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Tag: ‘Days of Rage’

  • Ndigbo in the Crosshairs of ‘Days of Rage’ (2)

    By Ugo Onuoha

    THE ‘Ides of March’ are now set for August. And that month is two days hence. Typical of Nigerians the ides of March have been re-branded and rechristened and restructured. Our own, if they actually happen, will not be for one momentous occasion. They are programmed to last for days, all of 10 consecutive days, from August 1. What a time to be alive.

    Nigeria, with its history of bloodletting and the highhandedness of its security agents, is on edge. The regime of this president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is worried. Look beyond the tough guy posturing. Strategy meetings of its henchmen and security goons have become almost a daily affair recently. The truth is that no administration covets any demonstration or protest, not even the so-called peaceful variety. In every such situation, the line between peace and violence is thin, indeed blurred. And it is worse in Nigeria.

    In the case of the widely advertised ‘Days of Rage’ planned to begin in two days, the elements that could spark violence, destructions and deaths are embedded in the demands of the organisers and the inevitable highhanded and deadly reaction of a regime that has been struggling with legitimacy from the get go. The precarious position and hypersensitivity of the regime is not made any better by its struggles in many areas.

    As we know the two most important duties of any government are securing lives and property of citizens, and ministering to the welfare of the people. It will be a stretch even for the choristers of this regime to remotely claim that the administration is meeting the minimal expectations of people in the two cardinal areas of governance. It does not appear that the regime has made a dent in securing the country. Insecurity is actually becoming endemic. Its scorecard on the economic front is woeful. Worse still is that the prognosis is not looking good.

    Last week, the central bank of Nigeria raised its benchmark interest rate for the umpteenth time. Many more Nigerians are projected to slip below the poverty line. That should be concerning for a country that is officially designated as the poverty capital of the world. The monetary czars appear fixated with using only monetary tools to cure the ills of an economy that is afflicted in many sectors. There are no indications that there’s a consciousness to align monetary and fiscal policies.

    The confusion and desperation in the government circle is palpable. The evidence was writ large last Wednesday night when the national secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress political party, Senator Ajibola Bashiru appeared for a programme on national television. He strained to deny the evidence of economic devastation before our very eyes even to the extent of disclaiming the inflation data published by their own government agency – the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    It’s the in-your-face lies and denials of APC apparatchiks such as their national secretary that infuriate many Nigerians and that make the imminent ‘Days of Rage’ almost unavoidable. But danger looms. A regime marked by serial bungling is a danger to everyone. It is worse when that regime is populated by opportunists and pseudo democrats. And headed by a man incapable of hiding his dictatorial tendencies. ‘Days of Rage’ could be bloody and may end up achieving little or no results worth the potential losses. The inevitable is that when the cloud lifts, the Igbo people and the Igbo nation will bear the brunt. That has been the story of Ndigbo in Nigeria since the 1940s, and even earlier.

    Igbo -hating is a pastime for some Nigerians. In fact, sometimes the hating comes from inside of the Igbo themselves. For instance, long before the furious debates on the impending protests hugged the national media headlines, Joe Igbokwe, from Nnewi in the heart of Igbo land had affixed Ndigbo in the bull’s-eye of the protests. Two weeks ago, Igbokwe wrote a gratuitous letter to the Igbo in Lagos, warning that the authorities in the state will deal decisively with them if they participate in the August protests.

    “I am the leader of Ndigbo in APC Lagos… I know what I went through and what I experienced during the #Endsars protest in October 2020 which opened a can of worms that shook the long existing cordial relationship and understanding between (the) Igbo and the owners Lagos”.

    The summary of Igbokwe’s warning are that the Igbo were culpable in the #Endsars protests of 2020 and the destruction of public property in Lagos; that there are indications that Ndigbo are in the thick of the planned August protests; that relations between the ‘owners of Lagos’ and the Igbo are irretrievably bad; that the owners of Lagos had learned valuable lessons from the events of 2020 and will finish off the Igbo in Lagos if they dared to join the protests; and, that the Igbo who are unwilling to lay down and be trampled upon and rolled over had better leave Lagos.

    Joe Igbokwe may not be a fool, but he at times says patently foolish things.

    The leadership of the conveners and protagonists of the ‘Days of Rage’ are well advertised. It’s scanty on Igbo. How Igbokwe, therefore, conjures and dumped Ndigbo in the heart of the agitation can only be befuddling. The other day I happened on the same Joe Igbokwe arguing at the top of his voice in Igbo language that the Igbo do not like the APC. That encounter with his kith and kin appeared to have happened on twitter (now X) space and then exported to WhatsApp. His opponents, who were mostly female, were equally insistent that they would not approve of APC for as long as the party approximated maladministration beginning with the regime of Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s affliction. By his stance in the encounter, Igbokwe may have said that the Igbo political elite in APC, including himself, are charlatans who are not representing the yearnings and aspirations of Ndigbo. Could this be true?

    We have heard isolated but strident voices in the weeks leading up to the ‘Days of Rage’, many of them suggesting, without any shred of evidence, that the Igbo are orchestrating the August protests. There was a video about one unidentified Islamic teacher in the north who asked northern youths not to participate in the protests because Ndigbo were the people stoking the fire, and that they were using other means to attain Biafra by fueling the disintegration of Nigeria. He said that any protest is ‘haram’. Other sheikhs promptly shot him down.

    One fellow, Very Revd. Edward Obumneme Joseph who identified himself as president of the PFN youth wing offered different reasons why the protests should be shunned. He said that the protests were being promoted by sponsors of terrorism and the Igbo were the ultimate target of the fallouts.

    By last weekend all the security agencies have busied themselves with running political commentaries on the protests, the organisers, sources of their funding, the modus operandi, why the protests should be aborted, how deadly force will be used, and the resolve of the regime to protect life and property of Nigerians.

    The most comical of the running political commentaries came from the federal secret police otherwise called the Directorate of State Services (DSS). By last Thursday the Agency said it had identified the promoters of the protests, ignoring the fact that the names of the promoters had been in the public domain for weeks. It claimed it had identified the sponsors but provided neither evidence nor clues. It said it had unmasked how third parties were plotting to hijack the protests for regime change. It said that the protests were political and not economic. And that the claim about hardship was a ruse.

    It may not be entirely correct to say that the Nigerian secret police are the dumbest in the world, but they may be close to the bottom of the scale. Except in dictatorships the secret police in other jurisdictions are not known to be loquacious. They are usually taciturn. That code of not talking much was on display last week when the US director of the secret service, Kimberly Cheatle, appeared before lawmakers investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. It did not matter that it cost her job.

    If the DSS had iron-cast evidence that the protests were political with sinister motives, the expectation is that it will move fast, arrest the insurrectionists and let them have their day in court. Of course, the DSS was lying. It had no evidence that could stand up in court about its claims. Is this not the same DSS that was scheming to arrest the former governor of the central bank, Godwin Emefiele, last year on allegations of sponsoring terrorists? The same Emefiele has been in detention and restricted movement since June 10, 2023, yet the secret police have failed to charge him with terrorism.

    Even before the protests commence enough grounds have been prepared to make Ndigbo the fall guys. Whether they participate in the protests or not will count for nothing. For more than 70 years they’ve borne the burden of striving to be Nigerians by losing their lives, limbs and livelihoods.

    The truth is that the Igbo really do not have any stake or interest in the looming ‘Days of Rage’. The majority of them did not believe that Bola Ahmed Tinubu would make a good president for a country that was, and still is, in dire straits. And they rejected him at the ballot box in 2023. They also did not believe in 2015 that Nigeria’s affliction, Buhari would be a good president. They were vindicated after eight years of disaster.

    The Igbo are masters in diverse fields but their expertise in commerce is unequalled. Commerce thrives in a conducive environment, not in uncertainty, chaos and war. Protests, no matter their ultimate outcome, enthrone chaos and so bad for business. It is bad for Ndigbo. It is especially so for people who have been deliberately excluded from Nigeria’s governing structure at the centre since 2015. They are punished for voting their conscience.

    The danger for the Igbo during the ‘Days of Rage’ is that the government will, as usual, bus thugs to infiltrate and disrupt the protesters and cause violence. The situation will degenerate to arson and destruction. The regime will then order its security agencies including the army to move in, to shoot and to kill the unarmed marchers. In America the Conservatives say that when the looting starts, the shooting starts. But here at home it’s usually when the shooting starts, the looting starts. And the Igbo will be left to count their losses. Whether they participate or not, Ndigbo will lose from the ‘Days of Rage’. That’s the default button of Nigeria’s crisis for decades. No reason to believe it will be different this time.

  • Ndigbo in the crosshairs of ‘Days of Rage’

    By UGO ONUOHA

    IT’S less than 10 days away. That’s if the planned protests against hunger, poverty, bad governance etcetera, were to materialize. The protests are scheduled for August 1-10. The organisers have a name for it: Days of Rage. The protests are designed to happen simultaneously across the country for 10 consecutive days. Unless Nigeria has changed, this project and especially its duration looks like a tall order.

    Nigeria of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s appear to be a long gone era. The period has almost been blotted from our collective memories. During those epochs, Nigerian youths, led mostly by students of tertiary institutions were upfront in opposing any government policy or programmes considered not to be in the best interest of the country. They did so in 1962, just two years after Nigeria gained independence from Britain. They fought to ensure the scrapping of the obviously one-sided Anglo-Nigerian Defence Agreement.

    Alex Lennox -Boyd was the British secretary of state for colonies in 1958, two years before Nigeria was granted independence. In fact, by 1958 both the Eastern region and the Western region had
    attained self rule status from the colonizers. The Northern region, apparently fearing dominance by the more sophisticated regions of the south said it was not ready to govern itself and so opted to be under the suzerainty of Britain.

    The 1958 memo by Lennox -Boyd encapsulated the ingredients for the Anglo-Nigerian Defence Agreement which will be handed over to the government of an independent Nigeria to sign. There was no evidence that Nigerian nationalists who were jostling to replace the British made any input into drafting the so-called Agreement. But history has it that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Action Group (AG) political party revolted against the pact when it came to his knowledge.

    So, in 1962 when Britain showed its hand for the execution of the pact by the leaders of our country, Nigerian students rose as one to march on their campuses and on the streets in the country’s major cities in opposition to the Agreement. They did not relent until Britain backed down and Nigeria backed out. There were not too many universities then nor higher institutions. And students’ leaders were not known to be acolytes of partisan politicians of the then dominant political parties such as the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC) and AG. The issues of ethnic or tribal affiliations were virtually non-existent.

    The vexatious issues in the pact were the granting by Nigeria to Britain overflying rights and testing by Royal Air Force aircraft; and whether Britain should still have any maintenance staff on ground in Nigeria. Nigerian youths said an emphatic no because they were persuaded that it amounted to an unequal relationship and moreover there was no evidence that Nigeria contributed in framing the so-called Agreement.

    Consequently, Britain and Nigeria were forced to release a statement abrogating the pact. The statement read: “The British and Nigerian Governments have been consulting together about the Anglo-Nigerian Defence Agreement. They have noted with concern that the scope and purposes of the Agreement have been widely misunderstood. In particular, fears have arisen that in consequence of the Agreement, Nigeria’s action might be impaired and that she might even be drawn into hostilities against her wishes.

    Continuing the statement said: “The text of the Agreement shows that these and other anxieties which have been expressed are wholly without foundation. Nevertheless, in order to end misunderstanding, the two governments have thought it wise to reconsider the need for a formal agreement.

    “As a result, they have decided to abrogate the Agreement. Each government will, however, endeavour to afford to the other at all times such assistance and facilities in defence matters as are appropriate between partners in the Commonwealth”. That was the Nigeria of the 1960s.

    By the 1970s, more higher institutions including universities had sprung up. And the win over the Anglo-Nigerian Defence Agreement had bolstered the resolve of youths and students that opposing real or perceived unjust policies of the government was right and winnable. And then came 1978. The regime of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo who succeeded the assassinated Gen. Murtala Muhammed increased fees payable by students in the universities. Hell was let loose. Students would not take it and the military regime would not back down either. Col. Ahmadu Ali was the federal commissioner (minister) of education. He had the support of the hierarchy of the ruling junta to dig in. And he did. The protesting students were no less determined.

    The result was bloodshed on the streets, deaths and injuries mainly on the part of the students. The students revolt was appropriately tagged ‘Ali Must Go Protests’. The protests also known as the 1978 Students Crisis was for a long time regarded as one of the most violent student agitation in this country. It was also said to be responsible for the political crisis that dogged the Muhammed/Obasanjo military regime of 1975-1979.

    Apart from fees reversal, the protesting students who also boycotted lectures demanded return to democracy and rule by civilians; democratisation of government institutions; genuine independence of the country; and, the enhancement of the quality of life of the masses. Some commentators argue that the bloody confrontation ended in a stalemate but it must be noted that the military regime vacated office just 17 months after for democratically elected administration of President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme.

    ‘Ali Must Go’ was a turning point in relations between Nigerians and their rulers. A template was adopted by subsequent rulers to the effect that there won’t be any consequences in using brute force and deadly violence to put down protests of any type.

    Fast forward to October 2020. For decades, Nigerians were at the receiving end of the brutalities of the state security agents, particularly a branch of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) called SARS- The Special Anti-Robbery Squad. SARS was notorious for bloodletting, visiting violence on hapless Nigerian youths, acting with impunity and as if its operatives were above the law.

    Any youngster they found with a laptop was automatically tagged as an Internet fraudster while those who wore braided hairs (dreadlocks) were treated as vagabonds and criminals. SARS dealt summarily with such young people by extorting or executing them. Even older people were not spared. Something had to give. And it did give from October 8, 2020 when the youths took a stand by protesting and demonstrating against police violence and brutality.

    The protests morphed into demands for good governance.By October 20, there was a repeat of the 1978 ‘Ali Must Go’ bloodletting but this time on a higher and unimaginable scale. There was a massacre. The world was repulsed. Voices of condemnation rent the air. Nigeria had finally perfected the art of killing its children who were protesting brutality, corruption and bad governance. They were only armed with patriotic songs, waving the national flag and singing the national anthem.

    First, the government, led by Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the affliction, a military dictator masquerading as a civilian ruler used thugs and street urchins to infiltrate the hitherto peaceful protests, to instigate violence, looting and destruction of public property.

    Then under the cover of darkness on October 20, the mindless regime ordered soldiers to shoot and kill our children in cold blood. The ghosts of the children who were massacred in one of the killing fields -the Lekki, Lagos toll plaza- on that particular day are still haunting the place and hunting their killers.

    They can pretend but they will have no peace. I believe the Good Book which says that there’s no peace for the wicked and that those who kill with the sword will die by the sword. It’s just a matter of time.

    In the four years since the ENDSARS Protests in October 2020, there has been a strident campaign by a section of the Yoruba nation, an insignificant number it must be acknowledged, to hold Ndigbo responsible for instigating the protests and spearheading the looting and burning of public buildings in Lagos in the aftermath of the riots.

    As Nigeria moves almost inexorably towards a fresh round of confrontations which could result from the planned Days of Rage from August 1, the narrative about the Igbo being responsible for past protests is resurfacing and gaining currency. And these false and wicked narratives have always had consequences for Ndigbo.

    The Igbo paid with livelihoods, limbs and life in 1966 after the July counter coup. July was the crescendo of the persistent peddling of lies and propaganda that the Igbo were the mastermind of the January 1966 military coup during which some political and religious leaders of the north died. It did not matter that it was a lie because the Igbo paid a huge price.
    *To be contd.