By Fenny J. Fwa
Frustration and hopelessness in Nigeria are very frightening. If you take the time to listen to the protesters, you will know we are in trouble.
These are a few takeaways the government needs to ponder and address.
To begin with, #endbadgovernance protesters in Kaduna, facing fierce-looking policemen loaded with guns, were chanting in Hausa that it’s better to die from gunshots than from hunger.
Secondly, some youths somehow found themselves on an armored truck and kept chanting, “We want soldiers to take over.” Kudos to the soldiers for displaying a high degree of maturity by refusing to open fire on them.
In another protest, a small boy, no more than 10 years old, stole a used sheet of zinc. When asked why, he laughed and said he would sell it to buy food for his family because they hadn’t eaten in days.
In a heart-touching narration of hardship, a young girl participating in the protest shared her story. Her parents are poor and her father is dead, leaving them in a hopeless situation with nothing to eat. She decided not to engage in prostitution. During the protest, she contracted malaria. She even showed the rashes on her mouth, a clear indication of the disease. She is battling sickness and hunger without relief. She narrated the story with tears rolling down her cheeks.
The number five which I recorded was in Niger State. Perhaps with the highest votes for PBAT in the entire Northern Nigeria (higher in terms of difference – Presideny Tinubu of APC won in 21 LGAs, PDP's Atiku in 3) and better than Osun and Lagos states, has ironically recorded the highest number of people protesting against PBAT’s policies. This is a worrisome development.
Ironically, the states that voted out PBAT massively in the North have shown indifference to the protests, namely Adamawa, Bauchi, and Kebbi states.
In the South South, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom, which voted massively against PBAT, have not convincingly joined the protest. In fact, the Bayelsa Governor openly dissociated himself from it. It’s only Rivers, which voted for PBAT and enjoyed more patronage in terms of appointments, that is one of the most vocal in enforcing the protest. They even threatened to burn the house of the former governor Wike (the present FCT Minister in PBAT administration), the man who brought largess to the state because of his close relationship with PBAT.
The biggest irony is that the five South East states that recorded the highest votes against PBAT are totally distancing themselves from the protest.
With these developments, I thought PBAT would change his attitude towards appointments by patronizing the South South, South East, and Middle Belt, but that is not the case. Recent appointments are heavily loaded in favor of the South West and North West (the bedrock of the protest).
I thought this unpleasant experience would make him change his attitude of focusing solely on patronizing two regions at the expense of others, at least for fairness and to broaden his coalition for 2027 for the sake of his ambition.