BY REV FR GERALD NWAFOR
No country would survive two civil wars. Nigeria would be misled if the authorities thought that the next conflict that would engulf Nigeria would come from the South-East as we know it today. The area called Biafra has been balkanized by the government of Nigeria in the illusion that they have weakened the region. A quick reminder to the Nigerian government should be the story of Issac Jasper Adaka Boro, who declared the independence of Niger Delta Republic on February 23, 1966. They cannot forget the spirit of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa (Ken Saro-Wiwa). These are people who have, in one way or another, expressed their dissatisfaction with how the government of Nigeria was treating their people and was abusing the resources from their region. The government had used force to stop those agitations, including those of the Biafra Republic. The same force was used against the youths in Kenya but they have had enough. The force did not work because the young people of Kenya decided to take back their country. How long did the young people of Kenya call Ruto to rescind the bill that would tax even bread, all the calls fell on deaf ears until the morning of June 23, 2024, when the young people took to the streets. Nigerian politicians should not allow the pocket situations facing us now to escalate to that level. The fact that the suicide bombing resurfaced again in Nigeria last week should be a source of worry to the ruling class and the politicians. They are still busy sharing our commonwealth in the name of governance. The political turbulence in Kano between the two factional Emirs should not be ignored because Kano is a very volatile state in the north. If the royal rumble going on between the two political gladiators (Gaduje and Kwankwaso) is not resolved amicably, I can assure you that there will be a fire on the mountain very soon and the whole northern hemisphere should be ungovernable.The reason why the Kenyans went to the streets was because of a finance bill that would raise the cost of living. The Nigerian parliament has been passing bills that not only raise the cost of living but a bill that looks like a death sentence to the people of Nigeria. We saw the 21 billion Naira for the renovation of the vice president’s residence and the 15 billion Naira that passed for the renovation of the president’s house in the military barracks in Lagos (Dodan Barracks). And many more bills like the Stopped Cyber Security Bill and so on. One may ask why we are not in the streets like our brothers in Kenya. Nigerians have a lot of stamina and believe that their situation is not the worst. Sometimes they will say that they have not worked hard enough to succeed. I am a Nigerian to the core. I was born and bred in Nigeria. I have seen the riots of 1982 when the civilian government of Shehu Shagari failed to pay civil servants and teachers for one year. People went to the streets for a better life, but never for a change of government. The consequence of that action was a coup that ushered in the military administration of Buhari on 31 December, 1983. Although that government was short-lived but suffered a palace coup in the hands of Babangida and Sani Abacha. It was the era of Babangida that saw the institutionalization of the corruption we are witnessing today. The fraudulent business dupe was popularly known as 419 and the people in government got rich overnight without a query. People did not go to the street to protest against Babangida (IBB) because he kept promising that his stay would be short, and he would hand over to a democratically elected government. The people were deceived for 8 years because of the failed promises like the one given to the forest by the axe that he (the axe) was one of them since its handle was made of wood. The people arose after the June 12 episode and IBB stepped aside according to him, but that was the power of the people in 1993. We do not know the time or the hour when the people will say enough is enough, but it is a certainty that the people will rise against a bad government. One time during a small riot in Onitsha, which was called boys-oye (BOYS-O’YEAH), I was involved as a teen, and someone said that we should plan where to go and how to attack our spots. The then leader said, “No. Riots and unrests are not planned, people follow their emotions spontaneously.” I was young, but along the line I have come to realize that because of the disorderliness of the riot, it is a different creature from protests and demonstrations. What we saw in Kenya was riots, which is why there was no leader. It has more far-reaching consequences than demonstrations and protests. What the NLC and TUC have been doing with the government since last year on fuel subsidies and this year on minimum wage is a charade. It will not pass for protest or demonstration because NLC, TUC, and the government are the same people. Three of them would be engulfed by a riot when the country explodes. Rioters do not need a round table discussion, nor do they identify with any organized body. The government, the president of Kenya, was speaking on television to say that he would not sign the finance bill, but it was too late because there was no nomenclature assigned to speech. He took the people for granted for too long and now it is too late to cry. The Nigerian senate should see how the senators in Kenya ran away through the back doors when it was obvious that security men had failed. The Senate president who is boosting about 7 years in power should be careful. The House of Representative members who specialized in padding the budget should not presume that the Nigerian public is naïve and less concerned about the day-to-day running of their country. In Kenya, they said it was the youth, but my Kenyan friend told me it was everyone: both parents and their kids were on the streets of Kenya. So, the Nigerian government should not think it is a youth affair, no it should be a Nigerian affair.
