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Tag: Protests

  • [TRENDING] #OccupyLekkiTollGate: Nigerians launch fresh protests over reopening of Lekki Tollgate

    [TRENDING] #OccupyLekkiTollGate: Nigerians launch fresh protests over reopening of Lekki Tollgate

    Sequel to the decision of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry to reopen the Lekki Tollgate, many Nigerians mostly youths, have taken to social media announcing intentions to stage another protest.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that youth representatives at panel on Saturday had opposed the reopening of the Lekki toll gate arguing that reopening the toll-gate at this time would be hasty and premature.

    The argument over the weekend however did not sway the votes as the panel voted in favour of a return of the tollgate to Lekki Concession Company (LCC).

    Reacting to this decision, many Nigerians took to Twitter calling out the panel for approving the release of the toll gate when investigations into the Lekki shootings are still ongoing.

    According to those threatening to stage another protest come Saturday, February 13, no thought of reopening should be heard at the moment, not when no one has been held accountable for the killing of unarmed protesters, who marched against police brutality on the night of October 20.

    The emerging push for another long is currently being anchored on the hashtag #OccupyLekkiTollGate which has been trending on Twitter.

    See reactions below:

     

    https://twitter.com/oloye__/status/1358768196933857283?s=20

     

  • I’ll declare nationwide protests if Governors borrow from pension funds – NLC President

    I’ll declare nationwide protests if Governors borrow from pension funds – NLC President

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned state governors to stay away from pension funds or face massive protests.

    The warning came in a bit to stop state governors from borrowing N17 trillion from the pension funds purportedly for infrastructural development.

    The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, insisted that the governors have no authority over the funds.

    He made this known while speaking at the 47th National Executive Council meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, in Abuja on Thursday.

    The Nigerian Governors Forum had last week endorsed the proposal of the Chairman of the National Economic Council Ad hoc Committee, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to borrow N17trn from the pension funds for infrastructural development.

    But reacting to the proposal, Ayuba said, “The pension is not for borrowing, pension money is the retirement savings of workers, it cannot be borrowed. It’s like money in your savings account that nobody can borrow.

    “You must go through the bank and in this case, you must go through the PFAs and their guidelines; even the guidelines they want to play down but to the glory of God, the board of Pencom commission has been constituted

    “I stand here to represent all of you (workers), we are not going to agree; less than 5 percent of the states are keying into the contributory pension, yet they want to borrow the money. The bulk of the money is from the federal government workers and private-sector workers; so how do you want to borrow from where you have not sown?”

    Ayuba also noted that over 18 state governments were delaying the implementation of the new national minimum wage.

    He added that it was unheard of that the same governments would want to borrow the workers’ pension.

    “It’s not free money, and let me sound a bit of warning: any day that we hear the pension fund, our money has been borrowed, I will declare a protest and everybody is going to be on the street to protect our hard-earned money.

    “The money belongs to workers, we contribute that money so that when we retire, we can have something for retirement, so they have no say whatsoever; both the principal and the capital belong to us,” he said.

    Commenting on the fuel pump price, Wabba argued that it should not be determined by the market forces “whose sole aim was targeted at making profits even at the detriment of the masses.”

    He noted, “Anything you leave to market forces, citizens will suffer because the primary focus of governance is actually to defend the interest and welfare of our workers and even the citizens and therefore when you leave it to market forces, it is then about profit.”

    The National President, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, Biobelemoye Josiah, condemned the Federal Government’s alleged involvement in scuttling strike actions through the use of some non-governmental organisations, stressing that workers have the right to embark on industrial actions to drive home their demands.

    He said, “In a plethora of cases, the courts have affirmed the right of the workers to embark on strike. Strike is a legitimate weapon available to the trade unions to ventilate their grievances, especially when the provision in section 41 of the Trade Dispute Act bordering on the number of days has been compiled with.

    “I would, therefore, appeal to the Federal Government to enrich our industrial relations practice through the interplay of the relationship between the management (Government) and the workers (Trade Unions) rather than scuttling the relationship through a third party interloper represented by the NGOs.”

  • Buhari talks tough, vows to deal decisively with acts of hooliganism in protests

    Buhari talks tough, vows to deal decisively with acts of hooliganism in protests

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday warned that any act of hooliganism hiding behind lawful and peaceful protests will be dealt with decisively to ensure peace and stability in the country.

    The President’s comment comes as some Nigerians prepared to take to the streets again in continuation of the #EndSARS protest.

    “I want to reiterate our government’s commitment to the rights of citizens to embark on peaceful protests,” Buhari said while declaring open the Chief of Army Staff’s Annual Conference 2020 in Abuja.

    “However, this must be done responsibly and in accordance with the laws of the land.

    “I also wish to state that any act of hooliganism hiding behind lawful and peaceful protests will be dealt with decisively to ensure the peace and stability of our nation.”

    The President then commended the Nigerian Armed Forces for quelling the violence that trailed the #EndSARS protests.

    “I commend the Armed Force for their efforts which helped restore law and order in many states during the large-scale criminality that ensued in the wake of the #EndSARS protests,” he said.

    In his speech, Buhari described the Year 2020 as a very challenging one, citing the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on almost every aspect of national life.

    ”Despite this, I am pleased to note that the Army remained resolute in the discharge of its Constitutional roles and in keeping the wealth and welfare of our soldiers a priority.

    ”The Army’s support of Civil Authorities in the management of the COVID – 19 Pandemic is a case in point.

    ”Also, the peaceful elections conducted in Edo and Ondo States would not have been achieved without the high level of professionalism displayed by all security agencies, including the Army,” he said at the conference themed “Human Capacity Development in Sustaining Professionalism and Responsiveness of the Nigerian Army in the Discharge of its Constitutional Roles.”

    The President commended the Army for its unwavering commitment towards curtailing the activities of insurgents, armed bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other violent criminals through ongoing exercises and operations in different parts of the country.

    Notably, he said the Exercise SAHEL SANITY launched a few months ago in the North West states to rid the Katsina-Zamfara corridor of marauding bandits had recorded commendable progress.

    ”I have also been briefed about the tremendous successes that have been achieved by troops during the ongoing Operation FIRE BALL in the North East.

    ”I charge you all to sustain these efforts until the full restoration of peace and security in the nation is achieved,” the President told members of the armed forces at the conference which provides an avenue for the leadership of the Army to re-assess its preparedness and operational readiness in carrying out its Constitutional roles.

    Tribute To Troops
    President Buhari also used the occasion to pay tribute to men and women in uniform who have paid the supreme sacrifice in the defence and security of the nation, commiserating with their families, comrades and friends.

    ”As we pray for the repose of their souls, we must strengthen our collective resolve to address those issues that will make every part of our country a safe and secure place to live and carry out our normal business,” he said.

    He pledged that his administration will not relent in its efforts to take adequate care of families of fallen heroes who had paid the supreme sacrifice in the fight against insurgency and other forms of crimes across the country.

    At the conference, the President launched the Housing scheme for Next of Kin of personnel of the Nigerian Army killed in action.

    ”It is in line with this that the Army as part of its welfare initiative and in line with the Federal Government’s housing programme is undertaking the Housing Scheme for families and next of kin of troops that were killed in action in the fight against insurgency and other criminalities in the country.

    ”I believe this initiative will act as a huge morale booster to the troops on the frontlines as well as project the Army in good light.

    ”On our part, I assure you that this administration will continue to do all within available resources to provide for your operational and welfare needs,” he said.

    President Buhari said he had been briefed that some of the major capabilities procured for the Army will soon be inducted into the various theatres of operations, urging personnel ‘‘to make judicious use of these capabilities, even as we await the arrival of others currently pending shipment to the country.’’

    On the choice of the theme of the annual conference, President Buhari noted that it is only through human capacity development that any institution can attain the level of professionalism needed to effectively and efficiently carry out its Constitutional roles.

    The President, therefore, congratulated the Army on holding this Conference at the magnificent edifice housing the Army’s Cyber Warfare Command with its state-of-the-art Cyberwarfare Operations Centre, adding that this shows that the Army is alive to the changing nature of warfare which is gradually moving into the cyber domain.

    ”By the same token, I commend the visionary leadership that has worked assiduously to emplace this vital capability that will fill an existing gap in our nation’s security and defence architecture.

    ”This and other numerous infrastructural projects that have been embarked upon in recent times by the leadership of the Army has shown good utilization of scarce national resources,” he said.

    Earlier, the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Salihi Magashi appreciated the President for always approving funds for operations of the military in the country, assuring that all resources will be judiciously utilised.

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, noted that the Nigeria Army was well poised to confront all security challenges, which includes cyber threats.

  • #ENDSARS: Quit the clampdown, face the inequality – Chidi Amuta

    #ENDSARS: Quit the clampdown, face the inequality – Chidi Amuta

    Chidi Amuta

    In the aftermath of the frightening ENDSARS protests, government seems confronted with a choice of two untidy pathways. Either pursue reprisals against the suspected leaders of the protests or address the pervasive inequality that inspired the spin off anger, rampage, looting and criminal lawlessness.

    The first option is lazy and untenable because the protests were, even by government’s hesitant admission, in legitimate exercise of citizens democratic rights. The second option is painstaking hard work that requires a higher sense of seriousness than is common with governments in these parts. From what we are witnessing, Abuja has chosen the easier route of seeing and treating the youth protesters as political adversaries that need to be vanquished.

    Even in the best of times, governments thrive on finding adversaries to deflect attention from their own fumbling. The critical challenge however is in identifying a foe that makes sense. The administration in Abuja has made an unwise choice of adversary in its ongoing serial clampdown of suspected drivers of the recent ENDSARS protests. It is only an unwise nation that declares a war against its own youth population. It is ultimately a foolish choice and promises to be an unwinnable war.

    To recap, here are the outlines of the minefield that our government is walking us into. Badly rattled by the spontaneity and wild ripples of the protests, the government has been groping for scapegoats and appropriate responses. A faction in government has chosen to go after the assumed leaders of the protests. Bank accounts of suspected youth and their organizations are being frozen. A less than intelligent Central Bank of Nigeria has hurriedly obtained the usual back door court order to back its authoritarian freezing of suspected individual and corporate bank accounts. Commonsense dictates that there are enough rules about suspicious transactions to flag activity on any bank account in Nigeria. The EFCC, NFIU and even the police have enough provisions in the rule books to stop any bank account suspected to aid nefarious activities.

    Instead, an increasingly politicized Central Bank Governor has stepped beyond his job description into the nasty political terrain by labeling those whose accounts have been frozen as ‘terrorists’. This Central Bank and its overzealous governor know something about terrorist financing as it relates to the financial flows that power Boko Haram and other real terrorists in our midst.

    The CBN’s autocratic move has found ready condemnation from most civil and ethnic cultural groups, thereby enlarging the coast of regime adversaries. Some political office holders have found it convenient to support the Central Bank’s infringement of individual rights by predictably supporting the bank account freezes. The Governor of Ondo state, Mr. Akeredolu, has gone as far as questioning why the affected youth should have active bank accounts and how they can explain the operations of their accounts. Apparently, only governors and their cohorts are allowed to hold and operate active bank accounts!

    It has not occurred to the Central Bank and its supporting political cast that the world is watching us. A nation that is desperately in need of foreign direct investment and inflow of funds needs to desperately showcase a liberalized business environment. Meanwhile, we are arbitrarily freezing the bank accounts of our own citizens. Worse still, this move is at the instance of some spurious court order and in violation of the legitimate exercise of the democratic rights of innocent citizens!

    Another faction of the government has insisted that the solution to youth activism lies in censoring the social media. Between the information Minister, the governors of the northern and South Western states and Buhari’s defence and security chiefs, there is unanimity on a clampdown on the social media and even the media in general. All manner of uninformed postulations about the negatives of the social media are being brandished by a mixed cast of half literate politicians and their handy serfs. Ironically, the same politicians who have in the past relied on the social media to fuel their election campaigns and publicize their dubious achievements in office are the people now championing an autocratic regulation of the social media.

    The central irony of the anti social media campaign is the admission by the government that peaceful protest is a right of citizens in a democracy. Communication of such protest using whatever media current technology makes available is part of that freedom. To admit the freedom of protest while restraining the current medium of social communication is a political prank.

    In the frenzy to exact a political penalty on the ENDSARS protesters, our leaders seem to have forgotten that the social media is not simply a platform for mischief or the spreading subversion and anti government propaganda. It is first and foremost the current dominant stage of human communication driven by the current stage of our collective technological heritage. It unites humanity as partakers in the fruits of knowledge and culture. It is above all else a vehicle for collective empowerment and wealth creation.

    Through the power of the social media, the sons and daughters of unexpected people have broken free from the anonymity of poverty and ordinary backgrounds to acquire reputation as artists, musicians, comedians and celebrities of unimaginable wealth, power and influence. Above all, the social media has become a global tool for combatting inequality in many respects. The digital divide between developed and undeveloped worlds, between urban and rural areas and between the haves and have-nots have in recent years been reduced by the power of the social media. No sensible government should infringe on a platform with such immense benefits just to caress the ego of a transient collective of political animals.

    Under the canopy of law and order, a badly rattled and self-indicted police force is on a retributive rampage. It is arresting and detaining people indiscriminately, brandishing wild claims about the number of policemen killed by hoodlums, guns seized and police stations torched by arsonists etc. The rhetoric of the police high command is nothing but a reinforcement of the adversarial attitude of the police towards the civil society it is hired to protect.

    No one can of course deny the primacy of law and order. Nor can we expect our law enforcement officers to sit idly by while their lives are endangered by irate mobs and squads of criminals and miscreants. The line that needs to be drawn is that between credible threats to the life of police officers and their obligation to protect the lives and liberties of the civil populace, including villains. On the side of maintaining law and order, all responsible citizens are united and will defend the police in the lawful discharge of their duties.

    Taken together, therefore, the actions and reflexes of the government and its agencies and prime pontiffs point in a dangerous anti democratic direction. When you arrest and detain people indiscriminately or freeze private bank accounts or institute spurious legal proceedings against innocent people for merely exercising their democratic rights, you directly assault the basic principles of democracy and endanger public peace. Profiling the youth for punitive visitation and singling them out for a draconian clampdown is an easy way of inviting a return to the disruptive mayhem of the recent ENDSARS protests. On this route, the Buhari government has taken a wrong turn and needs to retreat quickly before they get us all into bigger trouble.

    If the hawks around Aso Rock prevail, we may be teetering at the brinks of illiberal democracy. One of the misfortunes of democracy in recent times has been the rise of illiberal tendencies. Under the guise of law and order and the higher interests of neo-nationalism, populist autocrats have ridden on the chariot of electoral mandates to foist disguised autocracies on hapless peoples. See the roll call: the Philippines, Russia, Hungary, Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and a bit of Mexico. The main features of illiberalism are beginning to creep into the Nigerian landscape. These are: the diminishing of citizens rights, the undermining of law and order and the hollowing out of basic institutions. This is an unfortunate direction in which Nigeria does not need to go.

    Undoubtedly, the infiltration and hijacking of the peaceful ENDSARS protests by street urchins and hoodlums is a sad development. In the process, property was destroyed or stolen, warehouses were looted, public peace and security was disrupted with a wild and rapid breakdown of law and order. The drift towards anarchy was frightening just as the political consequences of lawlessness stared us in the face. The political leadership of the country had justifiable cause to panic and fret.

    In all the responses to the aftermath of the ENDSARS protests so far, however, there is a surprising misdirection of official energy. What frightened government and people in the mayhem that accompanied the protests is perhaps the sheer sense of vengeful violence, anger and militant aggression with which the hoodlums and street criminals transgressed the bounds of law and order. It was like an invading vandal force in the devastation they unleashed on Lagos, Abuja, Calabar, Oshogbo and Benin among other urban centers. The targets of the arson and vandalism were mostly government assets.

    The looted items were either food supplies or the good things of life in government warehouses or fancy shopping malls where the rich shop. The note of anger and devilish common purpose of these ‘other’ Nigerians was spontaneous and uniform. Notably, prisons were targeted for breaching to release convicts serving assorted terms. Class anger and revolt against the system was everywhere boldly written.

    A look at the scope of destruction of public and private assets by hoodlums left a landscape that resembles a war zone. The glee of the looters as they invaded government warehouses and super markets to help themselves to goods and supplies hitherto beyond their reach brought home something that the government has not had the courage to name.

    If anything, this aspect of the protests brought us all face to face with the reality and scope of inequality in our country. This, more than any immediate adversarial political intent by the youth, is the challenge posed by the ENDSARS protests. The hoodlums and miscreants were literally an invading force from another land within. What has all along separated this hostile army of poor and criminal minded citizens from the enclaves of affluence and plenty in our urban centres is merely the restraining presence of security and law enforcement personnel. Arguably, without this army from the underground world of poverty and desperate frustration, the ENDSARS protests would have remained an orderly series of processions of mostly well off youth.

    Government and public discourse on the bad side of the protests has tended to cast the hoodlums and criminals as strange evil outcasts. Not quite. This army of desperation and hunger, want and deprivation, anger and frustration is the direct reflection of Nigeria’s scandalous mismanagement and frightening inequality.

    We are the home of over 112 million of the poorest of humanity. An estimated 40% of our population, that is about 80 Million people live on incomes of less than $2 a day. The combined wealth of Nigeria’s five richest people is $30 billion, enough to banish poverty from the country in the shortest possible time. An estimated $20 trillion was stolen from Nigeria’s coffers between 1960 and 2005, a sum that is 95% of the 2012 total GDP of the United States ($18 trillion).

    The gaps in access to social services are even more disturbing. An average of 29.5% of Nigerian youth are unemployed. Over 65 million Nigerians lack access to good drinking water while 130 million lack adequate sanitation. An estimated 13 million children are out of school.

    The challenge of the moment is essentially one of minding the widening gap of inequality in the land. The youth bulge is bound to get bigger as Nigerians aged between 1 and 40 now account for over 75% of our demographics. Our schools, colleges and universities continue to churn out droves of half educated youth who are equipped with basic skills but cannot find work. Our urban population continues to grow but most urban dwellers live in slums, shanty towns and ghettoes that can only intensify the bleakness of useless lives. I am yet to see any Nigerian state government with an informed programme of urban renewal. Our unhappy statistics are almost inexhaustible.

    The result is the existence of an underground republic of extreme poverty and vicious desperation tucked under the armpit of islands of stupendous wealth and affluence.. The army of ravenous looters and determined arsonists that fed off the ENDSARS protests is the product of this cumulative inequality. We cannot wish it away. But we can mute the anger of the encircling mob by reducing the degree of inequality, poverty and marginalization. Not much in this direction has come through in the rhetoric of government people in recent times.

    The alienation and bitterness are such that this majority hardly see themselves as coequal citizens of the Nigerian federation. They have no sense of ownership or partnership in a commonwealth that has consecrated them and their future generations into perennial poverty. Any breakdown of law and order as we the elite have defined it is an opportunity for them to break out of the ring of fire into which we have condemned them. When they do break loose, they assault our cocoon of privilege and affluence in waves of violence, looting and arson. In their mindset, what they loot from us is their share of the national asset wrongfully appropriated by a locust elite. Too long an embrace with hardship and abject poverty has inured their humanity and lessened their empathy, creating a psychology of spontaneous hostility to symbols of government, wealth and the prevailing order.

    I agree with the government that we should seek solutions to the kind of mayhem that spilled off the ENDSARS protests but we should not seek solutions that profile our youth and brand them with criminality for exercising the freedom of citizenship.

    It is good that the government has shown a token recognition of the need to begin addressing our scandalous inequality. But we need to go beyond token gestures to address the structural fundamentals of the central problem of inequality. We need to galvanize our youth energy in this task, not to dissipate it. ENDSARS was perhaps a brief warning skirmish. The fire next time may not be so friendly or brief.

  • Elected people won’t escape if fresh #EndSARS protests break out – Senate President

    Elected people won’t escape if fresh #EndSARS protests break out – Senate President

    The Senate Monday called on the Federal Government to dedicate substantial part of the 2021 budget to create employment opportunities, reduce poverty and ensure food security for Nigerians in order to prevent another youth uprising similar to what was witnessed following the recent #EndSARS protests.

    This is even as the upper chamber decried what it described as “abysmally low” budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector over the years.

    The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abudullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), made these assertions during the 2021 budget defence session by the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, in Abuja.

    Lawan noted that agriculture can provide jobs for everybody while oil can only provide few white collar jobs.

    He said that the Federal Government needed to be “practical and radical” in applying its resources to address the urgent needs of the people.

    Lawan said: “Recently, we had some of our youths protesting genuinely. They were seeking the attention of leaders and they got the attention of leaders.

    “So, our budget, especially for 2021 should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths.

    “They demonstrated and protested because they could do so, there are so many other people who may not be youthful but are also in the same need and they didn’t protest.

    “Let’s meet them where they are. We don’t have to wait until they also start to grumble or protest.

    “We should be proactive, we should reach them and most of them are in the rural areas and give them what we can and what they need to some extent within the purview of our resources and keep them there to live a productive life and that is the only way that we can make a difference in the lives of the people.

    “And for us, elected people, we are going to be accountable. If we escape this one (#EndSARS protests), the other one is inescapable and I am sure people will know what I am saying.”

    Lawan also insisted that agriculture is enough to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria.

    “This sector can do something that oil has not been able to do. But why hasn’t it been able to do so? We need to be very practical and radical.

    “I believe that the way we are going, will not take us to the El-dorado but there is every potential, every possibility and other countries have made it through the sector.

    “Every time we talk about diversification of the Nigerian economy, the first sector they mention is the agricultural sector.

    “So it means this sector needs to be given all the support that is possible. Oil cannot give jobs to the youths that we have only few people and mostly white collar jobs but we know that this sector can give everybody a job.

    “And it has all the potentials to create the wealth that we need to have a fairly meaningful life for everyone. So we need to apply ourselves fully to operating this sector,” Lawan said.

    Senator Adamu in his opening remarks decried low budgetary allocation to agriculture over the years.

    He said while the Maputo declaration provides that 10 per cent of national budgets should go to agriculture, the 2021 allocation to the agricultural sector is less than two per cent of the N13.8 trillion total appropriations.

    Adamu said: “In 2021, the sector (agriculture) witnessed a slight increase with a total allocation of N139, 458, 322,208.00.

    “Over the years, the sector’s allocation has been abysmally low, a far cry from the Maputo declaration which states that a country should allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budget to the agricultural sector.

    “This year’s budget proposal only allocated less than two per cent to the agricultural sector.

    “The sector’s N139,458,322,208.00 is broken down as follows: Personnel – N68,031,135,074.00, overhead – N3,186,608,895.00, capital – N110,240,253,439.00.”

    However, while the Minister of Agriculture, Nanono, admitted that the current budgetary allocations for the sector have been low, he said that the sector recorded meaningful progress in 2020 and remains one of the fastest growing sectors in the country.”

  • Protests: IGP orders policemen to use ‘legitimate force’ against violent persons

    Protests: IGP orders policemen to use ‘legitimate force’ against violent persons

    The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the deployment of legitimate force to protect the lives and property of citizens, including police officers.

    The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

    Adamu said the protection must also cover personnel of other law enforcement agencies, their families and prevent attacks on private/public assets from violent persons or groups operating under any guise.

    He called on senior Command officers, including Commissioners of Police (CPs), and Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) to resist all riotous elements forthwith.

    The IGP urged the CPs and AIGs to checkmate any form of violent/riotous protests in line with Section 33 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

    He said the section of the constitution provides for the use of such force as is reasonably necessary, for the defence of any person from unlawful violence or for the defence of property.

    Adamu said the section also allows for force in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny.

    The IGP said the force will not tolerate a repeat of attacks and killings, arson and wanton destruction, and looting of public and private assets witnessed during the recent violent protests in some parts of the country.

    He warned that the Force will deploy the full weight of the law and legitimate force, if necessary in preventing a reoccurrence.

    Adamu pledged the commitment of the force to ensure the safety and security of law-abiding citizens across the country ahead of the yuletide.

    He called for the collaboration and support of citizens in the ongoing reforms of the Force.

    In the wake of the #EndSARS protests and the violence that followed, a total of 51 civilian fatalities and 37 injured persons were recorded.

    Report shows that that 22 policemen were murdered and 26 others injured by the protesters with 205 police stations, corporate facilities and private property attacked, burnt or vandalized.

  • Police issue stern warnings against further protests in Lagos

    Police issue stern warnings against further protests in Lagos

    The Lagos State Command has vowed to resist any protest or demonstration anywhere in the state.

    The warning came on the heels of plans by some groups to begin “the mother of all protest” across the country in order to drive home their demands against police brutality, bad governance, and insecurity.

    But the police command said it would not allow any demonstration under any guise because the Lagosians were still nurturing the wounds of the violence that characterised the #ENDSARS protest.

    A statement by spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the command has received Intelligence to the effect that some “unpatriotic elements or group of people have concluded plans to orchestrate another set of violence in the state in furtherance to the recent #ENDSARS violence, which has been analysed as dangerous and counterproductive.

    “Premised on this, the command, therefore, wishes to warn individuals, group of students or any group who might want to stage any form of protest, either “peaceful” or violent, or gathering whatsoever, to desist as the police and other security agencies will collectively and tactically resist any security threat or threats to public peace which might be triggered by protest or protesters in Lagos State.

    “The police command, emphatically, warns parents and guardians to discourage their children or wards from embarking on any protest in the state as the possibility of hijacking it by armed hoodlums to cause grieve and pains like the recent past is evident.

    “We encourage the public to ignore any call for protest and go about their lawful businesses as all hands are on deck to maintain law and order and public safety across the length and breadth of the state.”

  • A Time to Build: Matters Arising from the Protest, By Obari Gomba

    A Time to Build: Matters Arising from the Protest, By Obari Gomba

    By Obari Gomba

     

    It is normal to posit that every Nigerian wants a better country even when we differ about the route to that destination. It is time to find a common ground and build peace on the basis of justice. The pursuit of hegemony has not helped this country. It is time to build from the ruins of the on-going unrest. It is time to stop the violence. I say this to civilians, police officers, and soldiers. I say this to all communities and sections that are seething with anger. Anger has a lot of energy; and it is useful to stir a protest…useful to resist the obduracies of power and power-mongers. It can raise the plane into the air but it cannot land it. Unrest can call attention to a raging problem; but it takes stability to resolve every issue.

    ​All those who have died so far are Nigerians. Bystanders and passers-by. Peaceful protesters. Thugs. Police officers. Soldiers. They are all Nigerians. All the properties lost are ours. As the persona in JP Clark’s poem says, “we are all casualties.” Bereavement and loss can force people to seek revenge. It will worsen the situation. No more violent revenge…retaliation…reprisal. We have to unleash the angels of forgiveness without ignoring the angels of accountability. We can seek redress through investigation and prosecution. Many are inclined towards choosing that option. In that case, all deaths and arsons and vandalizations can be investigated. Everything must be in the open…including the incident at Lekki Tollgate on 20thOctober, 2020. In that case, we can consider setting up trulyindependent bodies to handle the matters. We cannot trust partisan law enforcement to treat the death of a protester as it will treat that of a uniformed officer. We cannot trust the police or the army to properly investigate the incidents because they are involved. If we choose prosecution, only truth, proper indictments, and compensations can heal the nation. We mustpay compensations to the hurt…as we determine the losses. Begin the process right now…and quieten the voices of doom. Many are stoking fear and hate. Many are spinning partisan rubbish…APC this and PDP that. Many are weaving ethnic tension: Niger Delta, Hausa-Fulani, Middle Belt, Yoruba, Igbo, etc. Stop it. Stop it NOW. Nigerians have suffered enough. If you cannot give them succour, leave them alone to nurse their grief. Do not add to their sorrow.

    ​This “wahala” started as a protest against police brutality; that is a fact. A relevant fact about a general problem. The police establishment is a cesspit. It needs reform. Its operation is unfair and unjust to Nigerians. They have killed, maimed, raped, and robbed many of us. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (aka SARS) is a not alone. Think about the anti-cultism units, anti-kidnapping units, Eagle Crack units, etc. All of them have added to the problems they are established to solve. Yet, we cannot do without the police. It will be terrible to run a country without a police organization. The cure must not be worse than the disease. Let us add that the welfare of the police has been abandoned by the state. But that does not justify or excuse the criminality of the police. Why did the police not have the courage to ask for the improvement of its welfare? The system? Its corrupt and predatory superior officers? Thank providence: the same “demonized” protesters have asked for a new package on behalf of the police. We need to save the police. Not kill police officers or burn their stations. The police organization needs to serve us. Not kill us with impunity. So where do we go from here? Let us start from the beginning.

    ​This is to the government: END POLICE BRUTALITY. END SARS. Do not rechristen it as SWAT. Do not be hasty to start something new without building confidence amongst the citizenry. The citizens are already traumatized. They are afraid that you are merely renaming police evil just to hoodwink the public. This is not the first time you have declared that you have banned “this or that.” And the “thing” remained virulent. Please, understand that you have a credibility problem. People cannot easily trust you. They will be foolish to trust you until you can truly earn their trust. Look, even as the protest against police brutality has been going on, police officers have not shown any kind of restrain. They have been murderous, brutal, and abusive: the very ills that have brought people to the streets. Reform the police. Do not allow the police to go back to its old ways. Old habits die hard. Be vigilant. You have oversight over the police and you have allowed it to fester for ages. Now, solve the problem. Save the police. By no way is the police defeated. It has the chance to be better.

    ​This is to the government: you cannot win the people through more acts of brutality. Stop the clampdown. Stop the terrors of the state. You will bruise and break the people. But the discontent will wait for the country and ambush it in the future. Give fairness and justice to the people. Not threats. Not arrests. Not bullets. Do not flex your muscles against your own citizens. They already know you are powerful that is why they are begging you to stop combing their hair with your iron-teeth. Do you understand them now?

    ​This is to the government: there are other reforms that are necessary. Restructure the polity. Reform electoral practice. Stabilized the universities without eroding their autonomies. Check corruption amongst your own officials. Retool your civil service. Reduce the cost of governance (your citizens believe you are overpaid for the poor service you are noted for). Listen. Listen. The complaints are many. Listen. The country’s history is loud but the officers of state are deaf. Listen. You cannot govern people without their consent…you cannot do that forever. The issues we do not resolve today will wait for our children. The issues might exact more than a tithe of blood from our children. The polity is dysfunctional. The components believe they are held at gunpoint. Listen. Listen. And reform. Start earnest and honest dialogue now. Reform or hegemony will be the death of this country. Reform… restructure.

    ​This is to the people: take advantage of the spotlight on you. You do not have to like your governors or the president. You do not have to like the last broadcast from the president. Until 2023, you have to work with the present officers of state to resolve some of or all of the issues you have raised. A country does not “change for good” because of a burst of protest. It requires consist commitment to protest…to keep protesting against wrongs. It requires constant acts of vigilance to gain progress through incremental but sometimes painful processes. It requires tenacity, intelligence, and tactics to keep insisting that good governance is not a bus-stop but a tireless journey. Do I mean that you must stay on the road forever? No. I mean that you must know when to leave the road, without feeling broken or defeated by your wounds and losses. You must know when to press your advantage on negotiation tables…and return to the road if need be. You must know when to cash your cheque…if that metaphor helps. You have earned that cheque through your blood and you must make the most of it. By no means are the protesters defeated in this matter. Deaths…yes. Injuries…yes. Losses…yes. But defeat? Not at all. The government has pronounced concessions. Now is the time to translate those words to reality. How do we achieve that? Let us move from roadblocks and temper to securing the gains of the protest. We cannot be taking more bullets on the roads when the commissions of enquiry are sitting across the states.

    ​This is to the people: begin with the hearings in your states. Your governors have commissions in place to redress a history of police brutality. Make sure it counts. Churches, mosques, civil society groups, media, traditional rulers, local government areas: get involved. Mobilize your people to approach the commissions. Give testimonies without fear or favour. Purge the society of all the losses, humiliations, pains, and traumas that citizens have suffered. Many stories/testimonies have been circulated via the internet in the cause of the protest. Look out for the victims. Many of them will be too poor or broken or ashamed to tell their stories in public. Create a support system for victims; help them to get justice. This opportunity has come at the cost of blood; we cannot fail to make maximum gain from it. It will be unfortunate if we cannot demonstrate to the various panels that our cry against police brutality is true. As you seek redress, know that the police organization is wily. And also the politicians that run your states. Some of the murderous and abusive police officers have done favours to the politicians. There are shared secrets between the police and the politicians. The politicians will protect many culprits given that the commissions are at the behest of your politicians. Be vigilant. Plan your engagement against the system. Get justice.

    ​This is to the people: remember what I have said before. Good governance is not a bus-stop. It is every citizen’s duty to keep shaping his/her country in pursuit of happiness. It is a lifelong duty to incrementally create a better country. It will not come on a platter of ease or from one event. Power loves its status quo. It concedes nothings unless it is confronted. Know that this protest, in spite of its decibel, will not solve all the problems. Resolve to be as stubborn as the problems that are holding your country down. If your resilience is tougher than the problems, you stand a chance to build the country of your dream. Strategize. Strategize. Build capacity and take power. Another election is on the way… 2023 is not far away. You can gain one state at a time. Put your trusted advocates in parliament. Take power. They will not give it to you. Make plans to take power. If you fail, try again. Keep trying. Do not give up. Keep fighting for your country.

    ​This is to the people: where are those who are fed up with the country? You want to break it up? You do not need to start a war. You do not need a militia. You do not have to attack or kill the “strangers” who live in your own ethnic nationality. Begin by asking your legislators to move a motion for a referendum. It does not matter how few your legislators are, let them force the conversation on all Nigerians. It does not matter if the motion succeeds, let them keep raising it to keep the conversation alive. Begin with the state governors in your region. Let them raise the issue at the council of state. Let them raise it at every meeting of the council of state. Just as we do not need bloodshed to go our separate ways, we do not need to keep a country together by bloodshed.

    ​This is to the country: I tell you the truth. Nigeria can be beautiful if we allow its beauty to be revealed. A few days to 1stOctober, 2020, I wrote a dirge entitled “A Country Defined.” I shared it with friends. Premium Times published it on 29thSeptember, 2020. To borrow from the last stanza of the poem, I salute “those who know that every sunrise calls us to rise and every nightfall calls us to stand.”

    Obari Gomba (PhD) is a two-time Winner of ANA Poetry Prize and Winner of ANA Drama Prize. He teaches in the University of Port Harcourt.

  • The universal language of protests, By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

     

    In wars, local or international, where armed combatants engage themselves, prisoners are taken and enemy soldiers are allowed medical treatment. Even in the First and Second World Wars, first aiders and medical personnel were allowed to evacuate the injured and dying. In the Tuesday, October 10, 2020 shooting of unarmed civilians in Lagos, the invading army took no prisoners and stopped ambulances from getting access to the injured. It refused the injured and dying, medical treatment. It was horrifying watching the protesters having to performing operations on themselves as they were pinned down by the un-replied firepower of the soldiers. This would have been unthinkable even in Nazi Germany.

     

    There were no warnings, teargas was not applied before the Lagos massacres began. Even if the sentence for violating the Sanwo-Olu curfew is the death penalty, the victims should have been given the constitutional and human right to a trial before their summary execution. The Nigerian authorities claim they shot peaceful, unarmed protesters because hoodlums had hijacked the protests. But the hoodlums are not the peaceful protesters; the hoodlums are the thugs hired to attack the protesters, the soldiers, policemen and other security personnel sent to shoot the innocent protesters and the State and Federal Governments who assisted or gave the orders.

     

    The attacks by the army on unarmed peaceful protesters is in addition to the Nigeria Police Force earning pips for brutality, and certificate for murdering young Nigerians it assumes or suspect of being criminals. The Police had earned the notoriety of sending young, promising Nigerians to the great beyond. There was the quite painful case of then American-based Nigerian international athletics champion, Dele Udoh, who represented the country in the Men’s 400 Metres at the 1980 Olympic Games. The following year, the police executed him on a Lagos street.

     

    The Nigeria Police from the early 1970s has always acted with impunity. In those days, its elite arm was known as ‘anti-riot’ which ostensibly was to quell any form of protests by the citizenry because Nigerian governments seemed to live in perpetual fear of citizens revolting against criminally-bad governance. That elite squad which was also designated as the ‘Mobile Squad’ as if other legs of the Police Force were immobile, was popularly called “Kill-and-Go”, a sobriquet they earned because they seemed licenced to kill; they could kill Nigerians and go scot-free. It was from the ribs of that notorious killer gang, a deadlier squad, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, was created.

     

    The SARS, an acronym that in the last two weeks has assumed international notoriety, has been operating for over two decades and attracted protests without the authorities giving them much thought. But those who started the protests two weeks ago did not realise that this time, it was like striking a stick of match to light a prairie fire. It burnt across the country first with the harsh-tag “EndSARS” and then taking forms like “EndInsecurity” and “EndBad Governance.”

     

    It is like in the United States where Blacks had been murdered in every street and corner for centuries. There, White citizen killer squads, like the Klu Klux Klan, had existed for long. In the case of famous Black Protester, Malcolm X, his father who was preaching repentance, simply got laid on the railway track and an incoming train finished the job of despatching him to heaven. So, Black lives did not matter and the routine murder of Black people did not matter. That was until May 25, 2020, when the American police murdered George Floyd. This time, the volcano of protests erupted across America with its molten lava flowing through its streets. The ashes covered many parts of the world as the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Protest Movement. It is not that other lives do not matter, but humanity came to accept the slogan as a universal acknowledgement that all lives matter.

     

    The Nigerian ‘EndSARS’ protest movement also became a mere symbolism as the anger was not just against a notorious state outfit, but also against the rotten Nigerian system and its self-centred parasitic political class that feeds on the carcass of broken promises and dreams. It became a rallying cry for true change in favour of the country rather than a better life for those who perpetually hold the nation by the jugular.

     

    There have been decades of oppression and repression in the Middle East and North Africa without seeming consequences. But when on January 4, 2011, an unemployed young fruit seller, Tarek Mohammed Bouaziz, self-immolated to protest the confiscation of his wares by council officials, it set his country and some others alight with what became known as the ‘Arab Spring’ in which youths changed the course of history in many countries bringing down regimes in countries like Tunisia and Egypt.

     

    Within the last few weeks, over two dozen countries, including Thailand, Sudan, Algeria, Israel, Indonesia and Guinea have witnessed street protests. So the protest movement is international and any government that tries to hide it is like lighting a fire under the bed. This precisely is what the Buhari government is trying to do. After the killing of scores of Nigerians, including the infamous Lekki Tollgate Massacre, it pretends nothing has happened.

     

    The Presidency issued a statement on the protests without mentioning the killings. The Federal Executive Council met on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, and had not a word for the country on the killings. Rather, various state governments in the country are setting up meaningless panels of inquiry to probe the conduct of killer policemen who are not under their control and may not even be under their jurisdiction. Then they give each of the panels six months to submit reports that will gather dust on the shelf while hoping that business will continue as usual.

     

    But the rest of the world is not as stupid. There have been strong reactions from various bodies and world leaders like the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, European countries and the United States. The attempt by the Buhari regime to hide behind a finger is as disingenuous as it is untenable. In today’s world, there is no hiding place for people and governments that commit crimes against humanity.

     

    All those involved in the cowardly shootings in Nigeria, including the security men, their bosses, the political leaders in Lagos State and the Federal level who gave the orders, aided and abetted the shootings, should be prepared to stand trial; if not in Nigeria, then certainly, abroad. They should know or will know that murder has no statute of limitation. The world has become a global village and the universal language of peaceful protest is that it is a fundamental human right which nobody, institution or government can annul.

  • Projected economic growth for Nigeria maybe hampered by continuous protests — IMF

    Projected economic growth for Nigeria maybe hampered by continuous protests — IMF

    Projected economic growth for Nigeria may not be realized on the strength of the #ENDSARS protests, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

    The organization expressed concern over the protests “particularly ones that are difficult like the ones in Nigeria at the moment.”

    Responding to questions during the virtual IMF press conference on the regional economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa on Thursday,the IMF Director, African Department, Abebe Selassie, said it was important for government to find an immediate solution to the protests.

    His words: “On the growth projections in Nigeria, I mean, these protests happened of course, after we had closed, after the period where the data we looked at in making the growth projections for this economic outlook. And much will depend really on how these protests evolve. Lagos of course, is a very important economic hub and contributes quite a bit of economic activity to overall Nigeria activities. So, if these persist and are showing significant effects on economic data, we will internalize them in due course.

    “Are we concerned? I mean, of course we are always, always concerned when we see protests. Particularly ones that are difficult like the ones in Nigeria at the moment. But also, anywhere in the world, right? So, we hope that there will be a satisfactory resolution there.

    economic conditions in Nigeria of course, for the last four years or so have been very difficult in the wake of the decline in oil prices in 2015-16. Since then, their growth has been quite anemic.

    “It has been a lot of pressure on standards of living, so there has been this dislocation and you know, as always when you have these kinds of economic difficulties, you know, social protests are not uncommon.

    “I think this is exactly why we have been on the record in Nigeria about how really critical it is to get all of the policy induced barriers out of the way to facilitate stronger economic growth.

    “For the government to do more to raise revenues through the area of non-oil resources to be able to invest in health education which would, you know, allow people to be more successful at getting jobs but also improve the economy’s potential.

    “So, I think that development agenda that Nigeria has, I think, has to be tackled with gusto and vigor so that the millions of jobs that the country needs can be created. And I think that agenda remains very, very, very pressing.”

    On Nigeria’s debt issue Mr.Selassie said: “ in terms of the money we’ve been providing this year, you know, a core function of the IMF of course is that when countries no longer have access through the usual forms of financing that they have -development financing, or private market financing – IMF is the one that steps forward.

    “And at a time of crisis like this, it is the raison d’être. It’s why the IMF exists, to come help countries, sovereigns in distress, while they are correcting their economies to go back to normal forms of financing. So, the financing we’ve been providing is critical.

    “It is an important lifeline and all that we are asking countries to do is show that these resources have indeed been used to save lives and livelihoods.”