In this one question interview with VinMartin Obiora Ilo of Signature TV’s “The Signature Show”, which aired on African Independent Television (AIT) on Sunday, October 18 at 2pm, Senator Shehu Sani gives his views on the ongoing #EndSARS when asked if he sees these protests as first legitimate and necessary?
WELL, first and foremost, a protest is a popular revolt and dissent against a policy, a system, a programme or a government. As it is within this context, people in Nigeria today, particularly young people, have risen to challenge the established order. Specifically, the protest was triggered by police brutality that was perpetrated by a unit of the police force that is known as SARS. SARS has been an institution in terms of violation of fundamental rights; it has become so notorious and infamous in its activities, its conduct, its record, its stewardship and its history.
The level of poverty in this country, the disconnect between the government and the people who it is supposed to lead, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the pervasive insecurity and unemployment in this country is enough to bring people out on the streets.
In the last three decades, SARS has turned itself into a state within a state where they operate with impunity and without accountability. The people of this country, particularly the young people; because if you look at the age range of those that have been on the streets today are people mostly in their teens, in their 20s and in their early 30s. It may be about SARS, the protests may have been triggered by SARS, but in broader scale, it is about a complete rejection with the conduct and the activities of the political establishment.
The nation in the last 20 or 30 years has been suffocated by a political class that put into primary line their own interests and that of their families. A nation that is so endowed with resources, with enough resources to ensure a comfortable life for most Nigerians, has simply turned into a nation of a very few people and their own families.
The level of poverty in this country, the disconnect between the government and the people who it is supposed to lead, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the pervasive insecurity and unemployment in this country is enough to bring people out on the streets.
Now, the protest, the uprising, is not simply about SARS! If you look at revolutions throughout the world, there must be an issue. In Tunisia, a young man called Mohamed Wazizi was molested by a police man and he decided to burn himself and that became a trigger that set the whole Arab countries ablaze in the name of what they call the Arab Spring. In Sudan, it was about the rising price of bread and a discontent against the regime of Al Bashir, it became the spirit of the nation.
People thought that from 2015, there would be a new spirit, a new order; a new government that conduct the affairs of the state differently; but we have seen promises upon promises made by the present administration have never been fulfilled.
Now, the young people who are on the streets, not all of them, majority of them have not actually been molested by the SARS but they may have been molested by the Nigerian police, and police and SARS are almost the same thing. But they are out in the streets because they have for a very long time been marginalised, ostracised; I mean emasculated by the system.
We have seen a political class that has increasingly grown arrogant in terms of their responsive and responsiveness to the society. We have seen a political class that has become rapacious and virulent against the people who they are supposed to preside over.
People thought that from 2015, there would be a new spirit, a new order; a new government that conduct the affairs of the state differently; but we have seen promises upon promises made by the present administration have never been fulfilled.
If you ask me what actually triggered the people out on the streets, I cannot tell you it was SARS, but there must always be one reason; that seed of the revolution and this is what it is.
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, people are out on the streets challenging the order, daring those in the political offices and even daring the security apparatus of the state without fear and without the opposition political parties leading them out, and without the trade unions leading them out, without anybody leading them; funding themselves, feeding themselves, supporting themselves, coming out to the streets to challenge the government.
I believe that this is a message to the people in positions of power – that you can be in authority and in power but it is only when people decide to fold their arms and endure the suffering which you inflict upon them, then that you will continue to do what you do, but for now, young people are out on the streets.
I mean, I couldn’t resist some few days ago to join them. Most of us who are in our 50s now thought that we may not have a time to protest again but it appears that it is one of my most joyful moments in the last twenty years, where people are out on the streets, young people saying no and insisting and they are not there representing any political interest or political grouping and they are not members of any political party; they are simply Nigerians. And that is why I believe that our suffering, our hardship, our penury can come to an end once the people of this country decided that they must come out and fight this and I believe that this is not the end, it is the beginning.
That is why reforming the police is not the issue; the country needs to be reformed. Okay, you reform the police and you have people in positions of power; the governors, the ministers, the legislators, traditional rulers, everyone [in authority].
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, people are out on the streets challenging the order, daring those in the political offices and even daring the security apparatus of the state without fear and without the opposition political parties leading them out, and without the trade unions leading them out, without anybody leading them; funding themselves, feeding themselves, supporting themselves, coming out to the streets to challenge the government.
The level of injustice and iniquity in Nigeria has reached such an arrogant level that you are not just being enslaved by your leaders but the children of your leaders are also spitting on you. Many of those people who are destroying this country, who are plundering this country, you will see their children in the social media insulting other persons.
Other than that, you see them during weddings and naming ceremonies displaying wealth as if their fathers or parents are getting this money from the farm. These are national resources which Nigerian leaders are dipping their hands in to build fortunes for themselves and their families.
It has reached a point that thousands and millions of our young people who could not find food to eat, who could not have admission to schools, who couldn’t have jobs after they have graduated, you only need to go to Facebook and Twitter and see how the children of people in positions of power are taking selfies in private jets, organising birthday parties in Spain, in Paris, in the Western world, in some of the most expensive places in Nigeria.
Their children’s photos graduating in Yale, in Princeton, in Colombia, in Cambridge, in Oxford; your leaders who are feeding on your resources, going to those countries for matriculation or graduation of their children and posting them for our teeming youths in their millions who could not get admission in their state colleges of education and when they get it, they don’t have the money to pay.
Now, do you think this will continue? No! A young man in Nigeria cannot apply for a job in a government agency and get it for a number of reasons. One is that if you come from a particular part of the country, you may be disadvantaged, if you don’t have anyone in the position of authority to give you a short note, you may be disadvantaged. If your name and their surname is not that one that is popular, recognised or important in the spectrum of things in Nigeria, you are also disadvantaged.
So do you think that for these thousands and millions of our young people roaming about on the streets things will continue this way? It will never! Just look at it; go to twitter; any attempt by you to even question why should some people be displaying stupendous wealth in a nation where millions of people couldn’t find even a breakfast to eat, you will see a son of such a thief would insult you; will even post more photographs for you to see.
Do you think that we will continue to live in peace? It is a question!
A time will come in this country when it will be difficult for you to even ride your private car around, not even sports car; not Ferrari, not Lamborghini, not Bugatti, not Rolls Royce; even Peugeot, it will be difficult for you to ride it because young people are getting more aware and are conscious of their rights and are determined to stand up and fight it!
