“In the words of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s First Prime Minister, ‘the future of this vast country must depend, in the main, on the efforts of ourselves to help ourselves.’

“Since the idea of a protest was muted a few weeks ago and a call to action was given for Nigerians to share their challenges and concerns via social media and SMS, we have received hundreds of text messages, Whatsapp messages; thousands of comments via various social media platforms and millions of engagements through various hashtags.

“The messages paint a clear picture of hardship across the country. Nigerians are facing difficult economic challenges and do not see any end in sight. Our standards of living have worsened and we are also disappointed in the lack of transparency and an ineffective fight against corruption in a government that made a fight against corruption a key pillar of its campaign. In summary, the change that Nigerians were promised has not been delivered and a road map to the desired destination is yet to be communicated.

“This is not about ad-hoc programs or sound-bites, but a sincerity in the government, from the Presidency to its various ministries and agencies, that this government that means what it says and says what it means. The various spokespersons for the administration are dismissive of Nigerians’ concerns, repeating that Nigeria is working when it is clear, even to the blind, that it is not!

“For example, a lot of work has gone into attempts to scuttle the peaceful gatherings in Lagos and Abuja, when the citizens right to free speech is inalienable. Furthermore, the implied attempt by some elements in security agencies to stifle the inalienable rights of Nigerians to freedom of speech and assembly cannot be allowed. We are in a democracy and citizens must be able to express their displeasure with their elected representatives in a lawful manner. If as much attention was paid to good governance, our circumstances would be much better.

“We all suffer from the country’s dysfunction and we are saying – Enough is Enough! Nigeria must come first! Not personal interests, not sectional interests; not business interests. From the impact of perennial power shortage to the lack of decent health care facilities and a good education for our children, we all pay the price, one way or another, for bad governance.

“The police who are here with us today, the teachers, hawkers in the street, traders in the market, labourers, all of us suffer when Nigeria doesn’t work.  The hardship we are going through, is why we are gathered here today. Thousands of jobs have been lost over the last one year, factories have closed, people are struggling not just to keep their kids in school but provide the most basic of things – food.We have watched the price of some of our staple foods double, even triple in some cases. Yet the response to our decision to protest, a freedom and a right guaranteed by our constitution, was multiple attempts to intimidate us and discredit us. May we remind you that repressing angry and frustrated citizenry never bodes well for those in power?

“We have watched the price of some of our staple foods double, even triple in some cases. Yet the response to our decision to protest, a freedom and a right guaranteed by our constitution, was multiple attempts to intimidate us and discredit us. May we remind you that repressing angry and frustrated citizenry never bodes well for those in power?

“Perhaps it isn’t surprising that political office holders have no idea how bad things have become after all their office, the political power they wield, their jumbo pay & allowance, means that their reality is very much removed from that of regular Nigerians, the people they promised, nay, swore to serve.

“Well, most Nigerians are now fed up so we are gathered today, here and now to tell you that things are bad; really, really bad. It is also important to state, that while this message is addressed to you as the President of this great nation, the frustrations are not only towards the Federal Government.

 

“We are also speaking to the National Assembly whose job it is to represent Nigerians at the Federal level and their responsibilities include law-making; appropriating monies and ensuring they are spent judiciously. However, they have so far spent the last two years in office fighting for spoils, buying expensive cars, spending time on corruption allegations against several members and unanswered questions around the budgeting process and allegations of budget manipulation.

“At the State level, several states owe salaries and have refused to be accountable and transparent in the spending of resources, including the bailout funds they received from the Federal Government. This is simply unacceptable.

“Our call for this protest had 10 key areas of concern – security, education, health, power, unemployment, the high cost of living, social justice, transparency, the cost of government & patriotism –

“It is important to reiterate that we are gathered here to protest because our political leaders have failed, our elected leaders have failed. They are not keeping their pre-elections promises, they are not delivering on their manifestos and programs. Worse, their actions and inactions have combined to create more hardship for millions of Nigerians.

“We are here to demand proper leadership, for accountability, for love of nation before self, for selfless service to the country.

“We are here because we are tired of those we have elected to ‘serve’ us taking advantage of us.

“We are here to say Enough is Enough!

“We are giving the government till its 2nd anniversary – May 29, 2017, to show substantive results on the issues we have raised. If not, the agitations will be louder and more intense.”

1. “We hear you loud and clear,” Ag. President Osinbajo to Nigerians on the streets, as he opens Private Sector forum just now in Aso Rock

— Laolu Akande (@akandeoj) February 6, 2017

2. Ag. President then recalled @MBuhari‘s words: “I know how difficult things are. All my adult life I have always earned a salary.”

— Laolu Akande (@akandeoj) February 6, 2017

3. President Buhari then added “I know what it is like when salary is not enough.” Ag. President assures Nigerians relief is sure on the way

— Laolu Akande (@akandeoj) February 6, 2017

“Our leaders have failed us. We are asking the government to fix energy, fight corruption. Those are our demands,” he said.

“We are reiterating that our leaders have failed us. Enough is enough!”

(On Saturday, February 4), the media offered the nation a space of relief when it carried the expected news of a mutual accommodation reached by the organizers of the demonstration planned for Monday February 6th. The theme in summary: public discontent with the state of the nation and its governance. From the beginning, the organizers had cited quite an extensive list of such areas of concern and demands for urgent attention.

To my personal consternation, (on Sunday) the same media countered that announcement with a stiff repudiation from the apex of the Police command – the office of the Inspector-General. It is such a huge disappointment, and a disservice to the cause of democracy, tolerance of dissent, and principle of inclusive governance.

An unnecessary but important reminder: the battle for the right of lawful assembly of citizens in any cause, conducted peacefully, has been fought and won several times over. It is time that this contest is gracefully conceded. It must be consolidated by its routineness as a choice of action at the front of any people’s democratic participation. This battle has been won legally, constitutionally, and even morally. It enjoys near global acceptance as one of the means of actualizing the protocols of a people’s Fundamental Human Rights.

It comes therefore as a deep embarrassment and a national shame that this latest attempt at denial of these protocols rears its head at a time when one of the largest gatherings of humanity is taking place in one of the former totalitarian states of Eastern Europe – Romania. Its size has been assessed as the largest in former Eastern Europe since the fall of the Berlin wall. It was triggered by the state attempt to water down the criminal code against corruption and has brought out hundreds of thousands of people into the streets and stadia, day after day, until the much-awaited announcement of the withdrawal of the obnoxious decree. This should resonate within the current Nigerian governance that has made the anti-corruption crusade its mantra.

The Police attempt to reverse the hands of the democratic clock is even more appalling at a time when open demonstrations are taking place all over the world against the policies of a recently elected president of the United States, whose democratic formula this nation allegedly serves as Nigeria’s adopted model.

Across numerous states of that federated nation, ongoing at this very moment, is the public expression of rejection of a president’s policy that has also pitted the Executive against the judiciary. We have heard of no preventive action by the police, nor arrests of demonstrators.

Again and again, efforts, both under military and civilian orders have been made to stifle the rights to freedom of expression by Nigerian governments – Buhari, Babangida, Obasanjo, Abacha, Jonathan… and now again, Buhari? These efforts have been, and will always be resisted. It is a moral issue, as old as settled humanity. It has been settled in other parts of the world. Nigeria cannot be an exception, not as long as her citizens refuse to accept the designation of second, even third-rate citizens.

I have sent a message to the Inspector-General of Police, through the Commissioner of Police, Lagos state, urging both to respect and safeguard the constitutional rights of the people. I hope that, even at this eleventh hour, legality and the democratic imperative will prevail. Finally, I shall be less than honest if I do not add the following, mostly directed as a warning to the very polity on whose behalf the democratic war is joined, again and again:

Minus a minuscule but highly voluble minority, mostly of pitiably retarded polluters of the common zones of public interventions, I do not know of any citizens of civilized community who do not subscribe to the fundamental Right of the Freedom of Expression in any form, as long as it is peaceful, and non-injurious to humanity. I would hate to conclude that the security agencies, or the government they serve, at this stage of national development and recent history, would choose to align themselves with such an unteachable minority.