In the face of tyranny

By Lawal Ogienagbon

The man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny  – Prof Wole Soyinka.

The girl died. At 14 or even 25, which her mother has confirmed as her real age, she died in her prime. Her death resonated not only in Lagos where she died, but across the country. The mention of her name, Jumoke Oyeleke, anywhere today will readily elicit the statement: the sales girl that was killed by the police!

Although, the police have since washed their hands of her death, the public finds it hard to believe them. Jumoke was like any other neighbourhood girl struggling to survive. Last Saturday, as usual, she was out hustling when the unexpected happened. She was hit by a stray bullet allegedly fired by a policeman who was chasing some Yoruba nation agitators.

Was there any need for the police to chase the agitators round the streets of Ojota like common criminals? We will come to that presently. Suffice to say that Jumoke was not one of the agitators, though she was Yoruba. She was just starting life and in order not to be a liability to others, she worked as a sales girl in a shop close to her house. She was in her mistress’ shop that fateful Saturday when the worst happened. Jumoke died in earnest.

She went to look for her daily bread when she became fodder for the police. Her family will forever remember July 3 for it was the day that their joy was snatched away. July 3 was meant to be a day of peaceful gathering, an assembly where agitators of Yoruba nation were to openly canvass their case.

The arrowhead of the campaign is Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho. Before the Lagos rally, Igboho had led similar campaigns in the five other Yoruba states of Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. Despite warnings by these states that he should not come there with his trouble (that is the raw Yoruba way of putting it), Igboho still went to those places. The rallies went well because the authorities managed the ‘trouble maker’ well.

Igboho may be seen as a ‘trouble maker’ by the security agencies, but among his people, especially the masses, he is perceived as a saviour. The reason for this is obvious. He has stood up for them where the same security agents who are hounding him about, could not do anything when their lives were in danger. Where the security agencies allowed herdsmen to roam freely in Igangan, Oyo State, killing, looting, raping and destroying farms, Igboho rose to fight for his people and drove the invaders away.

The security agencies, particularly the police and Directorate of Security Services (DSS) seem to have misplaced their priorities. If not, they will not leave the substance to chase shadow. Igboho wanted to hold a rally in Lagos and all hell was let loose by the police and DSS. The tragic fallout of that rally was caused by the police. If such rallies could hold in other parts of Yorubaland without hitch, why should the Lagos case be different?

You know what! It was different because of bad policing. Instead of securing the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota venue of the rally to ensure a peaceful event, they went there with a show of force. By so doing, Hakeem Odumosu, the police chief, thought he could intimidate the rallyists. It was a wrong approach since they were not coming to foment trouble. An intelligent approach would have been to engage the rally planners and get them to give an undertaking to be peaceful.

But no, our security personnel must do everything with force. This was why they rolled out armoured tank and other vehicles to Ojota a day before the rally. They also paraded the streets with their tank and vehicles to send fear into the people. Did it work?

No, it did not. The rally still held to the shame of the police that applied force, wrongfully, to stop it. The same happened 48 hours earlier when DSS operatives stormed Igboho’s Ibadan residence, armed to the teeth, as if they were going after a criminal. They went away with some cats under the belief that Igboho might have turned into one to evade arrest!

Our security agents are a funny bunch. Where they should apply force, they do not. If only they could go after insurgents, bandits, kidnappers and other hoodlums with the same zeal that they usually go after Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu, the country will be a better place. To be seen as working, they prefer to go after those they consider government enemies. Is agitation for self determination an offence? Is the criticism of government an offence?

To seek to be different is not wrong. It is when a person crosses the line that he should be brought to book. Let Igboho and Kanu shout from now till thy kingdom come for Oduduwa and Biafra nations, no rational Yoruba and Igbo man will follow them. So, why waste precious security time on them. Our security agencies are unwittingly lionising them by pursuing them all over the place as if they are criminals. They should tell us what their crime is. If they cannot, they should let them be. By their actions, they have turned Igboho and Kanu into folk heroes.

Now, we are being told that Kanu was successfully brought back home under an extradition pact. That was no extradition as the other jurisdiction is not known, except to Nigeria, which has something to hide. Extradition is never shrouded in secrecy. For Kanu’s return to pass the true test of extradition everything should have been done in the open. The law of extradition is clear on steps to follow. At best, Kanu was repatriated and not extradited. Let it be clear, I am no fan of either Igboho or Kanu, but a stickler for due process.

Jumoke must not die in vain. She would not have been killed if the police had acted tactfully. Rather than admit their fault, they want us to believe that she was killed days before the rally with a blunt object. That was their autopsy report! But her family and sympathisers await the coroner inquest findings on how she died, when she died and what killed her. Until then, the police can keep their report to themselves.