OUR FAILURE AS A PEOPLE

'Vox Populi Vox Dei' (The voice of the people is the voice of God)-Archbishop of Canterbury,Walter Reynolds(1327).

The average Nigerian today likes to think of himself as being politically and socially correct.Truth is we all like to think so.Its a taboo of some sorts to sit in a gathering of your likes and not have an opinion on any topical issue.An outsider would safely conclude that we don't just swallow any bitter pill thrust at us by our government.In as much as it is hard to believe or take seriously,reality on ground makes one want to agree with William Mcilvanney when he said-'Ideals are like items you pack into your luggage and take with you everywhere but never get to wear'.For all our concern and patriotism if you would call it that,we don't effectively utilize collective power to combat wrong policies or decisions.Technological advancement has produced the social media and as far as criticism of governmental policies,decisions and acts go,the social media is the new media.Everyone grabs any opportunity to make a go.I dare say even doing this in the regular media isn't enough.We have to make our grievances felt not just among ourselves but among the people that matter-our leaders.
A lot of people might not like me for this but we are contributorily negligent in the  "Boko Haram" menace.I must commend our social media activists for starting the #BringBackOurGirls movement but like I pointed out at the last NBA Kano Branch Public lecture with National Security as the theme; nobody bothered asking how many innocent souls, among them kids have been lost prior to the kidnap of the #ChibokGirls that gave rise to the movement?.Did we start any movement capable of drawing the world's attention to our plight prior to that other than rant all day on social media and pages of of newspapers?.I will tell you what we were capable of doing.
A mass protest,one similar to #BringBackOurGirls over continous loss of lives in a war fought by a military that has been allocated about a trillion in our annual budget would have forced the government to accept defeat and seek foreign aid.Its sad when one looks back at the pack of lies we have been fed by our leaders and the military over the years.From death figures to the popular 'having it all under control' phrase we have become tired of hearing.We would have proved we wanted results and would only be dealt with with the truth.
Now the insurgency has grown in leaps and bounds and we are left at the mercy of the insurgents as far as the fate of those young innocent school girls is concerned.
The Arab Spring in 2010 made the whole world stand up to applaud 'vox Populi'.It was at its mightiest.Tunisia,Libya,Yemen and Egypt all stood up against tyranny and infinite leadership by ousting their governments.The people were on the streets all day all night.
Like any well-meaning Nigerian,I don't condone violence in whatever form and some of the most effective protest measures happen to not contain it,Civil disobedience chief among them.
Morocco and Jordan implemented constitutional reforms as a result of the mass protest by the people while Nigerians sit and watch in agony at the wanton impunity with which our constitution is being desecrated.
A president suspends a CBN Governor in violation of the CBN Act which provides for outright removal after ratification by the Senate and goes ahead to appoint a new substantive Governor which in essence means the unlawful suspension can best be deemed an ouster.
The impeachment clause in our constitution is now given many 'manufactured' interpretations in a manner that reminds one of the activities of Napoleon and the other pigs in George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'.The height of it being the impeachment of the Enugu state Deputy Governor for running a poultry at his official residence.That is not gross misconduct in any way.His allegation of the Governor rearing pigs also brings to mind the  most important provision in the constitution as amended by Napoleon and his crew in 'Animal Farm'-'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others'.A lot of people say it is a matter for the courts but public opinion can change a lot.We have the power to stop politicians from moulding our laws into weapons of political warfare in their meetings.We might just wake up one day to find out that a person has been impeached for having a poor sense of fashion.
A united protest against this will pass the message across-we have had enough.We have stood as one before and gotten the most favourable outcomes.I look back at the opposition to Gen. Obasanjo's third term bid disguised in Constitutional amendment with great nostalgia.The House of Assembly can lay claim to killing the plot but the truth like we all know is we did it.We screamed not only to ourselves but to everyone.We backed our words with action.Every law maker wanted to grab a chance to be popular by opposing it.No patriot will forget the opposition to fuel subsidy removal.Despite the difficulties that arose out of it,we were all proud to be Nigerians.There were parties and shows on the streets of Lagos.Such joy comes from knowing you are doing the right thing.A lot of us saw it as the dawn of a new era in Nigeria,an era where we had truly realized the enormity of our powers as a people but it was not to be.
We did great with the #BringBackOurGirls protests but it was a little too late.Perhaps an effort not even as huge as that would have made the government prosecute Stella Oduah,our thieving ex-Aviation Minister after her removal and forced the petroleum minister to appear before the house committee to defend allegations she was wasting our money on jets instead of watching her waste more of it on an injunction to stop them.A government that has been forced to acknowledge the true power its people possess will always be at its best as is the case in better climes.The responsibility to make them do that lies with us and the good news is that it is not too late.