WHILE there may be indications that the #EndBadGovernance protests may be suspended following President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast on Sunday, where he urged protesters to embrace dialogue, the protests have left behind tales of violence, bloodshed, massive looting, and destruction of public and private properties.
Tagged ‘Days of Rage,’ the Take It Back Movement mobilised youths for 10-day protests starting on August 1, to ask the government to address the cost-of-living crisis and hyper-food inflation threatening citizens’ survival.
Of great concern is that the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, said the military would step in to control the looting and violence being witnessed in some parts of the country. This is precipitate, dangerous, and ominous. Nigeria is yet to recover from the intervention of the military’s brutal intervention in the #EndSARS protests at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos back in October 2020.
The police are constitutionally required to provide adequate security for protesters. Hence, the military should remain on the sidelines until it becomes clear that the police can no longer handle the situation. President Bola Tinubu should stop the military from shedding innocent blood again as it controversially conducted in the #EndSARS saga. Musa should stop his dangerous threats and not stain his tenure with innocent blood.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s food inflation rate hit a record high of 40.87 per cent in June amid worsening widespread hunger. Boko Haram insurgents and bandits have sacked farmers from their farms, triggering unprecedented food insecurity. The naira slump has obliterated household disposable income while the already impoverished citizens have been slammed with fuel and fresh electricity tariff hikes.
The UN predicts that 82 million Nigerians, about 64 per cent of the country’s population, may go hungry by 2030. According to its 2023 data, the World Poverty Clock reported that 71 million Nigerians are impoverished.
Despite all entreaties to shelve the protests, particularly the fear that they might be hijacked by hoodlums, #EndBadGovernance promoters began the demonstrations on August 1, but they were anything but peaceful.
Businesses, banks, shopping plazas and some markets did not open for fear of the protests degenerating into uncontrollable mass violence. The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise had pegged the economic losses to N400 billion daily.
Clashes between the police and protesters led to shootings.
One person each was shot dead in Abuja and Kano, two were killed in Jigawa; six others were reportedly gunned down by security forces in Niger, while four died in Borno and three in Kaduna.
The Organised Civil Society of Nigeria, based on the data obtained through its Civil Society Protest Monitoring Situation Room, said 21 persons were killed. In contrast, 1,154 others were arrested on the first day of the protests.
The Nigeria Labour Congress claimed that the death toll was 40 and threatened to call a strike if the police continued the wanton killing of protesters.
Rather than conducting peaceful rallies, protesters blocked highways in many parts of the country, harassed motorists and other road users, and looted shops and shopping malls.
The Tafa Local Government secretariat in Niger State was partially torched and looted.
The Nigeria Communications Commission’s IT Park, which has yet to be inaugurated, was partially torched and looted in Kano. It is one of the digital centres for the Federal Government’s 3Million Technical Talents scheme.
Hoodlums attacked the office of the Red Cross in Gujba, Maiduguri-Potiskum Road, Damaturu, Yobe, destroying and looting property and setting a vehicle ablaze.
Hoodlums pillaged churches in Katsina State, carting away multi-million-naira chairs, musical instruments, and other equipment.
The massive looting is a sad commentary on the peaceful protest promised by the organisers. It confirms the government’s position that the protest should not have been held in the first place. In the massive violence after the military aborted the #EndSARS protests, the Financial Derivatives Company estimated nationwide losses at N1.5 trillion. Private investments were looted, and prisons were attacked.
However, with the widespread anger and hunger across the land, it is naïve to expect the protests to be peaceful nationwide. Nigeria’s youthful unemployment rate is very high. This is fuel for mass discontent.
Across the world, youths have taken to the streets in protest. On Sunday, the clashes between security agents and protesters led to the death of 91 persons across Bangladesh. Media reports stated that Sunday’s clashes erupted days after over 200 people were killed in violent clashes between the police and mostly student protesters demanding an end to the controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971. Troubling protests have also occurred in France and Kenya. Tinubu should not allow the protests to escalate to these deadly levels.
Following the breakdown of law and order, at least five northern states – Kano, Borno, Katsina, Yobe and Jigawa – declared a curfew to de-escalate the tension.
To compound the mayhem, hoodlums threatened the protesters in Lagos while the police looked the other way. That is unacceptable. Security agents barricaded some of the venues assigned by the courts for the protests, especially in Abuja and Lagos.
Nigeria should take a cue from the United Kingdom, which ensured that all those who looted during the 2012 London Riots were traced and rearrested with CCTV and brought to book. Those criminal elements who looted should be tracked down and brought to justice. Photos and videos of some of the suspects are on social media.
Police brutality, which was the raison d’être of the 2020 #EndSARS protests, was once again in full display during the #EndBadGovernance rallies. Police officers fired live rounds at demonstrators, harassed journalists and killed innocent Nigerians.
The Nigerian Union of Journalists compiled a list of 17 journalists who suffered arrests, intimidation, and assault at the hands of security agents. On the first day, Kayode Jaiyeola, a photojournalist with The PUNCH, suffered harassment and arrest by the police. The agents seized his work tools. Elsewhere, security agents protect journalists in the course of their duties.
Security guards at the Bauchi Government House gate, in a viral video, were seen brutalising the leader of the Initiative for the Liberalisation of Physically Challenged People, Hamza Waziri, during the protests.
The use of live ammunition against protesters is condemnable, and the Inspector-General of Police should rid the force of trigger-happy officers. Protest is a guaranteed constitutional right that the police must defend.
Though Nigeria has about 380,000 police personnel, it is still under-policed, having failed to attain the UN ratio of one police officer to four citizens. This problem was accentuated during the recent protests.
It is projected that Nigeria might need to recruit 30,000 police personnel annually for five years to meet UN recommendations. Tinubu should urgently act on this to forestall the breakdown of law and order in future protests.
Rather than sponsor counter-protests, the Federal Government should have considered some of the demands of the protesters ahead of time because the government was given adequate notice. Tinubu must bridge the disconnect between the leaders and the people and accede to some demands of the protesters.
