This Is What Happens When Crocodile Smiles And Boys Are Not Smiling; A Gory Tale Of Lootings And Vandalism Across Nigeria.

By Godfree Matthew Esq

INTRODUCTION

The deployment of Operation Crocodile smile to quell the ENDSARS protest was not welcomed by many Nigerians. Many stakeholders suggested that this should not be the best option. However, the Nigerian government gave a deaf ear and proceeded to deploy the soldiers. Unfortunately, it was the deployment of soldiers that led to the deaths of innocent protesters at Lekki Toll gate in Lagos. The smiling crocodile is also a metaphor of bad leadership bedeviling the country reflected in corruption, poverty and insecurity. It is these developments that led to the once peaceful protest to transmogrify into an unexpected dimension of looting and vandalism. It is from this background that this article is captured as “This is What Happens When Crocodile Smiles and Boys are Not Smiling; A Gory Tale of Lootings and Vandalism across Nigeria”.

THE SMILING CROCODILE AND THE UNSMILING BOYS

In Nigeria, it is within the province of knowledge that military are prohibited by the law to participate in quelling civil protest. This position has the backing of the law in the case of YUSUF V BUHARI (2003) 14 NWLR (PT 841) 446 where the Court of Appeal held that:

It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and not the military otherwise the democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly militarized. That is not what the citizens bargained for in wrestling power from the military in 1999. Conscious steps should be taken to civilianize the polity and thereby ensure the survival of and sustenance of our democracy.

It is apt for Nigerians to know that President Buhari was the beneficiary of the above judgment of the court when he was not a President. He benefited from the legitimacy of this judgment but now he denied others the same privilege. Then, a further question is why does the President resolve to neglect the law that once protected him when he was a citizens? Are the President and Nigeria Army above the law? Are there no other non-military options of addressing ENDSAR protest? Scintillating questions like these need objective answers.

The smiling crocodile is a metaphor to the abuse of rule of law associated with Nigerian government. It also symbolizes disregards for rule of law and crass neglects of civic responsibility towards the welfare of Nigerians citizens. This is reflected in lamentable state of unemployment, poverty, corruption, moral decadence, lack of equal opportunity and social upheaval bedeviling the Nigerian society. It is an undoubtable and unimpeachable fact that Nigerian youths are the ones affected by these social and economic injustices. As such there is no justification for the youth to smile alongside with the crocodile.

The smiling crocodile and the unsmiling boys depict a clashing paradigm between two sets of citizens who are at conflict with each other. While the crocodile is happy with the status quo, which appears to favour it, as such it has a cause to smile. However, the boys who are not happy with the situations are singing songs of lamentation. Thus while the crocodile smiles; the boys are mournful in writhe. This scenario in turn led to conflicts of opposing view manifested in physical violence.

The conflict between smiling crocodile and the unsmiling youth first started with ENDSARS protest in which the lads expressed their grievances against police brutality, corruption, lack of equal opportunities, unemployment, etc. However, it is when the smiling crocodiles wanted to compel the Nigeria youths to smile (who believe that there is no factual basis for that) that conflicts ensued. The match stick that ignites the explosion was the killing of the ENDSARS protesters at Lekki Toll gate in Lagos State. It is this development that led to the ugly disposition of the angry youths which left one to wonder whether the deployments of the smiling crocodile really made Nigerians smile. Let’s look at what the unsmiling boys caused to Nigeria in the aftermaths of their confrontation with the smiling crocodile.

THE AFTERMATHS OF THE ACTS OF UNSMILING BOYS

The unsmiling boys were not organized along political lines nor via physical structures; rather, there were organized along ideological unity. They see themselves in the shoes of what Karl Marx terms as “Class consciousness”. By Class consciousness, Karl Marx means that when the oppressed come to the realization of their exploitation by the ruling class, they will revolt to overthrow their oppressors. This was what the unsmiling boys of Nigeria did during the ENDSARS days. They did not rely on the opposition party or the labour to address their grievances. These developments make it difficult for one to distinguish between the hoodlums and peaceful protesters.

In expressing their anger, the unsmiling boys attacked government institutions such as Nigeria Ports Authority, Judicial Institutions, Prisons, Police Stations and Religious centers. The burning of these institutions is of symbolic implications to the grievances of the angry youths. Let’s examine these symbolic implications in the subsequent paragraphs.

But before doing that it is important to point out that the acts of attacking public institution is condemnable by any civilized society. This writer is equally condemning such acts. I don’t think that looting and destruction is the main reason for the ENDSAR protest. As to whether the members of ENSARS protest joined the unsmiling boys in causing damages, is a fact this writer cannot reached a definite conclusion on. The reader’s opinion is helpful here.

Furthermore, the collateral damages were necessitated by poor approaches in handling civil protest, hunger and illiteracy. The use of hoodlum allegedly sponsored by government to attack protesters is another contributory factor to the upheaval. Having examined these exceptions, it is now right to examine the symbolic implications of the attacks on Nigerian institutions by the unsmiling boys.

The burning of Nigerian Ports Authority may symbolize the dissatisfaction with what comes into the country that the youths are not benefiting from. It is a signed of frustration. Many exotic cars for the elites, guns, drugs, substandard products etc are usually brought in through the Ports. In the tail end it is the youth that are at the receiving end.

The attack on the judicial institutions may symbolize the dissatisfaction of the youths with the justice system and the injustice that is prevailing in the land plus the corruption in the judiciary. The conflicting and unpredictable decisions of the courts that imposed unwelcomed and unwanted political leaders on the people could be one of the reasons for the assault on the judiciary. Also some of the youths were victims of injustice condoned by judiciary that is an appendage of the executive. They were not happy how their cases on family land trespassed by an elite is lingering in court over the years. Up to the time that their parents who started the legal battle died and were substituted by them; yet the case is going on. To them the sins of the judiciary are many.

The assault on the Police Station signifies discontentment with police brutality and illegal detention. The police are the central character in the theatre of this protest. They are seen by the youths as national bullies who extort, sexually harassed, tortured and killed innocent citizens. Enforcement of their rights against the police became impossible because of compromise and conspiracy in the social system. As such the police sometimes go scot free and even got elevated. Thus, when the wild party of the protest began, it is obvious why the unsmiling boys attacked the police.

The judicial system sometimes deprived the youths of justice by sending them under remand order; where they spent years in prison more than the penalty stipulated by the law. And sometimes after trial they will be discharged as innocent. People with these experiences view prison as gulag or Auschwitz. Therefore, to them when the opportunity for payback comes, the prison needs to be attack. Don’t always forget the Movie Prison Break is one of the Seasonal movies that were once popular among Nigerian youths. The attack on the prison may be an expression of the dissatisfaction with the protracted pretrial detention of awaiting trial persons and those on remand orders.

The assault by the youths on the religious center of Rev Father Mbaka is unfortunate, but it also sends a signal that the youth are tired of religious manipulation and the use of religious leaders by politicians. The youths are interested in Prophets who will rebuke King David for committing adultery with Barsheeba and also rebuke Jeroboam for building idol in Samaria. They want Prophet Elijah who will faced Ahab on their behalf or Prophet Jeremiah who will not mind been in underground for telling Zedekiah the truth. They don’t want political Rasputin.

Of interest and utter amazement to Nigerians was the looting of Lagos palliative center for COVID 19 pandemic. Prior to the ENDSARS protest many Lagosians or Nigerians are aware of the fact that a place like this exists. These palliatives are meant to be distributed during the heydays of COVID 19 but the government of Lagos state appears to be silence and mute on this. The most inhumane aspect of this government, it increases fuel price and electricity tariff after COVID 19 pandemic, without sharing those foods in store to alleviate the poverty in the land. At last it was the unsmiling youth whose revolt brought Santa Clause to some Lagosians who recently discovered ‘rice mine’ in Lagos.

The unsmiling boys of Lagos state equally ‘inspired’ the youths in other states to embark on search for COVID 19 Pandemic Palliatives centers across the country. Consequently, there was discovery of such centers in Osun, Cross River, Kwara and Plateau States. The story of the looting of the COVID 19 palliative across the nation is viewed by many as a more heroic adventure of exposing corruption by Nigerian leaders. Consequently, while government (and this writer) will view such act as looting by hoodlums, there are others who may hail the acts of the youth. There may be some who are celebrating the looting as the typical instance of “The Beatification of Area Boys”; derived from the title of a play written by Professor Wole Soyinka.

WHERE ENDSARS PROTESTS STOPPED AND WHERE HOOLIGANISM BEGAN

The ENDSARS protest was adjudged to be peaceful by many. This was seen in the fact that the protesters were well coordinated by providing medical aids and sanitary measures to avoid littering streets in the course of their protest. The ENDSARS movement was purely a protest against government. It is unconnected with private enterprises.

The ENDSARS protest ends when the government started imposing curfew. At that time some ENDSAR protesters complied and promised to continue whenever the curfew is lifted. However, before the curfew was lifted, the hoodlums hijacked the protest in some states. To find a rationale for their nefarious acts, they relied on the shooting of Lekki Protesters. It is at this juncture that the ENDSARS movement ended and hooliganism began.

The hooligans hijacked the atmosphere of ENSARS protest after the Lekki incidence to spread unlawlessness. After breaking the COVID 19 Palliative Centers in Lagos, the COVID 19 palliatives Centers in other states such as Onus, Cross River, Kaduna, Adamawa, Taraba and Plateau states were attacked. It is not certain which state is the next to be attacked, unless the security intervenes.

Logically, it is expected that since the unsmiling boys are aggrieved against the government, their frustration ought to have ended with attack on government properties. However, this is not the case. The hoodlums burnt a car stand in Abuja. They also destroyed the properties of private businessmen. For example, in Plateau state the hoodlums razed people’s property, looted fertilizer, seedlings and agricultural equipments; all in the name of looting COVID 19 palliative. The question one always asked is why attacking the properties of private individuals? Rationally, to what extent is fertilizer and seedlings a COVID 19 palliative? Was COVID 19 a pandemic against plants or animals? The answers to these questions show that the various lootings across the nation is not in tandem with the mandates and the reasoning of ENDSARS protesters. It is a typical act of hooliganism.

Another instance of hooliganism taking over the ENDSARS protest is the alleged deployment of hoodlums to disrupt the once peaceful protest. This might give the hoodlums some sense of belonging that they matter. It is unfortunate that it is the same set of these hoodlums that later looted the said government and citizens’ property.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In light of these unfortunate incidence the government should adopt the under stated propositions as the way forward in resolving these crisis.

In the first place, the government should render a sound apology for its inability to secure the lives and property of Nigerian citizens. The President Speech on 22nd October, 2020 lacked the real grasp of the issues at hand. It lacked empathy, democratic ethos and patriotism. Many Nigerians are not happy with the statements.

Also, the Governors of the 36 States, including Abuja (FCT) should set up Reconciliatory Committees to address the ENDSAR protest. Experiences have shown that the recommendations of judicial panels mostly ended up as White Paper being kept in government archives without implementation.

There shall be accountability by the army, police officers and looters for violating the law. In this regard, the army who killed protesters in Lekki should face the law. Similarly, police officers who are charged with violating human rights should equally be prosecuted. In the same vein, the hoodlums who destroyed peoples’ property and government’s property should be identified and prosecuted.

Again, the Nigerian government should set up committees to assess the quantum of the damages of properties and compensate the victims, including government agencies. The compensation should be done on time devoid of too many bureaucratic hitches.

In order to address unemployment challenges. Government should immediately employed people in cadres of its civil service that are under-staffed. This may take the people off the ladder of unemployment. There are many retirees in civil services but no new employment. What one usually noticed is replacements of the children of the privilege. Government should create jobs and conducive atmospheres for job creation by private individuals.

Government should immediately address youthful restiveness in Nigeria. Address the educational crises in the country. Address the struggles of ASUU and other allied bodies. This will absolve the numbers of these youngsters from the street. The ENDSARS protest exhibited against Buhari’s government might have been the headache of some Vice Chancellors, Rectors, Provost and Principals- who might have been battling with Aluta struggle by their students; had it been that schools are on. Perhaps, the ENDSARS become stronger because students were missing their wont Aluta struggles.

Furthermore, the government should set up a Rehabilitation Committee. The Ministry of Works and Housing shall collaborate with other ministries to rebuild the destructions done in Prisons, Police Stations and the Judiciary.

Lastly, it is time to restructure Nigeria.

CONCLUSION

I will like to conclude by quoting Chinua Achebe in the book, ARROW OF GOD where he says:

Sometimes we live in the house of a coward and point at the ruin where a brave man lives

What is didactic about the above statement is that the use of force in conflict resolution should not be always the first resort. It has its consequences. Even if one wins there will collateral damages. Nigeria government may be the brave men with smiling crocodiles, but it is not wise in applying force to quell civil protest. In the course, they met with unsmiling youths. And the killing of some of the youths led to national looting and upheavals thereby leaving Nigeria in ruins. Thus, sometime applying courtesy and diplomacy in conflict resolution is a knack and not cowardice. This is even a strategy in military ethics. That is what Clausewitz means when he maintained that diplomacy is a continuation of war by another means.

It is therefore, needful for the government of President Buhari to note that the language of democracy is diplomacy and peaceful approaches to contending issues. Use of force will further only proliferate violence and leave Nigeria in ruins. Today we are witness to history. The use of violence may only beget violence. That is why when the crocodile smiles, the boys are not smiling and we are in gory situation today as a nation. Let us avoid violence, learn from our mistakes and embrace peace.