*Reactions Trail Military Brutality
On Sunday, January 15, 2012, Nigeria celebrated its heroes in uniform, those who have fallen and others still alive. The day after, Monday January 16, 2012, the same soldiers, in a
manner disturbingly close to the events of January 15, 1966, [after middle-ranking officers of the armed forces had mutinied, the then Senate President who was also the Acting-President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, Dr. Orizu Nwafor, whether coerced or willfully, gave power to the military, the elected president of Nigeria who won twenty-two million votes, Dr. Jonathan, has again invited the military into the streets. Dr. Jonathan is in the eye of the storm of protests denouncing his unilateral action of imposing a two hundred percent price increase on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol. The protesters were peaceful and creative, behaving like a disciplined troop in suspending strikes and demonstrations, but waking up this Monday, they are being harassed in Lagos by gun-totting soldiers who are frog-marching and arbitrarily whipping law-abiding citizens.
The question being asked at the moment is whether Dr. Jonathan has now realized his ineffectiveness in handling the security challenges of his leadership and has now decided to invite the military back to power. The military take-over of Lagos towns and main streets, without the courtesy of first informing the states’ duly-elected Governor and Chief Security Officer, Mr. Babatunde R. Fashola, must draw sharp reactions from Nigeria’s who feel that Dr. Jonathan resorted to excessive use of power where there was hardly any need for such.
In a seven-minute nationwide broadcast Monday morning, President Jonathan accused “Occupy Nigeria” protesters of employing “harassment”, “intimidation”, “subversion” and “near-breakdown of law and order”. There had been destruction of some government properties in some places, but those incidents occurred because police opened fire and killed defenseless protesters.
Those who are running the affairs of Nigeria often lack co-ordination. While Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs is in the United States apologizing and regretting the loss of life during the demonstrations, the hawks in government, interested in Fifth Columnist agenda, which effectively would bring back the military wing of the ruling cabal, are now inviting soldiers to the street and effectively back to power so that violence can be legitimized, and more Nigerians’ bloodshed and then finish up the looting business.
The same soldiers that cannot be promptly deployed to put down the Boko Haram insurgency in now being engaged to intimidate innocent marchers who are asking for nothing other than a mere honest deal and respect from elected leaders in Nigeria.
Governor Babatunde Fashola has put the matter in clear terms that Nigerians genuine anger and frustrations demonstrated peacefully through music and drums, cannot be rewarded by a brutal, suppressive response. Whatever gains have been made in the reversal of the pump price of petrol to N97 per liter may be defeated with this wrong decision to abdicate for the military.
The police have not complained that the situation has gone out hands, and the whole world knows that things are still running within acceptable limits.
That being the case, the military should retreat into their barracks. And the world should not simply stand by while Nigerians are being slaughtered for petrol-dollar. Respectable world leaders should please tell President Jonathan to continue to protect the people instead of encouraging disingenuous plan to annihilate them. The world should demand that soldiers and policemen who are brutalizing Nigerians should not be allowed to get away with their mentality of impunity.
