A new dawn for Nigeria

At no one time have I witnessed so massive a protest against the government of Nigeria for any reason. I have always quoted Fela who said Nigerians are suffering and smiling. And indeed for countless decades, we have been suffering and smiling. It seems and rightly so, that we have exhausted our smiles and now we can only shout and speak out. This, unfortunately, is the only way to get our deaf and blind leaders to listen and see the plights of the people.

Nigerians across the world are very happy with the statements being made by the #End SARS Movement. The heartless brutality of SARS ignited this fire and opened the can of venomous worms hiding for ages in the hearts and minds of ordinary Nigerians. The song will go beyond police brutality to raising a litany of other perennial woes of the Nigerian nation. The summary is that we have put up with bad governance for decades especially since the era of democratic dispensation.

It is only right and just that we all join our voices together to denounce all that’s wrong in our land. What is wrong is wrong irrespective of our religious or political affiliation. What is wrong is wrong irrespective of our economic standing. What’s wrong is wrong irrespective of our ethnic origin. What’s wrong is wrong irrespective of our ideological differences. Let us stand together to stamp out the evil hearts and hands bent on destroying Nigeria and subjecting Nigerians to perpetual suffering. Enough is indeed enough!

In order to adulterate and consequently water down the singular objective of the raging movement, political, religious and ethnic narratives are now being created with hired thugs causing senseless destruction of public and private properties, looting shops, killing and maiming protesters and innocent citizens. This is uncalled for. The world knows what Nigerians are asking for and the world knows the deceitful strategies being employed to paint the movement in bad light. Even if the movement is suppressed, truth never dies, and the uprising will emerge again and again, each time taking a different form, until truth establishes its stand in our land and hearts and minds.

The deployment of mobile police and the army to quell the massive movement is no reasoned response to the situation. That’s only a cosmetic approach to calming the brewing uprising. Mr Buhari are you in control at all? Are you there and seeing your house on fire? Talk to Nigerians and translate your talk into visible action. The protesters are learned Nigerians, who are ready to listen but who would no longer allow themselves be taken for a ride. With a clear plan of action in the short term, medium term and long term, the movement will certainly take a break for you to wake up to work. Buhari, University students are at home – engage ASUU so that these cane get back to school. Buhari, Nigerians are really suffering – what are you doing to at least alleviate their agonies? Buhari, half of Nigeria population are unemployed – how do you expect them to eat?…

This is a golden opportunity for the government of Nigeria to put the house in order and reset their priorities to meet the earnest yearning of Nigerians. What’s happening currently points to a new dawn for Nigeria. It is not going to be business as usual for politicians and leaders. It is business unusual going forward. In one of my articles soon after Buhari was declared winner of the last presidential election, I did highlight the daunting tasks ahead of Buhari. The gap between APC and PDP was very narrow. That itself was a statement of protest to say ‘we are sick and tired of you and your APC’ but because the sitting government had the keys to the system, APC won the election. Fine but the next years will tell if the admins I will finish it’s term peacefully. That’s my prophetic proposition and now the administration, half way into the term, is grappling with a disordered house on fire.

This is an eye opener for those thinking of running for any elective position in the next general election. Listen to what we are saying and evaluate your intention to deliver. As they say, you can fool some people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time. A word as this is enough for the wise listening leader. Happy new dawn Nigeria! Let us make Nigeria great again by rescuing Nigeria from the hands of our so called leaders.

Peace, Progress and Prosperity for all Nigerians!

Author: Livinus Onogwu…

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Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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