REFLECTION
face-off between the teeming army of disgruntled Nigerian youth and the government of
AVER ANGWEH ESQ.
It’s been almost three weeks since the beginning of this october face-off between the teeming army of disgruntled Nigerian youth and the government of the most populous black nation in the world.
Expectedly (in Nigeria), while some sages wave it off as a simple case of misguided exurberance on the part of the protesting youth, other typical super-smart Nigerians infer that it’s just another politically motivated civil unrest aimed at discrediting the current administration with the 2023 general elections in view.
However, what our everyday expert analysts fail to avert their minds to is the socio-political/socioeconomic consequence of this situation. With pockets of violent incidences springing up here and there; ranging from public vandalism to mass looting through the length and breadth of the country without any coordination or working pattern whatsoever, one thing is obvious; We are at the precipise as a nation.
At this point, it is foolhardy for anyone to be arguing the legality of actions, we are facing a breakdown of law and order,, sipping on a sweet cocktail of gun powder and gasoline while sitting pretty on the thin line bordering chaos and ‘anarchy’ where there is no time to apply the sense of reason (The Tiv people represent it as ‘hoon se kpe’ meaning ‘we die here’).
One of my mentors once said to me “Aver, with this level of inequality in the distribution of wealth in Nigeria, we are gradually getting to a point where one day the poor people of this country will rise up and feed on the flesh of the rich for their survival”. This prophecy is slowly coming to pass. When I called him a few days ago to ask for his opinion on all these happenings, he simply said he was only surprised at how soon his prophesy is being fulfilled.
With all that being said, this is not a time to be legally right and politically correct, this is a moment of clarity for any serious government with the faintest knowledge of history. This issue is deeper than political reprimand and legal action, this is a social uprising bereft of intellectual confines. The government must approach it from a social perspective if law and order is expected to return anytime soon.
Remember, you can beat a child but you can’t regulate how he/she cries.
With love from Gboko.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
