Nation
For Nigerians, protest was all costs, losses, no gains
The Hunger Protests codenamed ‘#EndBadGovernance’ have come and gone, but the ripples effects left behind are still swirling around the polity, with enormous costs to the economy, the perception of government in people’s imagination, and even more gripping is the spectre of totalitarianism seen through renewed official assault on freedoms of Nigerians as a backlash of the protests.
Just last Saturday, the projected last day of the 10- day protests from 1st-10th August , the office of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Ikeja was ransacked by the police. This comes in the wake of the outcry over similar ransacking of the Nigeria Labour Congress’s headquarters in Abuja. In both cases the police have not given cogent reasons.
The Ikeja incident may have been in connection with the planned One Million March protest allegedly planned by the organisers of Hunger Protests to force the authorities to release protesters arrested by the police in the wake of the protests.
The backlash has been enormous on the economy already rendered comatose by a welter of policies widely considered ill-conceived and poorly executed leading to widespread poverty, hunger and hopelessness in the land.
The protests have impinged negatively upon the capital market . In the first four days of the protests, the bourse reportedly witnessed about N236 billion loss, indicating subdued investors participation and a lack of significant market movement.
The All-Share Index (ASI) lost 414.46 points, representing a loss of 0.42 per cent to close at 97,359.76 points. Also, market capitalisation declined by N236 billion to close at N55.278 trillion. The protests inflicted a heavy toll on the nation, with lives lost, property destroyed, and economic activities disrupted
As the nationwide action spearheaded mainly by the youth fizzled out, many Nigerians, especially in the north, will for a long time to come have horrifying memories, scars and huge financial losses of the protests.
Owing to the profound angst driving the hardship protests, the action continued in many parts of the country, Oyo, Rivers and parts of northern Nigeria , even after President Bola Tinubu called for an end to the demonstrations that witnessed pockets of crackdown from security forces, who reportedly shot at the protesters in various states in the northern part of the country.
The organisers of the protests wanted a peaceful demonstration of anger against government’s policies that led to hunger and mass poverty, but in some parts, it quickly degenerated into orgy of killings. In the first day of the protests, about 17 persons were reportedly killed in Abuja, Kano, Niger, Borno, Kaduna and Jigawa states, with several others sustaining varying degrees of injury.
Many analysts, though condemned the violence and killings, agreed that the protests were legitimate, as an expression of anger and discontent over the nation’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and against the corruption and alleged bad governance that have stifled its development.
Professor Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political scientist, told Business Hallmark that “the protests were even late in coming, that itself is a testament to the resilience, tolerance and patience of suffering Nigerians. The government has inflicted unprecedented suffering and social insecurity on the people through its economic policies. The way the police managed it was bad, there was no need for excessive force. Our law enforcement is reactionary and brutal.”
This view was shared by Professor Kenneth Olumuyiwa, a political economist, who warned against “the emerging spectre of totalitarianism coming from a government whose head has a long history of progressivism, and protests, what an irony. This is, indeed, an age of downfall, the downfall of values, and the unmasking of pseudo progressives, who had prior to now deceived us into believing they were on the side of the people, constitutionalism, rule of law and justice. Evolving events have unveiled them as fake, they are pretenders, history will be hard on them.”
Reports have it that in Suleja, a commercial town in Niger State, close to the nation’s capital, six people were reportedly killed, when the protesters allegedly attempted to invade a police station. Four people allegedly died on the spot while others, who sustained gunshot wounds were rushed to the Gwagwalada General Hospital, while two of the wounded died on the way to the hospital.
The lHuman Rights community has expressed anger over the excessive use of force. The country’s security forces have been accused of using excessive force in the nationwide protests and even though Muyiwa Adejobi, the Nigeria Police Force spokesman, admitted instances of killings during the protests, he claimed none were carried out by the police.
In a dramatic twist that put a lie to the police narrative, the Nigerian Army, through its spokesman, Major-General Onyema Nwachukwu, owned up on Wednesday that one of its soldiers actually killed a teenager, Ismail Muhammad in Zaria, Kaduna State, thus admitting that security agencies deployed to monitor the activities of the #EndBadGovernance protesters across the country used live bullets on protesters.
The Army admission to the killings immediately contradicted the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun’s claim that none of the nation’s security agencies applied excessive force, including the use of live bullets on the protesters.
Amnesty International condemned the use of deadly action against the protesters, accusing the security operative of killing at least 21 protesters during a week of rallies against economic hardship. The global body stated, “Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty.”
In a statement, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka also slammed the government for the use of live bullets against unarmed protesters.
“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation,” Soyinka wrote.
Apart from the killings, the media also suffered in the course of doing their job.
Femi Kuku, a cameraman with the African Independent Television, escaped death by the whiskers when security operatives reportedly opened fire on journalists covering the protest at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja penultimate Saturday.
According to Kuku’s account, the security forces were aware they were journalists yet opened fire on them.
While Kuku ran for his dear life, he fell into an uncovered manhole and suffered a dislocation on his left leg.
In Gombe,, officials at the Federal Teaching Hospital said Gombe no less than eight persons were brought in for medical attention following the demonstrations, with six still receiving treatment penultimate Saturday.
In Katsina State, there were reports of looting just as it was massively witnessed in Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi and Zamfara. The theatre of looting was in Daura Local Government, where no less than 205 church chairs, musical instruments and other equipment worth millions of naira were reportedly stolen by hoodlums, who invaded a Living Faith Church on the first day of the nationwide protest against hardship.
A viral video showed policemen pinning down Hamza Waziri, a physically challenged person, on his wheelchair in front of the Bauchi State Government House. Waziri, who uses wheelchair for mobility, was said to be peacefully exercising his constitutional right to protest when he was assaulted by the police officers.
Leader of the Initiative for the Liberalization of Physically Challenged People stated that he was with other physically challenged persons in a peaceful demonstration when they were assaulted by the security personnel.
Following this, Governor Bala Mohammed had condemned the federal government for not managing the protests with maturity, adding that the protests were a direct response to hunger and increasing hardship.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Bauchi State governor, Mukhtar Gidado, stated that Governor Mohammed had ordered a “thorough investigation into the incident involving a person with a disability and security personnel at the Government House.”
Meanwhile, pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere called on the Federal Government to investigate the killings of some protesters in some parts of the country. The body stated this in a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting held at the residence of its leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, at Ogbo Ijebu, Ogun State on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, pledged to ensure justice for Ismail Muhammad, the 16-year-old, who was killed by a soldier during a protest in Samaru, Zaria.
Sani stated on X.com, “Today (Thursday), I dispatched a high-powered delegation made up of top government officials and heads of security agencies to condole with the family of the teenager, Ismail Muhammad, who was killed when troops of the Nigerian Army mobilised to disperse a mob in Samaru area of Sabon Gari LGA during the last protest.
Kano witnessed severe economic losses as a result of the protests. Many public and private facilities, including the Nigerian Communications Commission, Kano State High Court and a number of vehicles parked within the court’s premises were vandalized and looted, as well as the Kano State Printing Press among several others.
Dr. Olufemi Omoyele, a public affairs commentator and university don, told this medium that “the federal and state governments should have been proactive. They should have identified the leaders of the protests for a roundtable discussions with a view to a roadmap om how to address their demands. Now the economy that was under asphyxiation before is now gasping for breath.”
According to reports, the economy has suffered a loss of over ₦500 billion in just one day. This unprecedented loss in recent history is caused by widespread disruption of business activities, the imposition of curfews in several states, and the general atmosphere of instability that has gripped the nation.
Muda Yusuf, the chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) had earlier warned that the nationwide protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400 billion to the already fragile economy.
Among earlier demands of reversal of economic policies that have caused hunger, the protesters called for immediate reforms of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), along with renewed efforts to combat corruption among politicians.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s initial silence on the matter has been a point of contention. Many Nigerians had frowned at his initial silence and when he finally addressed the nation his speech did not address the demands of the protesters, a stance widely condemned by many Nigerians including Wole Soyinka. It was a rambling speech that itemized his alleged economic achievements, claims that have given rise to rebuttals and further controversy.
For example, in his speech, Tinubu claimed that he had earlier released N570 billions to states to cushion the effects of hunger, but last Saturday, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde refuted Tinubu’s claim, saying it was not true, and that no governor received such money.
Makinde explained that the only money governors received was World Bank Covid -19 assistance.
Supporting Makinde was Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, who said no hardship fund came from federal government. According to him, the only money they got was Covid-19 fund from the World Bank.
It would seem the protests have achieved nothing, no concessions to protesters. Immediately after the protests prices of essential commodities increased , even the promised purchase of a bag of rice at N40,000 is put on hold according to a circular from the government. Two weeks apart removal of import tax on foods, some importers claimed the Nigeria Customs still collected the tax as at last week.
The security operatives have reportedly detained some leaders of the protests, even after freezing their accounts.
Worried by the growing social chaos on the heels of the protests, The Patriots, a collection of influential elder statesmen from different parts of the country led by former Commonwealth secretary general, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, visited Tinubu,ok demanding a convocation of referendum, review of electoral system and the constitution and dialogue with protesters among others. It’s not yet Uhuru from hunger as Tinubu has not shown desire to address the demands of the protesters and the hunger in the land.
