BY EMMANUEL OGBECHE
There have been attempts to mischaracterize the #EndSARS agitation, whether deliberate or otherwise. One of such attempts is by the Northern Governors’ Forum as suggesting that the movement is aimed at usurping power from President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Forum in a statement by its chairman, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, said, “Forum notes that all these are antics of the enemies of the country who are violently pushing for REGIME CHANGE OUTSIDE THE BALLOT BOX.” (Emphasis mine.)
Events have however proved this claim and others as untrue, mischievous and designed to hang the dog because it has been given a bad name.
#EndSARS is a rallying cry, a battle anthem for all the ills and social dislocation occasioned by bad governance, poor policy implementation, corruption and the lack of empathic leadership.
It is a culmination of the cauldron that has been steaming underneath the façade government and the political establishment had erected. It was only a matter of time for the volcanic eruption of the pent up frustrations and anger the populace have had to endure.
The urgency of the agitation has been exacerbated by the prevailing indolence and all motion no movement of the present administration. No matter what the proponents of this regime say, glossing over the cracks and fault lines like the president has always done is to merely delay the inevitable telling explosion.
History is evident that those who deny the existence of a problem, would with certainty repeat it. Look to the Balkans and its unfortunate history. For too long, late Marshall Tito felt keeping Yugoslavia one was the main consideration while he ignored the legitimate concerns of holding concrete and frank discussions on unifying the country.
I recommend Misha Glenny’s The Fall of Yugoslavia and the seminal discourse, The Reasons for the Collapse of Yugoslavia by Dejan Marolov for your reading.
I am persuaded that Nigeria is too important to fail. Even Marshal Tito believed Yugoslavia could not fail. Buhari believes Nigeria is indissoluble. But mere wishes don’t make beggars ride horses. There is nothing suggesting that there is a deliberate plan to make this country work beyond grandstanding and jackboot approach. With time, those tactics fail. Ask the late Josef Stalin who ruled the Soviet Union for 33 years!
Tito’s beloved State is today different countries – the Republic of Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of Serbia.
Would Nigeria, most importantly make hay, while there is time? We wait!
…Mr. Ogbeche is the Editor of Abuja Inquirer newspapers.
