Imagine if there were no relentless #BringBackOurGirls protests, the unfortunate 276 Chibok schoolgirls whose story has captivated the world would have long been forgotten – another statistic in an brutal insurgency which government informs us has claimed 12,000 Nigerian lives.
Imagine if the hashtag activists and the local and foreign media had not stayed on this case, the Chibok girls would have disappeared from the radar of national discourse to be replaced by politicians jostling for 2015 ascendancy.
Who, for instance, remembers that a few months ago 19 job-seeking youths perished after a badly-bungled Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise? One or two weeksof outrage and a country used to Boko Haram killing hundreds for fun, quickly returned to business as usual.
In some other land someone would have taken responsibility for the scandalous exercise and done the decent thing by resigning. In April, South Korea’s Prime Minister, Chung Hong-won, quit over the ferry tragedy in which over 180 died. He offered his resignation over criticism of the government’s handling of the sinking of a passenger ferry.
Announcing his departure, Chung said the “cries of the families of those missing still keep me up at night”. The right thing for me to do is to take responsibility and resign as a person who is in charge of the cabinet.”
Both President Goodluck Jonathan and his Minister for Interior, Abba Moro, consider it a light thing that 19 Nigerians are killed by the acts of omission and commission of government officials. That is why no one has been called to account.
All over the world whenever a politician or government is caught up in some damaging scandal or controversy, their desire is that the issue quickly disappears or that the media would lose interest. Sometimes they get their wish as something more newsworthy breaks and the media moves on.
But it doesn’t always work that way. Occasionally the public is transfixed by an issue and once the press sinks in its teeth it doesn’t let go easily. When that happens, those on the receiving end quickly resort to blaming imaginary enemies for their errors of judgment.
The Chibok schoolgirls saga is one such matter that is not going to disappear from the front pages irrespective of what the president, his party or the military think of the #BringBackOurGirls protests and those they imagine are driving it.
Nothing will please the president and his party men more than if the protesters disappeared from Abuja parks where they have been keeping the plight of the girls alive in the world’s consciousness. Their persistence is so un-Nigerian given that we are a people blessed with conveniently short memory. We hardly fight for anything – especially if the process would cause us pain.
That is why a succession of rulers who understood our psyche never took our “uprisings” over petrol price hikes and sundry matters seriously. They always took the cynical position that in a mere three days people would run out of steam. As hunger pangs begin to bite the ranks of the would-be “revolutionaries” will start to crack. In these instances mass poverty in the land became a tool in the hands of the rulers.
Now that the hashtag activists have refused to stop making government uncomfortable with their protests, the tried and tested Abuja formula is to use thugs ostensibly exercising their own right to protest to muscle out the original demonstrators. That was essentially what played out last week when a bunch of clowns parroting the narrative of the government set upon #BringBackOurGirls protesters.
After Oby Ezekwesili’s group decided to march on Aso Villa with the campaign to free the girls, President Jonathan headed off a potentially awkward confrontation by sending his Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a couple of others to tell the protesters that they had better address their demands to Boko Haram.
It was also not surprising to find Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alexander Badeh, addressing very supportive “protesters” last week. The very friendly bunch he spoke with bore banners singing praises of the military and denouncing its critics. It all lines up perfectly with the narrative emanating from Defence Headquarters which views every unflattering portrayal of its handling of the war in the North East as part of some dark conspiracy.
To top it off, everyone from the president to very senior figures within the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have reverted to the old line that the insurgency was not only manufactured by the opposition, the undying global #BringBackOurGirls campaign was another sinister maneuver by the ever resourceful All Progressives Congress (APC).
Information Minister, Labaran Maku and Senator Ita Ennang have suggested, incorrectly and mischievously, that the protests have been led largely by members of APC. They also claim that they only happen in states controlled by the opposition!
The other day I noticed Mrs. Maryam Uwais, wife of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, speaking for the campaigners. That clearly means she’s picked up an APC membership card unbeknownst to many! There are lots of decent Nigerians backing these protests and they should feel offended by this attempt by desperate Abuja politicians to dismiss their genuine concern for these innocent children who are in their second month of captivity.
In any event, being a member of the APC does not strip a Nigerian of his constitutional right to protest. Since the ruling party insists on pushing this ludicrous line, I would suggest they start their own global #Boko HaramReturnOurGirls campaign. That will put APC in its place, give Jonathan a good night’s sleep and make Abubakar Shekau drive back to Chibok to deliver the girls posthaste!
First Lady, Patience Jonathan, obviously ventilating what the thinking in the corridors of Aso Villa was, famously set the tone when in the early days of the protests she warned demonstrators to “keep it in Borno State.” Unfortunately for those who would like the protesters to disappear even when the Chibok girls have not returned, the dog has long bolted from the kernel.
This thing can no longer be contained by the usual crude strong arm tactics or by demonising the opposition. The powerful human story of these girls still trapped in the grip of an unstable terrorist has become an international cause célèbre. The only thing that will end the protests is the safe return of the girls. Those who say we should direct our protests to Boko Haram just don’t get it.
As terrorists the group has done its ugly bit by snatching the girls. It is the responsibility of the government to protect Nigerians and to bring the girls. The buck stops at their table and it is to them that our demands will continue to flow. The direction of the calls for action can only be reversed once the government says it has ceded its constitutional responsibility to the sect.
License to torture
It’s been a long time since I looked with such anticipation to getting my picture taken. In the age of the selfie you would think that a snap or two would be no big deal. But this was no ordinary photograph. I was rushing to a Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) office on Lagos Island to get my visage “captured” as part of the final phase of the long process of renewing my driver’s license.
I had heard horror tales from many who had managed to snag the new license, but nothing prepared me for the sight that greeted me that wet morning. My heart sank as I entered a hall where a tense crowd of between 200 and 300 persons was anxiously waiting for proceedings to take off. Helpfully, the official directing affairs assured that some of us might be there till 8.00 pm!
As the process chugged along slowly, I tried to make sense of the seemingly chaotic comings and goings – convinced there had to be method to what was unfolding before our collective eyes. Predictably, it didn’t take long for frustrations to boil over.
The longwinded official was having a hard time controlling a bunch of obdurate Nigerians who wanted to be served immediately. But even the more amenable were getting irritable because they had been coming and going, and today did not look like it was going to end well.
At some point, a bunch of us were asked to return later in the afternoon. I dashed across town only to return to be confronted with a crowd that had only marginally shrunk. By this time some were already cursing a country where nothing works – wondering why they had to spend days just to get a picture taken.
When it was 4.00 pm a group of us were informed that it was in our best interest to return the following Monday. Shoulders drooping we trooped out dreading the prospect of another day going through the same process.
There is something dreadfully wrong with the way the driver’s license is currently being processed. It is crying for urgent reform. Whatever it was designed to achieve, it is also resulting Nigerians being treated in way that is akin to torture. Valuable man hours are being wasted on the process and it doesn’t have to be so: except if we are being told that making the process cumbersome is an end in itself. FRSC help!
Rebasing revisited
I am one of those who took a positive view of the rebasing of our GDP – an exercise that saw Nigeria overtaking South Africa as the continent’s largest economy. That said I refuse to get carried away and join those who now think we are a rich country because a handful of individuals own private jets.
Perspectives like this one by British Member of Parliament, John Redwood, might help. In a blog not too long ago, he said: “We have recently learned that following a recalculation of GDP for Nigeria, it emerged last year as Africa’s largest economy with a GDP of $509 billion. It overtook South Africa in terms of total output, but still remains a long way behind in per capita income given the much greater population in Nigeria.
“What should give us pause for thought is how small this output still is for a country of 170 million people. It means Nigeria’s output is still lower than London’s, with just 8 million people. It should put our criticisms of the UK economy into context, and reminds us how much more there is to do to tackle poverty in other parts of the world.”
