• Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact
Premium Times Opinion
Monday, January 25, 2021
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
No Result
View All Result
Premium Times Opinion
Home Opinion

Sowore Is Not Alone, By Niyi Akinnaso

by Akin Oyewobi
December 13, 2019
6 min read
0

Sowore may be in detention today, and his protest may have been aborted. The DSS may crack down on any protest as they want. Nevertheless, if Nigeria continues along the present path, protests will happen. It will be difficult then to repress them, because they will be leaderless as they will involve everybody: the jobless youth, students learning under poor conditions and decrepit facilities, the elderly without social security…


When Omoyele Sowore, career activist, publisher of SaharaReporters, and presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections, was first arrested in July, 2019, I chastised him, not for leading a protest but for the provocative invocation that accompanied his call for a revolution.

Although he made inflammatory statements and used a provocative word—revolution—in his July 25 speech, it was not the case that he had an army or anything of the sort to topple the government. The word was used only to add colourful emphasis to the need for the government to change its ways in order to make Nigeria work better and for everyone. It was also intended to rally his base of supporters to join him.

Need I emphasise that Sowore was exercising his right to protest and to freely express himself as guaranteed by the constitution? The word “revolution”, which he chose to use to encapsulate his statement is not strange to Nigerian political vocabulary. We’ve spoken about ethical revolution and, more recently, about agricultural revolution. It’s all about change in the way of doing business.

Nevertheless, I anticipated the unwarranted interpretation of Sowore’s statement by English language-challenged security forces, short on institutional memory, and by a government in crisis: It will be recalled that the government was facing court challenges on the election of the President, whose former role as a military dictator puts him on edge on hearing about revolution. Besides, the government has been confronted with security challenges from various sources and its political party—the All Progressives Congress—was, and still is, in a crisis of its own.

I did not spare the government and the Department of State Security, either, for the draconian response to Sowore’s call for revolution. His initial arrest was unwarranted not to mention his prolonged detention, even beyond repeated court orders for his release.

Even more unwarranted and downright disgraceful was his re-arrest in open court a day after his release from detention. The exact location and timing of the re-arrest don’t even matter. Viewers of the video-taped recording, which will live in cyberspace forever, are free to make their own judgement. What matters is that the event happened at all and in such a disgraceful scuffle, apparently involving uniformed security agents, fully robed lawyers, and eyewitnesses from Sowore’s family and friends as well as civil society.

The controversy over the rearrest makes matters worse. The DSS’s doublespeak on the matter is below the expected dignity of the Department. So is the claim that Sowore stage-managed his own arrest. If so, why then is he still in custody? And if, as it was claimed, the presidency knows nothing about it, then why not order his immediate release?

After all, the offenses for which he was charged were said to have been committed against the state. If the presidency wasn’t convinced that he had committed any offense or if it headed local, international, and court interventions, the scuffle over Sowore’s rearrest would not have occurred.

Sowore’s rearrest recalls the case of the trickster tortoise, who stole his in-law’s yams. As punishment, he was tied to a tree by the roadside. It was on a market day. On their way to the market, traders blamed the tortoise for his offense. However, they changed tune on their return from the market in the evening, when they found the tortoise still tied down. They blamed the in-law for excessive punishment.

At this point, what is expected of the in-law is to release the tortoise from torture rather than investigate how the yams were stolen. By the same token, the desired response from the government to Sowore’s rearrest is not a probe of the court invasion by the DSS, although such a probe is desirable. What is even more desirable and expected is Sowore’s immediate release.

But why are the government and the DSS afraid of Sowore-led protest to the point that it was killed before it even took off? After all, no weapons were found, when his property was invaded during his initial arrest and no one has been tickled with a pin by Sowore or his followers since the announcement of his #Revolution Now protest.

Comparisons cannot but be drawn with the violent sympathy protests which followed then Presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s electoral loss in 2011. Hundreds of people, including innocent members of the National Youth Service Corps, were killed in the protests and property worth billions of Naira was destroyed. Till today, no one has been held accountable for those protests, despite pre-election boasts by Buhari’s supporters that the country would be made “ungovernable”, were him to lose.

The truth today is that there is a global spread of protests among which Sowore’s is only a drop in the bucket, compared to the scale and intensity of many protests elsewhere. Rather than continue to live in blissful ignorance of the global spread of protests, it is important to place Sowore’s aborted protest within a global context. This past decade, there have been protests on all continents.

In 2019 alone, protests have occurred in over 50 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Haiti, Israel, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Guinea, Sudan, and so on. A common demand across all protests is the call for reform, for the political class to understand the plight of the masses, for a change in the way of doing business.

What is even more important is that virtually all the known causes of protests across the globe are present in Nigeria today, some in superlative degrees. They include endemic corruption; election fraud; economic decline; growing inequality; tuition and tax increases; climate change; obnoxious laws; infrastructural decay; and calls for political autonomy, personal freedom, and self fulfillment.

In essence, Sowore was calling attention to these problems. Their persistence and lack of due attention to them have continued to put the country in the bottom pile on major international indices, including the Corruption Perception Index, the Failed States Index, the Human Development Index, and the World Poverty Index.

It is also important to note that the youth, especially students, are in the forefront of most protests across the globe, because it is their future that is at stake. This is particularly so in Nigeria, where the national debt far outstrips the life of the present administration and many more to come, thereby eclipsing the future of the Nigerian youth, who constitute the majority of the population, with 42.54 per cent being below age 14.

What is worse, about 88 per cent of the entire population is said to be dependent on the remaining 12 percent, thus accentuating the wide gulf between the rich and the poor. Thus, there are two ticking time bombs, namely, youth explosion and deepening poverty.

It is against these local and global contexts that Sowore’s planned protest must be viewed. Repressing dissent and protests now is postponing the evil day and shying away from necessary reform. Besides, repression is the beginning of autocracy. It may well be the beginning of the death of our young democracy.

Sowore may be in detention today, and his protest may have been aborted. The DSS may crack down on any protest as they want. Nevertheless, if Nigeria continues along the present path, protests will happen. It will be difficult then to repress them, because they will be leaderless as they will involve everybody: the jobless youth, students learning under poor conditions and decrepit facilities, the elderly without social security, the hungry, the sick, the homeless, and others will fill the streets.

The political class and others cocooned in their wealth may be blind to the plight of the masses. The image of a young roadside hawker and his experience comes to mind. As he was rushing to brandish his wares, an SUV drove past mine, overtaking everyone in lane, splashing mud water on the hawker and others by the roadside as the SUV galloped from one pothole to another.

The hawker put down his wares, squeezed out dirty water from his shirt, and cursed the owner of the SUV and the driver. Others by the roadside chorused him. Another person railed at the government for not taking care of the roads. These are people who may not hesitate to join future protests to reclaim the future of their country, their future.

Niyi Akinnaso, chairman and chief executive of Professorial Associates, writes from Akure, Ondo State.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Previous Post

Preparing African Educational Systems For Blockchain Technology, By Adetola Salau

Next Post

Beirut and Santiago In the Streets: Why Multinationals Should Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes, By Magdalena Sepulveda

Related Posts

Akinwunmi Adesina: Africa’s Spotless Son, By Wole Olaoye
Opinion

Democratisation of Insecurity, By Wole Olaoye

January 24, 2021
Jega, You Saved Nigeria from Another Coup, By Simon Imobo-Tswam
Opinion

Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega

January 24, 2021
Nigeria: A Country of Zero Consequence For Misdeed, By Umar Yakubu
Opinion

Time To Have More Gumis In Society: When Action Speaks Louder Than Words, By Umar Yakubu

January 24, 2021
Rethinking Heroism and the Nigerian Civil Service, By Festus Adedayo
Columns

Sunday Igboho and the Spirit of Ogbori Elemoso, By Festus Adedayo

January 24, 2021
Trump and the Limits of A ‘Failed Experiment!’, By Femi Mimiko
Opinion

Trump and the Limits of A ‘Failed Experiment!’, By Femi Mimiko

January 24, 2021
Options for Nigeria’s Clean Energy Future, By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu
Opinion

Of Toyin Falola, African Scholars and the Western Academy, By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu

January 24, 2021
Next Post
Beirut and Santiago In the Streets: Why Multinationals Should Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes, By Magdalena Sepulveda

Beirut and Santiago In the Streets: Why Multinationals Should Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes, By Magdalena Sepulveda

Tunde Akanni, PhD

Media Analysis as Peace Building, By Tunde Akanni

Editorial

  • EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

    EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

  • EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

    EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

  • EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

    EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

  • EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

    EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

  • EDITORIAL: President Buhari Must Release Sowore Now!

    EDITORIAL: President Buhari Must Release Sowore Now!

Subscribe to our Opinion articles via email

Enter your email address to get notifications of new opinion articles as they are published.

Join 526,505 other subscribers

Most Popular

  • Sunday Igboho and the Spirit of Ogbori Elemoso, By Festus Adedayo
    Sunday Igboho and the Spirit of Ogbori Elemoso, By Festus Adedayo
  • Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega
    Restructuring In Nigeria: Why? How? When?, By Attahiru M. Jega
  • Of Toyin Falola, African Scholars and the Western Academy, By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu
    Of Toyin Falola, African Scholars and the Western Academy, By Mohammed Dahiru Aminu
  • Trump and the Limits of A ‘Failed Experiment!’, By Femi Mimiko
    Trump and the Limits of A ‘Failed Experiment!’, By Femi Mimiko
  • Time To Have More Gumis In Society: When Action Speaks Louder Than Words, By Umar Yakubu
    Time To Have More Gumis In Society: When Action Speaks Louder Than Words, By Umar Yakubu
  • Free Will Does Not Exist (2), By Femi Aribisala
    Free Will Does Not Exist (2), By Femi Aribisala
  • Democratisation of Insecurity, By Wole Olaoye
    Democratisation of Insecurity, By Wole Olaoye

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Podcasts

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact

© 2021 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight

© 2021 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.