Opinion: Dictatorship: Victimizing #ENDSARS promoters

By Promise Adiele

(Opinion) Like an onion, the overlapping layers of US politics in the last two weeks have continued to unfold with intriguing concerns.

Globally acclaimed as the natural habitat of democracy, the US has been the compelling cynosure of all eyes in the last few weeks.

The events in God’s own country following the just concluded general elections seem to have conferred paralyzing hypnosis on the world.

Of course, given the country’s roles and position in world politics, anything about the US attracts global attention. I have no problem with that.

But what baffles me is the maniacal following of political events in that country especially by Nigerians.

Indeed, it negates common sense that one should cry more than the bereaved. After the elections, Americans have moved on, but Nigerians are stuck in the mud of US politics while ignoring more pressing concerns in their country.

I have seen inexplicable scenes in Nigeria about the US elections, from the mundane to the utterly ridiculous.

I have seen prophesies from supposed men of God about Donald Trump and Joe Biden that border on mere hallucination and sheer lunacy.

I have seen people quarrel, friends turning to enemies because of American politics.

That is indeed quite shocking. Nigerians have shown the kind of interest in American politics which they never showed about politics in their country.

Everybody is claiming to know something about American politics. While some people advertise their fetid ignorance, other people pontificate on the hills of half-knowledge.

There is no crime in showing interest in the politics of another country. But to do so while neglecting emergencies in one’s country is an irresponsible behaviour.

Nigerians have suddenly forgotten that the country needs to be restructured, an issue which is already gaining momentum.

Nigerians have suddenly forgotten that our problems in this country are peculiar, requiring constant attention and unwavering dedication.

Nigerians have suddenly forgotten about #ENDSARS and all the undercurrents to end police brutality and bad governance.

Nigerians have suddenly forgotten that our universities have been shut down for eight months while our undergraduates rot away at different homes, embracing multiple vices.

Are Nigerians aware that the UAE recently convicted six Nigerians for wiring $720,000 to Boko Haram? Who are those Nigerians?

We must ask these questions instead of dissipating energy on the US elections. We have suddenly forgotten our collective voices which recently rattled the power protocol in our country, all because of elections in the US? Haba.

Since the political developments in the US diverted the attention of millions of Nigerians, wielders of power, corrupt politicians, and public officials have heaved a sigh of relief.

They were recently jolted out of their comfort zones by the uprising in Nigeria and were deeply scared of repercussions.

Today, I am concerned about the proliferation of dictatorship in our country presently directed towards #ENDSARS promoters.

Nigerian youths, who were the brain behind the noble #ENDSARS protests across the country, are currently hounded by state security apparatus.

What is their offence? They mobilized their fellow youths to reject police brutality and criminal complicities in the death of their compatriots across the country.

Besides being hounded like common criminals, their bank accounts have also been frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria after the apex bank received a Federal High Court Order to do so. Some of them have had their passports seized too.

Dictatorship is here, let us reject it. Over the years, millions of Nigerians have berated Nigerian youths, casting aspersions on them for their seeming indifference towards the unfortunate developments in their country.

In fact, Mr. President even called them lazy youths. The critical voices condemning Nigerian youths were overwhelming.

In various platforms, people of different sympathies maligned Nigerian youths for their sedating complacency, for watching while a demagogue class gradually dragged their country to the abyss.

Suddenly, Nigerian youths found their voices and legitimately gave power to those voices by first, rising to reject police brutality across the country.

Although a disorientated arm of the youths capitalized on the peaceful demonstrations to unleash violence, everyone of good conscience agrees that the #ENDSARS protests across the country were successful.

We are in a democracy where protests are legitimate. After all, Mr. President, along with many others, marched to the streets to protest against the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

During the Buhari protests, no one was arrested much less hurt. But during the #ENDSARS protests, sorrow, tears, and blood were the regular testament.

After the protests, the fog has cleared and the question on every lip is – are we still in a democracy? If we are in a democracy, why are the youths behind the #ENDSARS protests hounded?

Why are their bank accounts frozen? Why are their passports seized? Is this democracy or dictatorship? Dictatorship manifests in different forms.

Although we may be aware of it as the direct, brutal control of all mechanism of power, it can subtly be imposed on the populace to achieve physical and psychological degradation.

Scrutiny of dictatorship will reveal that dictators in the current era recognize the level of awareness across the world.

Therefore they surround themselves with pawns, bishops, and rooks to stifle perceived opposition and advance their feral impunity.

Unlike the days of yore when dictators bared their monstrous fangs in the market place, these days, they diffuse their innate dictatorial tendencies through cancerous pores.

While presenting a façade of democratic dispensation, dictators unleash mayhem on the populace using lubricated machinery of hegemony and propaganda.

But we recognize them all the same. Perhaps it is this kind of dictatorial scenario that American novelist Sinclair Lewis captures in his novel, It Can’t Happen Here.

The novel relieves the life of Berzelius Windrip, an unintelligent but desperate politician who wanted power for no justifiable reason beyond self-fulfilment.

In the run-in to the 1936 US presidential elections, he demonstrates his economic ignorance by promising each American citizen $5,000 each year in the event he wins the election.

Windrip defeats the incumbent, President Franklin Roosevelt who concedes defeat. Immediately Windrip assumes office, he unveils his autocratic, dictatorial nature. Windrip raised a paramilitary force which he called the Minutemen.

He used them to bludgeon any opposition and viciously attack demonstrators who protested against his unpopular decisions.

While his dictatorship grew, some of his associates muted the idea of fascism which caught his interest.

However, when a wealthy businessman Francis Tasbrough, was informed that Windrip was making plans to introduce fascism in the US, he replied curtly, “it can’t happen here’.

Already, the Nigerian presidency has declared that #ENDSARS promoters must face the law.

The question is – what law did they break? Is the presidency also implying that participating in a peaceful protest is a crime against the land? If that is the case, the law should retroactively apply.

All protesters in the past must face the law. Nigerians must look away from the politics in America and stand up against dictatorship on their soil. Let us all, in one accord proclaim “it can’t happen here”.

#ENDSARS promoters must not be victimized. Every Nigerian has the legitimate right to protest against perceived injustice.

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Our country is an emerging democracy. #ENDSARS promoters have not committed any crime.

It is not their fault that miscreants, largely a creation of our political class, took advantage of the situation to unleash chaos across the country.

Government should leave #ENDSARS promoters alone and focus on more germane issues of governance.