As I sat down to write this piece, the tunes of the song “now the day is
over” came to my mind. If you sing that song along with me that is for those
who know the song the next line reads night is drawing nigh… now I’m doing this
so you won’t think night is drawing near for Nigeria as a nation … no far from
it, rather I am excited at what the future holds for this great nation.. I am
infused with great joy at the level of awareness of the average Nigerian on
what good governance entails.
To say the truth, I was and just maybe I’m still disappointed that the
NLC/TUC caved in when they did. In fact, it felt like air was slowly let out of
me. It took a lot of friends and a retrospective look at the events of the past
week for me to really appreciate the significance of what just happened to Nigeria.
Ordinary people suddenly became more interested in how they where
governed. I saw people carry out
selfless acts without being prompted. I saw people boldly question those
entrusted with the responsibility to steer this nation in the right direction. I
saw a people rise up to shake off the chains of subservience and passive
attitude that had so beclouded the people from responding to the profligacy of successive
governments.
I saw a people relating beyond ethnic, religious, socio-political and
ethnic divide to ensure their voice was heard. I saw people face dangers beyond
their capacity to bear and still stood their ground. I saw people exercise a
lot of restraint and order in their conduct during the protest even though there
was some black incidents in some places that led to loss of life and property
but the truth be said, in the overall, Nigerians generally conducted themselves
well. For emphasis sake for those that will seek to argue the last point,
despite the reported incidences of malpractice in the last election, the
election was adjudged by the majority to be peaceful, free and fair. Even the unfortunate
events that took place after the results was announced did not detract from
this overall perception of the election therefore, this last massive rallying
of people against government insensitivity gets a very high score in its peaceful
execution. Nigerians generally did not disappoint me.
There’s still a lot of work to be done and I daresay we are making
progress speedily. Nigeria is not the same again as in, it is no longer
business as usual for the political class.
Some people erroneously misunderstood the reason for the protests. They thought
it was just to oppose government policy on the deregulation of the downstream
sector of the oil industry in Nigeria. They felt people risked their lives just
to force government to revert the pump price of PMS to 65N from where it was
hiked to 141N and later fixed at 97N(cost of transport did not reduce oh). They
felt some of us where seeking cheap popularity but they are wrong on all
counts. We marched to say loud and clear to the federal government that enough
is enough of government‘s inability to ensure the security of life of its
citizens. We went to the streets to demand our right to life, our right to be
safe and protected, our right to work and live wherever we desired in the
country. We went out to remind the political class that they swore to uphold
the Constitution of this great Nation. We set out to remind them that their responsibility
is to the Nigerian people and not the other way round.
In summary, people marched for the opportunity to experience the Nigeria of
their dreams in their lifetime. If this is not enough reason to even die for,
then tell me what is… and guess what??? This is just the beginning.
The latter glory and greatness of Nigeria, shall supersede the former
glory and I shall pray, work and live to experience it… Oh God of creation………..
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