Opinion: #EndSARS: What did our leaders learn?
By Niran Adedokun
It is unfortunate that some members of Nigeria’s power elite still make a joke of the unfortunate uprising the country faced last week.
On Monday, Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, in what appears like a low-key admission of the presence of his men at the Lekki toll plaza where peaceful protesters came under gun-fire penultimate Tuesday, equated the entire situation with attempts by certain unnamed people to destabilise the country.
Admittedly, the army chief made a lame attempt to recognise the peaceful nature of #ENDSARS protests, but a statement issued by Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa, after Buratai’s meeting with some top military personnel, suggested that the protests had sponsors who wanted to drag the Army “into the crisis.”
He said the Army ignored these attempts and that certain undesirable elements hijacked the protests thereby holding the nation to spells of violence and destruction.
This, according to him, led to the imposition of “curfew in several states of the federation.”
And then came, the unwitting and concealed reversal of the initial denial that men of the army were at Lekki that Tuesday night: “Now the detractors alongside their local and international collaborators have mischievously and deliberately misrepresented TROOPS’ EFFORTS TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE (emphasis mine) with the curfew imposed by legitimate civil authorities in Lagos and other states.”
In other words, whatever men of the Nigerian Army did at the Lekki toll gate that evening was to ensure compliance with the curfew.
The day after, Acting Deputy Director, Nigerian Army Public Relations, 81 Division, Maj. Osoba Olaniyi toed the line of his chief and owned up that soldiers from this division were indeed at Lekki!
He clarified though, that it was at the invitation of the Governor of Lagos State (another wonder) and that rather than fire bullets at the protesters, the soldiers “dined” with them.
The fact that the army has been telling Nigerians one story after the other is so pathetic and inconceivable that you wonder what manner of people run these institutions. But we shall return to this point presently.
Before Buratai spoke, Governors of the south western states paid a solidarity visit to their colleague in Lagos.
At the end of an assessment of damage tour alongside federal ministers from the region, Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu offered the laughable and escapist comment that these incidents were planned and targeted at weakening the economy of South-West states.
READ ALSO: #EndSARS: ‘Why impact of protest on investment is unquantifiable’
And who did this? Some unnamed “divisive elements bent on annihilating the region’s economic prosperity and destroying its common heritage.” Really?
And then, their colleague in Kogi, Yahaya Bello, ever enthusiastic in his legendary capacity to play to the gallery, told Channels Television Sunrise that the protests were politically motivated.
Hear him: “Dear Nigerians, let me tell you, what is happening today, this socalled #EndSARS is politically motivated. Whether anybody says it or not, I am saying it once again and you can quote me anywhere, anyway and I will prove it to you.”
Each of these reactions, bordering on the refusal or failure of leaders in different aspects of national life to accept responsibility and undermine Nigerians is the very reason this country is where it is today.
