Now The ‘Lazy’ Youths Have Arisen

By Achike Chude

Nigerians just do not seem to know the depth of their
socio-economic and political morass. In fact, it would not be out
of character to say that we are in deep s–t. Today, the
continuously and consistently declining structure of the Nigerian
state has now gotten to a point of saturation and our society can
take no more. The structure of the state is on a tailspin of
degeneration, and the decline of the superstructure is a natural
consequence.

Any state that operates in the way and manner of the Nigerian
state is a criminal enterprise using the paraphernalia of
democracy, governance, electoral multi-partism as a decoy to foist
a most heinous criminal endeavour on the Nigerian people. The
criminal disposition of our political system is given credence by
the unfortunate but true description of Nigeria by Karl Maier as:
“A criminality run corporation where the leaders are armed and are
hidden in the safe.”

The multiple purpose vehicles used by dubious, unconscionable
people masquerading as politicians for carrying out this heist
against the Nigerian people are the political parties, especially
the two main political parties in the country that are set up and
run in a manner that is nothing more than that of a organized
criminal organisation.

The quantum of stealing, looting, banditry, and treasury
emptying since the advent of this ‘unbroken democracy’ is
stupefying, mind numbing, and breadth taking. That the political
class is at war with the country and peoples have never been in
doubt. A time there was when the baby was beaten but was at least
allowed to cry. Today, it is an anathema to express unhappiness
about your social and economic condition. You cannot cry! You must
not cry, or the police or DSS will be sent after you.

A nation’s security infrastructure is necessary for the
existence of the state and is built for both internal and external
purposes of protecting the nation state. They are infrastructures
for internal cohesion and a repellent force against external
threat. Under a perverse, ill informed, parochial, unpatriotic, and
corrupt ruling class in a quasi-democracy like Nigeria, the
instruments of coercion, procured to protect the people is
inevitably used to oppress and repress the same people. Under such
a setting, state protection actually means the protection of the
individuals and groups who make up the state at various levels, and
it doesn’t matter whether those being protected with state
resources are the very ones undermining the state through acts of
omission or commission.

The repressive action of the President Muhammadu Buhari
government against youthful citizens of our country who are
exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right of dissent over
their state of affairs is shameful, a disservice to the ideals and
ethos of our democracy, and an assault on the constitution. Before
the current sordid crackdown over the #ENDSARS agitation, the
police in Lagos had forcefully cracked down on the peaceful
protests by the Joint Action Front (JAF), Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) in their protests over the increase in the pump price
of fuel and electricity, as well as the ‘RevolutionNow’ protesters
on Independence Day.

If only the Buhari government is aware that it is fighting a
battle it can never win. No government in the long run has ever won
a battle against its own people. The sad aspect of the conundrum of
the Buhari government is that it is only through repression that it
can respond to its many monumental failures in governance. The
consequences of these failures will manifest in increasing
resistance to the government by the people through further protests
and agitations which will lead to further clampdowns and more
agitations until it grows beyond the ability of the government to
rein it in. If and when such a situation occurs, then we all will
really be in trouble. No one knows when such an inevitable
conclusion will be reached but one thing is certain – the
government can accelerate such an eventuality by the improper
handling of the present situation.

That this government will go down being perceived as the worst
in the history of Nigeria is a foregone conclusion. It can neither
deliver on the economy, security, nor anti-corruption – the basis
of its ascension to political power in 2015. Rather, the country is
today worse off on these three indicators. To further compound its
failures and confirm its ignominy and notoriety through
arbitrariness and continuous hunting down of dissenters is the
height of lunacy. The present happenings where the ‘lazy Nigerian
youths from all over the country are responding in a definite and
patriotic matter to the inability of the state to keep them safe
should sound loudly as a warning bell to the government and the
political class that our social dynamics are changing and that
sooner or later the balance of power in our country will change
whether they like it or not.

The situation is very fluid. Only an astute and proper handling
of the matter can save the present situation from spiralling out of
control. But even if the present situation is controlled, it can
only be temporary because the underlying factors or forces of
social, economic, and political degeneration in the country are
still very much at play. Only a fundamental rejigging of the
Nigerian state (system change) can provide a panacea to our
historical, present, and future woes.

Those who have hunted with the hounds and run with the hare will
sooner than later be at the mercy of the hunting pack.

It is a matter of time!

By Achike Chude

Nigerians just do not seem to know the depth of their
socio-economic and political morass. In fact, it would not be out
of character to say that we are in deep s–t. Today, the
continuously and consistently declining structure of the Nigerian
state has now gotten to a point of saturation and our society can
take no more. The structure of the state is on a tailspin of
degeneration, and the decline of the superstructure is a natural
consequence.

Any state that operates in the way and manner of the Nigerian
state is a criminal enterprise using the paraphernalia of
democracy, governance, electoral multi-partism as a decoy to foist
a most heinous criminal endeavour on the Nigerian people. The
criminal disposition of our political system is given credence by
the unfortunate but true description of Nigeria by Karl Maier as:
“A criminality run corporation where the leaders are armed and are
hidden in the safe.”

The multiple purpose vehicles used by dubious, unconscionable
people masquerading as politicians for carrying out this heist
against the Nigerian people are the political parties, especially
the two main political parties in the country that are set up and
run in a manner that is nothing more than that of a organized
criminal organisation.

The quantum of stealing, looting, banditry, and treasury
emptying since the advent of this ‘unbroken democracy’ is
stupefying, mind numbing, and breadth taking. That the political
class is at war with the country and peoples have never been in
doubt. A time there was when the baby was beaten but was at least
allowed to cry. Today, it is an anathema to express unhappiness
about your social and economic condition. You cannot cry! You must
not cry, or the police or DSS will be sent after you.

A nation’s security infrastructure is necessary for the
existence of the state and is built for both internal and external
purposes of protecting the nation state. They are infrastructures
for internal cohesion and a repellent force against external
threat. Under a perverse, ill informed, parochial, unpatriotic, and
corrupt ruling class in a quasi-democracy like Nigeria, the
instruments of coercion, procured to protect the people is
inevitably used to oppress and repress the same people. Under such
a setting, state protection actually means the protection of the
individuals and groups who make up the state at various levels, and
it doesn’t matter whether those being protected with state
resources are the very ones undermining the state through acts of
omission or commission.

The repressive action of the President Muhammadu Buhari
government against youthful citizens of our country who are
exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right of dissent over
their state of affairs is shameful, a disservice to the ideals and
ethos of our democracy, and an assault on the constitution. Before
the current sordid crackdown over the #ENDSARS agitation, the
police in Lagos had forcefully cracked down on the peaceful
protests by the Joint Action Front (JAF), Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) in their protests over the increase in the pump price
of fuel and electricity, as well as the ‘RevolutionNow’ protesters
on Independence Day.

If only the Buhari government is aware that it is fighting a
battle it can never win. No government in the long run has ever won
a battle against its own people. The sad aspect of the conundrum of
the Buhari government is that it is only through repression that it
can respond to its many monumental failures in governance. The
consequences of these failures will manifest in increasing
resistance to the government by the people through further protests
and agitations which will lead to further clampdowns and more
agitations until it grows beyond the ability of the government to
rein it in. If and when such a situation occurs, then we all will
really be in trouble. No one knows when such an inevitable
conclusion will be reached but one thing is certain – the
government can accelerate such an eventuality by the improper
handling of the present situation.

That this government will go down being perceived as the worst
in the history of Nigeria is a foregone conclusion. It can neither
deliver on the economy, security, nor anti-corruption – the basis
of its ascension to political power in 2015. Rather, the country is
today worse off on these three indicators. To further compound its
failures and confirm its ignominy and notoriety through
arbitrariness and continuous hunting down of dissenters is the
height of lunacy. The present happenings where the ‘lazy Nigerian
youths from all over the country are responding in a definite and
patriotic matter to the inability of the state to keep them safe
should sound loudly as a warning bell to the government and the
political class that our social dynamics are changing and that
sooner or later the balance of power in our country will change
whether they like it or not.

The situation is very fluid. Only an astute and proper handling
of the matter can save the present situation from spiralling out of
control. But even if the present situation is controlled, it can
only be temporary because the underlying factors or forces of
social, economic, and political degeneration in the country are
still very much at play. Only a fundamental rejigging of the
Nigerian state (system change) can provide a panacea to our
historical, present, and future woes.

Those who have hunted with the hounds and run with the hare will
sooner than later be at the mercy of the hunting pack.

It is a matter of time!