TheCable

I try not to pay too much attention to what Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s minister of information, or any of the presidential spokespersons say. Even if one made it a full-time job, it’ll be nearly impossible to keep up with that amount of dross. However, I must make an exception today. After all, it was just last week I wrote about the #FreedomConvoy and the overfeeding factor for this paper. Not to mention the fact that I’m in Ottawa (Canada) as I write this. I’ve had my life and freedom re-arranged by people purportedly fighting for freedom.

But let’s first hear Lai Mohammed speak: “…We are not gloating over the unfortunate development in Canada. But we are only calling attention to the double standard involved in the way protesters deemed to be violent are perceived in Nigeria and in the West” (The protesters Lai Mohammed is talking about are the young Nigerians who were protesting against police murderous brutality against them. How can anyone compere the #EndSARS protests with #FreedomConvoy?)

“This realization explains why every country goes the extra mile to protect and preserve itself. And this also explains why we have continued to insist on the regulation of social media to ensure responsible content. In this area, I can confidently say we are far ahead of most countries in the world, who have now realized that social media must be regulated in the interest of their own people. (Nigeria is far ahead of other countries, yes. Nigeria is ahead of India and China with a combined population of about 3 billion, on poverty! In fact, Nigeria ‘overtook’ these two countries to become the world’s poverty capital of the world. Talk about being ahead).

“In this regard, our successful negotiation with Twitter to fashion out measures to ensure a responsible use of that platform which, by the way, will also apply to other social media platforms, has made us a global trail blazer in efforts to prevent harmful content from social media platforms. (Nigeria cannot protect or guarantee the safety of its citizens, home and abroad. Insecurity is at an all-time high. But it’s social media where millions earn a living that Lai Mohammed and his Ogas want to protect Nigerians from? I would call this misplaced priority, but I’d be wrong. The plan surely must be to impoverish as many people as possible, especially millions of young and upwardly mobile youth).

“Gentlemen, we must not allow anyone to destroy our country under the guise of protest or unbridled freedoms. We all must put Nigeria first at all times.” (The main issue I have here is about the claim “our country.” Who and who is privileged to be included in this ‘our country’? The young persons murdered at Lekki Tollgate called Nigeria “our country.” Not only were they gruesomely murdered, but they were killed while they were clutching the Nigerian flag because they had wrongly thought Nigeria was “our country.” Yet, every opportunity Alhaji Lai Mohammed gets, he insists no one was killed on October 20, 2020. Not the hospital reports corroborating, not eyewitnesses, not even the Lagos State judicial panel are credible enough to convince him otherwise).

I’ll like to revisit Lai Mohammed’s hypocrisy/double standards claim about Canada and Justin Trudeau and ask a few questions: So, Trudeau is a hypocrite for calling the #FreedomConvoy protesters, more like hostage takers, insurrectionists? First off, one of their demands is the resignation of the Trudeau government. These people have locked down downtown Ottawa, the capital of Canada for about 3 weeks. Businesses have shut down, are losing money and people are losing their jobs. Not to mention the effect of the noise (truck drivers honk their horns all day) on residents around that area. Some of them are flying confederate flags, Nazi, and all kind of white supremacist slogans. Yet, as far as I know, no one has been killed. The police are trying very hard to not aggravate the situation. Even those who don’t support the truck drivers say they have a right to protest. Can you remember the last time anyone protested in Lai Mohammed’s beloved trailblazing Nigeria? Comparing #EndSARS and #FreedomConvoy is creating a false equivalence, as young Nigerians only wanted the police-SARS to stop killing them. But Lai Mohammed and his people came up with the story that the #EndSARS protesters wanted to remove President Buhari. To this I only have an Okpameri saying: ‘Adama di President’ (There’s no adequate English translation even though I have a degree in English. The best I can come up with is “President ko, Parosident ni” which isn’t exactly English).

Mind you, Ottawa is the equivalent of Abuja. Can you imagine protesters of any kind taking Abuja’s Central Area hostage with monstrously huge trucks for three weeks and counting? Think Federal Secretariat, think blocking the road to the Three Arms Zone, and spread it all the way to Garki Area 11 and a chunk of Ahmadu Bello way. That’s what the #FreedomConvoy organisers are doing-making life a living nightmare especially for people who live in that part of town. Meanwhile, one of their early demands as I’ve mentioned is Prime Minister Trudeau’s resignation. Can you imagine Nigerian protesters demanding for President Buhari’s resignation? Can you imagine protesters insulting President Buhari, and waving all kinds of horrible posters? In October 2020, things hadn’t got that far in Abuja before thugs seen in government SUVs were released to chase people away. My brother and his family had to run for dear life. There were others who were not so lucky, who were killed as security operatives looked on. Sadly, all that paled into relative insignificance on October 20, 2020 during the now infamous Lekki Tollgate massacre. Lai Mohammed insists no one was killed. Well, his first name says it all. Meanwhile, the last time there was gathering close to what we have in Ottawa now was the 2012 Occupy Nigeria under President Jonathan Goodluck. Of course, Alhaji Mohammed was on Team Change at the time as they encouraged the protests in Lagos which turned into one big jamboree as musicians performed amid the party atmosphere. That jamboree is what’s happening in Ottawa. There are DJs, bouncy castle as people are basically partying.

Let’s leave all that, how jobless would somebody have to be, how totally bereft of self-respect would someone have to be, for a “whole grandfather” to be trolling people young enough to be their children? Is it because of Trudeau’s hypocrisy that Nigeria is broke and broken? Did Canada sell the current adulterated fuel to Nigeria? Yet, the minister of petroleum has yet to be queried. The minister of petroleum for those who don’t know is President Buhari who’s more occupied with gathering as many airmiles as possible in the presidential fleet. He’s away in Belgium as Nigerians groan under fuel scarcity. They came to power on the wings of change. Perhaps Nigerians should’ve asked more questions. We’ve seen the change but not all change is good. Because when you manage to change a country whose economy everyone was projecting will grow, to the poverty capital of the world in less than four years, that’s change and it’s no mean feat.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very conscious Nigerian woman. In another context, I wouldn’t hold brief for another country over Nigeria. Most countries of the world make every effort to protect their citizens. Doing this sometimes means they’re not going to pay attention to other countries and their citizens, especially those in the so called Third World. As I said earlier, Nigeria is slow to protect its citizens at home and abroad. In November 2021, Itunu Babalola died in a Cote D’Ivoire prison where she had been abandoned by “our country”. Part of the report has it that the prison officials said: You’re from Nigeria, you’re going to die here or words to that effect. Meanwhile, dying inside Nigeria is no longer news. Almost every day, there’s news of villages razed to the ground or that scores of people were murdered. At such times, you never hear anything from Lai Mohammed. The man organised a press conference, can you imagine? While he’s busy trolling Justin Trudeau, has he asked after Nigerians who may be affected by the #FreedomConvoy? Second base, jare.