THE Oxford dictionary defines peaceful protest as nonviolent resistance or nonviolent action – the act of expressing disapproval through a statement or action without the use of violence. This definition does not exist in the vocabulary of my Kano people. Definitely not.
The whole of my adult life, I have never witnessed a peaceful demonstration in Kano even when it’s the Labour Congress, you hear annoying stories of violence and looting in some areas – the hoodlums seem to plan and strategize for these demonstrations. Sadly.
I got the first memo of what was to come in Kano when 48 hours to the Protest Day a friend called me about how she overheard some group of teenagers in her neighborhood planning on which shop and which house to attack on the protest day for ‘Ganima’. Ganima simply translate to ‘proceed of war’.
And 12 hours to the protest, some shop owners and traders, who also got the memo of what was to come started packing their valuables away from their shops. Some mall and marketers deployed security operatives others hired vigilantes and local hunters to protect the properties. That night Kank went into panic mode – everyone was running helter-skelter as if there was going to be a military invasion from another nation. All for fear of a peaceful protest!
We all witnessed what happened in Kano, it was a looting spree in the ancient city of Kano as the protest was hijacked by hoodlums who looted malls, shops and government buildings, few hours after the commencement of protests in the state.
Most of the hoodlums involved were young individuals brandishing local weapons attacking shops, malls stores, government buildings, and setting bonfire on the roads.
The widespread looting was escalated with some of the looters attacking houses and store adjacent to the government house where they carted away foodstuff and properties reportedly worth billions of naira.
Some of the hoodlums, launched attack on the Kano printing press, office of the Digital Industrial Park of National Communications, Commission (NCC), Audu located at the Audu Bako Secretariat and many more all in the name of Ganima.
At this juncture, I want to commend the security operatives in the state as less than six hours after the looting spree, the police in the state begin a mass recovery of looted items which resulted in the arrest of over 400 suspects by and some of the stolen items fully recovered.
Social media user, Sa’adatu Baba Ahmad, reported that policemen stormed the Yakasai and Durumin Zungura areas in Kano Municipal to retrieve the stolen goods on Friday.
She wrote, “Since 10:30am, looted items are being recovered from the houses of people who stole property of the government and innocent people in the name of protest. Up till now, they are there invading the houses.”
At a briefing earlier on Friday, the Kano Police Command reiterated its commitment to ensure that perpetrators of the mayhem which broke out during the protest are brought to book.
My pain here is, what manner of parents or mothers accept stolen items from their children as Ganima, what has this Hausa/Fulani societies turned into? Where is our morality and decorum? It’s sad that gone are the days that parents are the moral mirrors of their children. I weep for this generation.
Amidst all these, comes the announcement of a presidential address on Sunday, and for a moment we all thought, respite is here. But come Sunday, the President did speak. It was plainly a polemical speech from Jagaban.
In summary, I agree with Daily Trust, President Tinubu’s 38-paragraph speech, which can be summed up in about three thematic areas—call for peace and dialogue; commitment to democratic governance; and scorecards on economic reforms and achievements—has done little or nothing to assuage the protesters.
If anything, it appears to have angered more people, as the turnout for the protest in several cities across the country hours after the speech would suggest.
Contrary to the demands of the protesters, President Tinubu succinctly ruled out the return of fuel subsidy. In the speech, he insisted that even though the decision to remove the fuel subsidy was painful, it was necessary because it had constituted a noose around the economic “jugular of our nation and impeded our economic development and progress.”
The president also reeled out some of the things he believed his administration had put on the ground to alleviate the pains brought about by the fuel subsidy removal and the floating of the naira. These, he said, include a significant increase in government revenues leading to increased allocations to states and local governments for social services, a reduction in debt service costs and clearance of foreign exchange obligations, and major infrastructure projects aimed at boosting economic output.
But observers said the palliatives deployed to cushion the effects of the policies have failed to alleviate the widespread suffering. The government’s resort to palliatives, many believed, had been mostly hijacked by politicians and middlemen and thus failed to solve the problems or fill the gaps created by subsidy removal; hence, the protest for many.
An analyst and a politician in the president’s All Progressives Congress (APC), who asked not to be named, opined that the president’s speech appeared to be targeted at another audience.
“The speech felt like it was directed at an international audience and not the Nigerian masses because it did not reflect the realities of the last 14 months and especially the last four days,” he said.
Personally, I am not surprised by this speech, the man has said it from his campaign days, you can all protest how much you want but with him, the fuel subsidy will go and go for good. so for those of you dreaming of the return of fuel subsidy by the Tinubu administration, Please wake up!
- Kabara, is a writer and public commentator. Her syndicated column, Voice, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays. She can be reached on hafceekay01@gmail.com