TheCable

Two days after the thoughtless Lekki Toll Gate Bloodbath and carnage, after so much persuasion from many well-meaning Nigerians, a window of opportunity was opened to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari to right some of the wrongs of his administration, but as usual, he busted and smashed it! His speech was an accurate reflection of the abject poverty of empathy. It was rich in empty-words, but completely void of fellow feeling. It was totally unpresidential. Baba eventually lost another opportunity to both build the confidence of our people in his administration and to bond with them!

Those who listened to the nation-wide broadcast were unable to eat after listening to the man who gave them a lot of hope when he was looking for power (that is transient). Till this moment, many Nigerians are saying that they squandered about twelve (12) minutes of their time, listening to our C-in-C. Do not forget that one of the strengths of political servants, who know their onions—is the ability to talk their fellow-citizens out of national crisis. This is currently lacking in our polity.

20th October, 2020 will forever remain a black and unfortunate Tuesday in the history of our dear country and one name that will be on the lips of everyone in all generations is Muhammadu Buhari, because it was under his watch that some young, vibrant, vision-driven, fearless and nonviolent protesters were shot by some trigger happy men. Nigerians expected their president to address the issue that has brought us a lot of shame across the planet earth—after waiting for him to speak for two days—thinking that the broadcast was delayed because the state was trying to unearth those behind the killing of some of our youths, but surprisingly—he did not mention it at all, trying to use the old trick of keeping the whole nation in the dark.

Nigeria was in outer darkness until the advent of social media and mobile-phones. Today, it is impossible to spin stories, because as they are happening, folks across the planet earth are watching them. I remember when a king died in the United Kingdom, back home, it was denied, wanting to spin it, but the truth is; when the man flew into where he took his last breath and the hospital where he was admitted, guys knew all that. In fact, they knew the exact time that the man gave up. Side-splittingly, a day after, it was announced back home that he passed on!

Those who have been ruling Nigeria—for as old as the country itself—are yet to know that Nigeria has shifted—and that the generation they are dealing with is both fearless and intelligent. They still think they can spin stories in this day and time as they used to do when Nigeria was groping in the dark at noon time.

Backtracking again, I remember when a sitting-president was said to be brought back to Nigeria, cunningly and deceitfully, lights were switched off at the airport, so that no one could see what was happening. Also, to pull the wool over people’s eyes, lights were switched off at the Lekki Toll Gate on Tuesday, 20^th of October, 2020.  Today, if you like, switch off every light in Nigeria; it will not make any difference, because of technology and because everyone is now awake and very interested in how they are being governed.

A day after the lackluster broadcast of our beloved baba, theatrically and melodramatically, an army officer came out to say that the video of what transpired on the night of 10^th of October, 2020 was photo-shopped! As if that was not enough, the governor of Lagos State also said that no one died when live bullets were fired at ENDSARS nonviolent protesters by some nameless trigger happy soldiers.

It was allegedly said that every CCTV camera at the Lekki Toll Gate was removed before what happened around 7:15pm on Tuesday, but during Sanwo-Olu’s broadcast, he said no one removed the cameras at the place, but since then, we are yet to be shown what truly transpired on the said day. The question remains, who sent those soldiers to Lekki Toll Gate and who ordered them to fire live bullets at the future of Nigeria while singing national anthem and holding our flags? One thing is sure, if those soldiers were not sponsored by the state, we will get to know about them, but if they were sponsored by the state, then the rest they say is history.

If it was possible to photo-shop what was happening live, then it means every government property that was vandalized was also photo-shopped. Am I in support of the vandalization of government properties? Far be it from me, but since we are fond of playing politics with every of our national life; then let us keep fooling ourselves. Sadly, I guess all the police stations that were burnt were also photo-shopped.

As I begin to coast home, l appeal to every Nigerian to please stop the looting and killing of innocent citizens of our dear country. Kindly stop it. Stop looting what belongs to other Nigerians, who are struggling financially like you. Mr. Femi Gbaja said that you should give the Federal Government of Nigeria two weeks to prove to you that they can be trusted.

Over the years, everyone knows that politicians have been mass-producing hoodlum for political purposes. Now, the chicken has come home to roost. As an effect of the ongoing crisis in our nation, I appeal to all our politicians to change the way Nigeria is being governed. Let us truly build our people. Let us reduce the present shameful cost of governance. Destroying Nigeria does not make your own children safe wherever you are keeping them beyond the shores of Nigeria. Lastly, remember, no one is safe, dwelling amongst millions of hoodlums.