rwanda, if we must prevent a reoccurrence of the wholesale slaughter that was the Nigerian civil war, the current All Progressives Congress (APC) government being led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (RTD), must sincerely treat the systemic problems cum challenges that ignited the #ENDSARS protests, in the first place, and the matters arising from it presently, with the transparency and urgency it requires without delay.
If the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960 which occurred in a police station, under the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and snowballed into a gigantic movement, that mercilessly and continuously ravaged the soul of that nation, and placed it on a pedestal of no return, is any lesson to draw from, the recent Lekki massacre in Lagos, must be seen by patriotic Nigerians, as a historic tonic to embark on every necessary relentless peaceful process that will ultimately lead to the comprehensive social, political, economic, educational, scientific, technological etc., reforms in this much troubled nation.
As Nigerians we must survive and flourish for the sake of us all; we must continue to rise above our slave culture of silence. We must find courage to be free by evolving a social consciousness which must deny power to political hypocrites, bullies, fools and rogues.
We must not forget that we are being battered mindlessly, and we are bleeding profusely, but, we must continue this struggle peacefully in order to realize our promises and to restore our individual and collective dignity.
We must not fail or falter, if we do, we die!
Nowinta wrote, Where We Are: A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria.
