“Civilization rests on a set of promises; if the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how rich it may be, or how mechanically clever. Hope and faith depend on the promises; if hope and faith go, everything goes.”
-Agar, Herbert
Kudos Nigerians, thanks for that patriotic and nationalistic resilient fuel subsidy protest against the forces of human oppression, especially on your bold stand against all the physical, mental and economic suppression from these forces who hitherto underestimated your capability to collectively enforce a change irrespective of tribe, religion or class, in the hope that all those who stood up to enforce their fundamental rights as Nigerians when it mattered most would triumphantly hold their heads high and console their fighting spirits with the words of Reggae Icon Bob Nester Marley: He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. And to those who lost their lives in these historical record breaking mass protests, may the almighty creator and owner of everything bless their martyr souls and grant them peace in the hereafter. Amen, Amin.
To be honest, I was proud to be a Nigerian during the thronged fuel subsidy protests that checkmated the illusive power of our politicians and grounded them helplessly in their palatial homes, making them hear, see and feel the collective power of the people who brought them where they are today. I was proud to see how both Christians and Muslims, Yorubas, Ibos, Hausas, Efiks, Benins, Igalas, Igbirras, Nupes, Biroms, Katafs, and all the other numerous Nigerian languages across the country came out en massE to protest and voice out their anger against the government and its one-sided deregulation policy. And believe it if not for the deployment of the military and our famous anti-people police force who came out brutally on the people, no doubt the Nigerian people would have won back their strong agitation for the government to reverse the pump price of petrol to N65. But the government sensing the near victory of the people fearfully deployed their obedient security apparatus to checkmate this victory. Well, nothing spoil, as Nigerians will say. I believe this is just a warning sign to our politicians and their collaborators that no amount of military or police troops would save and protect them the day the vast majority of Nigerians who have long been fed up with government policies and promises decide to sacrifice their lives and invade all the streets across the thirty-six states, including our pampered and fortified federal capital city.
To me, it’s no victory for the government and I hope our leaders will have it at the back of their minds that Nigerians are now more suspicious of their policies and that their actions and utterances will now be monitored more by the people. This brought to attention the current promises by the president and his team of follow-follow governors who have come out openly to tell the world some of the unrealistic policies and programmes they intend to use the fuel subsidy windfall to execute. While the commander-in-chief has promised Nigerians of an efficient transport system with the introduction of a mere few thousand mass transit buses to cushion his introduced transport hardship on Nigerians, he has failed to see and understand that the numbers of struggling Nigerians who daily pay high transport fares to get to work, market and other places of their daily striving, far outnumbered those few unreasonable imported buses that are bound to vanish from the roads in the next couple of months or year given the well known attitude of negligence and poor maintenance culture of the Nigerian civil service. Again, the president has just placed before the Nigerian people his words and an honourable man is known and judged universally by his words. So, should Nigerians come to trust their president and his words this time around given his past failure to keep to his words and promises?
Still fresh in most minds was the president’s loud promise last year to ‘soon’ expose those behind the deadly bombings by the dreaded Boko Haram sect, and right now it is another new year and Nigerians are still waiting eagerly with all ears to hear this important exposé. I am sure the majority of Nigerians have not forgotten his promise to expose and deal with the faceless cabal that have long been milking us dry and greedily siphoning our wealth in the oil sector. But has the president been bold enough to fulfil this promise? What about his campaign promises which included among others his commitment to salvage our shameful educational sector, his nationalist promise to revive some of the moribund industries and other neglected companies across the country, especially here in the north where poverty seems to be more rampant and almost all the hitherto vibrant textile industries that once upon a time sustained the large population has since all kissed the dust.
Why should Nigerians give their faith to these current promises of the president on what they should expect with the fuel subsidy removal, when they are yet to see a single change or improvement in government policies and promises since coming to office? Should Nigerians in all the states across the country still trust their governors and representatives at the states and National Assembly when none of them have been able to provide a viable and realistic frame work on how to contain the tormenting face of hunger and poverty that has taken over most homes across the country, nor have they been able to introduce a laudable qualitative free education programme for the masses the way our past patriotic and visionary leaders did for them? Should we trust our fate to the words of the president and his promises to revive our moribund railway system, our epileptic trademark poor electricity sector, our deathtrap roads, our decaying public schools and our scary looking hospitals? Should we believe that the president can be daring and bold enough to prosecute all the reprehensible corruption cases rusting away in our various courts across the country? Will he be courageous to prosecute all those who might be found guilty to have fraudulently and shamelessly defrauded the country of billions of naira and caused so much hardship in many homes through their ungodly transactions in the name of fuel importation and his current probe of NNPC and the PPPRA?
Right now it is the president and his words, those personal utterances he came out to express to millions of Nigerians across the globe, including other uncountable none Nigerians who listened, saw and read his words and promises to the people and nation. These words and promises that will definitely become part of his success or failure and will in the long run be attributed to his honour or not. And like Bob Nester Marley still wisely opined: You can fool the people sometime, but you can’t fool the people all the time. I want to believe Mr. President will be an honourable man and stand by his fragile words this time around, as the people right now seem to have been forced to retreat and temporary quieted, but most of them might have run away today to boldly come out and fight another day.
