Tuface Planned Protest's Postponement - A Missed Opportunity!

By postponing the protest,Tuface disappointed me and a number of Nigerians. Not that I would have joined the protest, but I would have been happy to see one of Nigeria most publicized protests becomes a reality with its attendant consequences - good and bad. Unfortunately, the singer turned activist dampened my spirit and other Nigerians.

Protests and civil society movements in general are necessary part of democratic growth and development. It always serves as a medium for holding the leaders accountable. While through protest, citizens make known their opinions, government and leaders on the other hand get feedback on their activities, performance and policies in office.

Nobody needs explain this to President Trump in the USA especially as regarding his unpopular immigration Executive Order and its fallout. That is what is done in a civilized and organized society. Leaders must be call to question from time to time on the good and bad of their actions.

For instance, if we have protested perhaps a week after inauguration of President Buhari for the constitution and composition of his cabinet members, maybe we won't have had it so bad. There might have been a lot of saving grace, but we have a docile political culture who hardly ask questions,and when it is done, it is always ethnic or religiously motivated.

Unfortunately, if we continue to keep mute on government policies and abysmal performance of leaders in and out office, we will continue to experience abysmal performance and suffer under anti-people policies. Consequently, we can only continue to suffer and smile, borrowing the words of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

The shelving of the protest by Tuface and others has further help to prolong our days of suffering under unpopular government policies. What this means is that we are okay with the present government and their known and unknown incompetencies. It is triumph of the forces of darkness over light. It is acceptance of the status quo, when apparently, it is no longer acceptable.

Sincerely, I weep for my fatherland not necessarily because of the postponment of the protest, but because of blatant support of the government of the day for the sake of support, and most especially by those who planned solidarity protest in honour of Buhari's led government. Once again, the ruling elites and cabires have succeeded in using divides and rules to divide the improverished masses for their personal benefits, while we continue to wallow in abject sufferings and its attendant consequences for the unborn children.

What the Nigeria Police has through CP Owoseni is to create fear in the heart of the organisers, and by inference all Nigerians thereby denying us of our fundamental human rights of movement, association, and peaceful assembly. It is however a bad omen for our nascent democracy, not because of today but because of the future.

It is my belief however that one day we will wake up from our slumbers and demand our rightful shares from our elected and appointed leaders, not minding the cost as freedom is not given on a platter of gold, it has to be earned and fought for with sweat and blood. In this vein, Thomas Jefferson said, the polity must be watered with the blood of the saints and the valians.

God bless my fatherland, but I stand with million of Nigerians who are without jobs, shelters on their heads, voiceless and helpless but whose nonetheless are crying in silence for better means of livelihood, and hoping that one day, this nation will be great. Let not the power that be think, they will always have their way for sooner or later,these helpless souls will have their cries heard by their Maker, and will one day raise a Moses, a Messiah who will fight their course for the oppressed can only be oppressed for sometime, as there come a day when they will fight back, and God will be at their sides. This we have seen from biblical era to the present moment,there is always a time lag for oppression.