It’s been one hell a year. From lockdown to Endsars protest to ultimate search of palliatives and looting and burning of private properties.

Many Nigerians live under the illusion that revolution is not possible. They think Nigerians are docile. How wrong. These protests have proved that nothing is permanent but CHANGE, including change in human thought processes.

There was no date announced for the protests. It took off like a single match, then it became a box of matches, and then became a huge fire. From Endsars protest to blood bath.

And I am proud of this generation of revolutionaries. The protest has been wrongly defined a YOUTH PROTEST. No, it is a protest by Nigerians irrespective of age. Youths are more because we form the bulk of Nigerian population. It is also essentially a middle class uprising.

Though we all call it #ENDSARs protest, the demands are far more than that. #ENDSARS is just a slogan for the demand for the transformation of Nigeria from a ghetto society to an egalitarian society. They impose electricity tariff, nobody spoke, they increased fuel, nobody spoke. People in power feel they can do anything and get away with it. This is a stupid way to think.

And when we young people say the catchphrase ‘Soro Soke’, we are not only speaking about sacking degenerate police officers, we are demanding a better justice administration. e are seeking equity in the running of a country where the defining ethos seems to be that the wisdom of Solomon has a correlation with the age of Methuselah. It is only in Nigeria that the minister for youths is 65 years old! Are we a joke in this country?!
So, when we youths charge public officials to ‘Soro Soke’, we are invariably saying we are the superior party in this conversation and are demanding a positive stand from government on matters affecting them and their future.

“When the army announced last week that beginning Tuesday it would commence ‘Operation Crocodile Smile’—not against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east but rather across the country “to identify, track, and counter negative propaganda in the social media and across cyberspace”—it was obvious to discerning Nigerians that EndSARs protesters were their target. It was also clear that the intervention would not end well. Crocodiles don’t smile. When the big reptile opens its mouth, it is not a friendly gesture; it is to kill and destroy. And that was exactly what happened at the Lekki-Epe toll gate in Lagos on Tuesday night following what appeared to be a well-orchestrated attack under the cover of darkness.” – Olusegun Adeniyi

The exact number of lives lost in that tragic incident as well as in other cities (where criminals have hijacked the civil protests) in the past one week remain a matter of speculation. But no one will dispute the fact that what we experienced national calamity. The irony to the Lekki tragedy is that you can be shot by soldiers while protesting extra-judicial killings by the police!

The moment the peaceful character of the protests against abuse of power by personnel of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)—a notorious unit of the Nigeria police that has been disbanded—was overrun by hoodlums and an assortment of rented thugs, the threat to national security became a clear and present danger. Seeing that at some point opportunistic criminals exploited the protests for their own end, I knew it was going to degenerate into something else. If in advanced societies like the United States ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests could degenerate into looting, vandalism and arson, it was not so difficult to predict what would happen here.

These are important things I noted from the EndSARS protest.

1. The protesters created wealth by making service providers richer. Sharing of pictures and videos have tripled in the last 12 days raising revenue for online services running into billions of naira.
2. The NIS do not understand the community they govern?
   The protests broke the cobweb of Nigerian intelligence community: DSS, NIA, DMI had no hint else they would have issued threats. It shows they don’t understand the society they govern. Nigeria also has no thermometer to gauge the mood of the people. They really dont care. Govt should have seen this coming.
   The protests are not concentrated in one place, making it more difficult for the security operatives to isolate and destroy.
3. Our society is not decent
   In a decent society, the Inspector General of Police should have resigned. In a decent society, the soldiers that shot protesters at Lekki toll gate and other places would have been fished out and brought to book. And in a decent society, the government would not think they are above the law where they can order people to be killed and get away with it.
4. The protest is not a vote against democracy.
   Let no mad soldiers think they can be funny. The protest is a vote for the deepening of democracy, the rule of law, against corruption, insensitivity and reckless leadership at all levels including corporate and financial institutions all out to exploit and kill all of us with their anti-people policies.

Just getting out of COVID 19, millions now earn half salary. Millions have been sacked; the government solution was to come up with fuel electricity hike in the midst of the pains and pangs. Haba!!! Many Nigerians are seeing death lurking around them. This can lead to anything.

The protest is largely by decent people. Let us hope the next protests won’t be by the ‘baddest’ men and women. The choice will be made by the government, either to to address the grievances or gloss over it.

If there had been NLC/TUC rally against fuel and electricity hike four weeks ago, these mass protests would not have taken place. It would have been a case of a massive protest led by labour because this same crowd was gearing up to be part of the Nation-wide protest. Labour did not gauge the desperate mood of the long suffering people of Nigeria.Labour lost this great honour. If any labour leaders try to address the rally, I tell you, they will be mobbed. The beauty would have been labour leading this protest backed with fundamental demands that could have enhanced greater transformation of Nigeria. That is lost.

I’m not sure what will be the gains of the protests. I’m only sure the gains will be minimal for many reasons: No organized platform of leadership to negotiate with, no strategic leadership coordination for sustainability, no political platform to transform the energy into the quest for real, democratic society.

5. These rallies have proved once again that the people are the custodians of power, the power to protest, the power of liberation is in their pockets, not in the hands of any leadership. In our quest for a better society, Nigerians are not the problem, the leadership is, either in government or within the liberation movements including labour. Nigerians can be effectively mobilized with the right people leading them on the route for a better society.
6. The power of social media in effective mobilisation has been enormous. Some 126 million Nigerians have access to the internet. Civil society, the media, state and federal government should learn this truth. Those who think Nigerian people are disorganised are mistaken. Every Nigerian is organised in one platform or the other. This rally has further confirmed this reality.
   The protesters are teaching us new lessons. All over history, the wo(man) on the street has always been the great teacher. Great politicians learn from the actions of the people, their fears and aspirations, to be able to articulate their pangs in a development plan.
7. Without the traditional progressive movements, listen, Revolution can come in Nigeria. The nature, I don’t know. But it is sheer arrogance to assume that only a revolution led by already known people will be qualitative. I did not know Rinu until she started the organization of this protest on Twitter.
8. There are hoodlums (sponsored or not sponsored by the government) always around waiting to make every peaceful protest violent. Leading to loss of lives, looting and vandalism. I’ve enjoyed seeing palliatives being looted from warehouses where our greedy leaders stored them. But it’s so sad some private properties were looted. Why burn banks??? Why burn people’s cars? Why loot malls? Why should BRT buses be burnt too? They are for the masses. The masses would suffer it.
9. Power must change in 2023. Enough is Enough. Enough of having irresponsible liars as leaders.
10. Mr President is not our president. Hahahhaa don’t ask me more but we

However, history has been made. I see more coordinated rallies in the future. I see more trouble. Let the operators of the system think. Let them act. Let them address hunger, poverty, cruelty of police and political leadership and the guzzling of public funds while millions of people live in misery. But will they ever learn?

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