Sir: The fact that former deputy president of the Nigerian senate, Ike Ekweremadu, was nearly lynched by an angry mob in Nunberg Germany did not come to many Nigerians as a surprise given the present helpless frustration among Nigerian masses home and abroad.
For the record, this is not the first time a Nigerian politician has been harassed outside the shores of the country. Recall that on March 10, 2016, Rochas Okorocha, then governor of Imo State was disgraced at the Chattam House, London by a solo IPOB protester who called him ‘’liar’’ and ‘’murderer’’. What is however intriguing about Ekweremadu’s ordeal was that he was physically attacked and made to scamper into a waiting car by a seemingly angry IPOB mob baying for blood. A loud protester could be heard in the background of a 56 seconds video that showed the ugly event lamenting about how the senator’s wards were being massacred by herdsmen while he could afford to party and wine in a foreign land.
Senator Ekweremadu is bearing the brunt of a frustration among Nigerian masses. The security situation in the country has deteriorated, with unabated killings by alleged herdsmen who have been sacking communities and kidnapping travellers in the northwest, north central and southern Nigeria. This situation coupled with a tumbling economy and a seeming helplessness by the current administration has compelled Nigerians abroad who share the pains and burden of their relatives at home to see travelling politicians as a convenient catharsis for their frustrations. This is a luxury they can afford to enjoy in foreign lands where civil liberties are part of daily life. Unfortunately, their counterparts at home are hampered by the ever-brutal security forces that are happy to use maximum force on peaceful protesters. One can only imagine what would happen if the often-worshipped politicians are ever physically harassed.
That should not be so. I personally do not support physical assaults on public officers no matter what the gripes are, public protests and civil demonstrations are parts and parcel of a healthy democracy- more so, when it is recognized that those occupying such positions are accountable to the masses. It is common to see presidents egged and drenched by angry protesters in civilized countries, a sign that power belongs to the people. Such outpouring of emotions when not lethal or life-threatening is totally permissible, if it galvanizes public functionaries into living up to their responsibilities.
Senator Ekweremadu may have been an unlucky scapegoat (given his decent representation in the senate) who has taken one for a political crop perpetually accused of being ensconced in obscene luxuries and cloistered from the everyday grind of the long-suffering citizenry, but his ordeal is a warning that ‘’abroad’’ may no longer be a safe haven for leaders who shirk their main responsibility of representing the interests of the masses.
- Oliver C. Orji,
United Kingdom
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