Hunger dey wire Naija, Tinubu dey sleep ku le.

 

-        The Idiocy and Childishness of Frequent Protests and Strikes in a Massively Haemorrhaged Economy and in a High Voltage, Highly Inflammable, Super-active, Super-sensitive and Super-eruptive Polity

 “Protest is the handmaiden of democracy.”

• John Odey Aduma.

 

In this national postmortem on the just concluded 10-day nationwide protest, JOHN ODEY ADUMA writes that protest is a serious democratic enterprise and should be taken and conducted so, and as a sacred democratic business, it must not be left in the hands of nkwenkwes, lest it be stretched to a point of reckless and infantile radicalism as exhibited by the ever lonely, but company and headline-seeking mindless and ignorant school prefects with stunted growth who have since birth refused to grow up.

Warning that even though protest is the handmaiden of democracy, the nation must be made aware of its polarising toxicity and paralysing (negative) influences on an already comatose economy, hence the proposals below aimed at inducing appropriate legislations to guide the conduct of future protests and protect democracy and the economy.

More worrisome is the fact that we are going to be having an epidemic of protests in the coming days, months and years during the tenure of the BATian administration and as in everything Nigeria, a nation infested with copycat syndrome due to lack of creativity, a situation which is sure to make protest lose its meaning, subsequently its effectiveness as a tool to call authorities to order.

Regarding the call to pray and fast for the nation and its people, what’s the point in the face of the curse of a nation having a profligate government presided over by Amoda Sangodele Ogunlere of Iragbiji (a.k.a Bola Ahmed Tinubu), a man whose prodigality and extravaganza and unbridled dissipated lifestyle are unparalleled in modern times, yet presiding over the most profligate government on the planet earth, with the government over which he presides having no blueprint nor a compass nor a Sat Nav nor a road map, making his anakrija government not fit for purpose and not good value for money; and worse than a drunken driver under the influence of something, galloping down a very steep slope on the undulating highway to perdition and total ruin in a matter of time without a driving licence and insurance?

Then of what good are such spiritual exercises when additionally, you know too well from the very depth of your heart that this same government is without ideas and native wisdom, and all it does is to pursue neo-colonial policies, with such coloniality of policy sure to impoverish our people and subsequently cause the extinction of the Nigerian polity – a sorta ill wind that does the nation and continental Africa and its people no go good? Yet, we must pray, pray, and pray we must for the peace of Nigeria, Africa and the world, for we know not the ways of the heavens!

Again, what is the point of praying when you have thieves, robbers, vultures, locusts and zombies presiding over the affairs of the nation?

Again, before we start praying for our country and for ourselves as Nigerians, I must make you aware that GOD IS NOT WITH THIS EVIL AND WICKED GOVERNMENT, and there’s nothing that will make the heavens soften their stance for the government of Amoda Sangodele Ogunlere of Iragbiji (a.k.a. Bola Ahmed Tinubu) to enjoy the abiding presence of the living God, even the Almighty God, but the Nigerian people will. This is my reason for commanding a fast.

God bless our Nigeria, and happy reading:

 

TAKE BACK YOUR FAMILY NAME: A MESSAGE TO THE NATURAL TINUBU FAMILY OF LAGOS

Again,  when will someone in the ORIGINAL/NATURAL TINUBU FAMILY of Lagos summon the courage to tell the fake Tinubus  - Amoda Adekunle Sangodele Ogunlere, Mrs Oluremi Ogunlere, Oluwaseyi Ogunlere, Olayinka Ogunlere, Folashade Ogunlere ,  Zainab Ogunlere and Habibat Ogunlere to stop destroying/damaging and dragging the good name of their family, or they too are like the fake Tinubus enjoying the filthy lucre, and all the luxuries, convenience and comfort the dirty loots (money) from the fake Tinubus can bring them?

Here then is the word of the Lord to all those bearing that name in the family who are as if running after Noah’s Ark, ravenously ravaging and cornering the commonwealth of Nigeria to themselves and their cronies, all their fronts, backs, third parties and all their errand boys and girls who have bought up every inheritance in Nigeria that collectively belongs to all Nigerians, and have gone ahead to put up all Nigeria on the international auctioneers’ desks to be sold to the highest bidder, WHATEVER A FAMILY SOWETH THEY SHALL REAP.

And the Lord says I should tell all the Akpabios of this world, all the Abass of this world, all the Gbajabiamilas of this world that He as the Keeper of Nigeria has not left His ancient workshop because THE KEEPER OF ISRAEL NEITHER SLUMBERS NOR SLEEPS.

In that same country, Sani Abacha in all his much-vaunted braggadocio said only God could speak to him, but when Pope John Paul II was sent by God to speak to him in 1998, he was so blind and foolish that he did not know God had come to Nigeria in the likeness of man until he was doomed!

Here then is the message of the God of Nigeria to Amoda Adekunle Sangodele Ogunlere: AGAIN, I’M NOT WITH YOU AND YOUR ARMIES IN THAT HOLY GROUND OF SERVICE. THAT THOU DOETH, DO QUICKLY, FOR I’M NOT WITH YOU AND YOUR ARMIES IN THAT EXALTED OFFICE. AGAIN, WHATEVER THOU DOETH, YOU SHALL NOT CAUSE MY BELOVED NIGERIANS TO WEEP ANY FURTHER, FOR THEIR CRIES, THE SMOKE AND THE ASHES OF THE DEAD HAVE COME UP UNTO ME. THUS SAYS THE LORD.

Proverbs 14:34, 2 Chronicles 7:14.

“He who is unfit to serve his fellow citizens wants to rule them.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy

“Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping toward destruction. Therefore, everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interest of everyone hangs on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.”
― Ludwig Von Mises

“Liberty is meaningless if it is only the liberty to agree with those in power.”

• Ludwig von Mises

“The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.”
― Ludwig von Mises

The Four Dreadful Judgements against Nigeria and the World - Sword and Famine and Wild Beasts and Plague (vigilance-securitymagazine.com)

 

Civil rights activists marching with their families in the USA. It is thus hoped that in the PROTEST NEXT TIME, organizers will do well to march with their children, wives, parents, siblings, aunties, cousins and leading from the front and not from their comfort zone abroad or other hideouts!

In view of the peculiar nature of our polity, we would like to draw the attention of all the civil society organizations and  professional protest organizers in Nigeria to consider the under listed actions/options to draw the attention of the government or any other sub-national authorities, even institutions and corporate organisations as protest doesn’t necessarily mean herding the masses onto the highways and streets to disrupt economic activities all of the time, thus leaving the nation worse, economically and in other facets of our national life.

What is most lamentable and very worrisome, getting killed in in the course of exercising one’s democratic right in trying to draw the attention of the government of the day to the untowardness and ontological disequilibria in the polity and in the economy, whilst some of these protest organizers are ensconced abroad with their families in safe environment and comfort.

 

PROTEST AS THE HANDMAIDEN OF DEMOCRACY: OTHER APPROACHES/ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITIES

Upon cogitation and reflection in my moment of tranquillity, I soliloquised as to other methods that can be considered in lieu of non-violent street/highway protest when citizens desire very earnestly to draw the attention of their government to burning national issues – generally, on the state and health of the nation:

-         Collecting signatures and submitting to Parliament/Apex Legislative Assembly (ALA) which in turn will submit such to the Presidency, now Agbero Land.

-         Arranging a surgery meeting with their reps – LGA chairpersons, state reps and national reps

-         Creating a vote of confidence or otherwise website to covey their grievances to the state.

-         Creating a national website to register their angst against governmental non-performance

-         Collecting signatures at constituent levels and submitting them through Parliament to the national government, etc.

-         Writing letters to editors of local and national newspapers/magazines/websites, etc.

-         Collecting signatures and sending them through their traditional rulers to state governments, and state governments to the government at the centre.

-         Debate or hold a national dialogue at all levels or organise conferences, summits, town hall meetings, etc.

-         Staging plays at local, state and national levels to externalise grievances – cost of living, unemployment, zero infrastructural development in some communities, worries and anxieties, etc.

• Virtual protests to be experimented and considered.
• Using percentage statistics by the pollsters, etc, etc.

THE GOD’S OPTION/METHOD… Set aside some days to fast: Ezekiel 14:12-23 (Fasting and prayer)

• Sit at home (sit in)
• Sit-out
• Voluntary absenteeism
• March on cities, e.g.: March on Abuja, March on Kano, March on Lagos, etc.

 

THE PROTEST NEXT TIME

As I have written already, protest is the handmaiden of democracy and its observance thereof, attests to the existence in the polity of democracy. And to be expected are more protests imploding and exploding into political apocalypse and revolutions of immense proportion in our rancorous, super-active, supersensitive, super-inflammable, supra-combustible, super-volcanic, supra-volatile, supra-high voltage and supra-eruptive polity, having five arms of government  - the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, the fourth estate (the press) and the mindless, vicious, ferocious, monstrous, bestial and vampiric fifth estate of the republic, amongst whom are the pack of ravenous wolves, popularly known as agberos (the louts, thugs and touts) who now prowl the corridors of power and every national, sub-national and sub-sub national space to administer jungle justice to anyone with opposing views that are in contradistinction with that of the government of the day and to all those who dare to criticise the government in one way or another and embark on any form of protest or demonstration to draw the attention of the government to the vexed issues in the land.

The realization of this reality should sure raise the question as to what both the organizers of future protests, the police and the Nigerian people ought to do in the PROTEST NEXT TIME, and this should lead to a form of contract and agreement/s amongst all the stakeholders as hereunder itemised:

AS A PROPOSAL:

1. Permission from the IGP regarding the nature of the protest – stationary as being staged at (a) specific locatable geographical space/s such as stadium/stadia, Eagle Square, occupying specific CNIs – the Presidency, the premises of the apex Parliament, state house, local government headquarters, etc.

Or mobile protest such as streets, roads, highways, etc.

2. Henceforth, during any form of protest, on no account must an economic artery again be blocked – whether such be trunk “A”, “B” or “C” artery.
3. A down payment of N500 million with six frontline traditional rulers in each of the six Geopolizones as sureties
4. Accessing fundings overseas by professional/amateur protest organizers to cause wahala at home should be considered a treasonable felony backed by law with all past ones to be probed and sanctioned. Again, all local NGOs in the country that want to access funding must apply through either the Ministries of Interior or Foreign Affias (Affairs) or the Diaspora Commission or through the Office of the IGP. And their accounts must be put in a public domain, and only NGOs having official websites and have duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission must so apply, and all money received from abroad and locally must be publicly declared, including making annual returns to the CAC.
5. Protest organizers must be made to sign an undertaking together with their guarantors as aforementioned that all protests to be organised must be non-violent and must not, and never be hijacked by vested interests and Agberolums.
6. Before a street protest is to be considered by the IGP and their guarantors, protest organizers, their wives, husbands, children and other family members of theirs must agree to lead the protest from the front by putting themselves in the line of fire.
7. In cases of the unpredictable outcome/s of the fatal nature, protest organizers and their family members to be charged of involuntary manslaughter.
8. Henceforth every protest organizer in Nigeria must provide sureties from the rank of the Crime Commissioners in the nation’s Geopolizones, and where they are unable to obtain sureties by any six CCs in the six Poligeozones, the planned protest is automatically cancelled, and organizers advised to seek alternative protest method/s.
9. Apart from the N500, 000 non-refundable deposit, prospective protests organizers must give to the IGP a down payment of N1, 000, 000.00 as the cost of security and policing.
10. Before the IGP and other security chiefs are to consider an application of (a) protest organizer/s, organizers of such protest must confirm they are able to provide 250 ambulances in all states of the Federation, and 100 each in each of the 774 LGAs, including medical personnel such as para medics, trained nurses, First Aiders – the number of medical personnel to be determined by the security chiefs, including the IGP.
11. Protest organizers are able to provide private licensed security officers to man and guard the protesters.
12. They are able to provide adequate professional crowd managers, the number of which to be determined by the security chiefs.
13. Organisers must provide adequate health and safety and safeguarding professionals – number to be determined by the IGP alongside other security chiefs.
14. All ex-professional Presidential candidates must have the accounts of their parties audited and probed, and getting money from Overseas Governments, charities and institutions must be outlawed.
15. During any protest, organizers must guarantee and assure the nation there must be no deaths, no participant falling sick or pass out or vandalization of public properties whether small or CNIs.
16. Organizers must have a very manageable crowd, consisting only of those who had officially registered to participate in the protest whose names, address and other details must be submitted to the IGP and put in a public domain.
17. Everyone to participate in any form of protest must handover their passports and other relevant (travel) documents to the IGP.
18. All protests, taking cognizance of our weak economy and volatile polity must last a minimum of two hours and a maximum of four hours as worldwide, although an integral part of democracy, POTEST IS NOT GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY, and can sometimes turn out to be an ill-wind that blows nobody any good!
19. All protests in view of our peculiar climate must be held for a period of one day, not exceeding the statutory four hours as the new law should recommend, and the truth is the economy, and the polity as presently are not able to take in further protests as they have both reached their point of marginal satiety/utility!
20. All the security chiefs must sign and confirm all applications submitted for a planned protest.
21. Organizers must guarantee they are able to supply free food to all the participants, the number of which must be pegged or decided by the IGP.
22. All on medications must count the cost and they must take their medicines to protest venues.
23. As part of the requirements for a protest application to scale through, organizers must be able to provide public toilets in strategic locations.
24. All places/spaces/venues must be tidied up by the organizers after the protests, and such venues must be paid for by the organisers and be certified clean by the relevant government agencies.
25. POs must ensure that no citizen exercising their right not to participate in a protest shall be molested, labelled a traitor, beaten up and be asked to relocate to another state as NIGERIA BELONGS TO ALL NIGERIANS AND IT IS ONE COUNTRY FOR EVERY CITIZEN, ONE COUNTRY FOR EVERY NIGERIAN, ONE NIGERIA FOR EVERY NIGERIAN and the nation’s landmass/total area of 923, 769 km/356, 669 sq miles does not belong to any ethnic nationality; and any citizen asking another citizen to relocate to another part of the country against their wish/will must be made to face the ferocious and merciless wrath of the law by spending a minimum of 25 years in prison for such recklessness and unguardedness as should be prescribed by the law to be enacted against such madness, irresponsibility and the worst form of the absurdity of the absurd. What is more, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria succinctly states who is a citizen with all their fundamental entitlements/rights/inheritances, recognising no such ethnic induced labels/labelling as alejo/guests/strangers/omonile/outsiders/aliens/foreigners/indigenes/non-indigenes/indigenous/non-indigenous/squatters/campers/visitors/omo Yibo/Mai Kunu/Yariba/omo aje okuta ma mu omi/etc, etc with respect to a bona fide citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And it must here be stressed again that those who participate in a protest and those who choose not to participate in a protest are all exercising their democratic rights. This is the beauty of democracy, for my right stops where my compatriot’s begins! And this type of unprovoked attacks on a people or individual citizen even in joke situations must be severely punished under a new law to be quickly enacted.
26. Henceforth, future protest organizers must have a minimum 20 years, and a maximum of 25 proven experience of organising protests in a peculiar environment such as Nigeria with (a) proof/s of successful protests during the period under reference without any hitches whatsoever – such protests being hijacked by Tinubulums, ricelums, pomolums, saltlums, spaghettilums, beanslums, breadlums, etc.
27. Avoid copycat protests, and protest for protest’s sake and the entrenchment of protests/strikes culture in our body politics and protest as a profession – a way of earning a living.
28. Resurrect the middle class – the sandwich class killed by Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida as before him, Nigeria used to have three categories of citizens – the upper, mid and lower ( the poor), but now there are just two categories of citizens – the very, very, very rich and the very, very, very poor – and the lament is that in modern Nigeria, it is wealth without working (WWW) or wealth without sweating (WWS) – and just as the military was the surest way to get wealth quick, politics is now the surest way to becoming obscenely rich without working, without sweating!
29. Revive Boys Scout, Girl Guide, Boys Brigade – they can help during protests.
30. Make the NYSC (National Youth Service Scheme) a.k.a. NYSC 2-3 years – one year service, one year military training and the third year for skills (vocational) skills acquisition.
31. Judge ye all Nigeria, who has been the nation’s Nakba since the ‘70s and the cause of all thy WAHALA?