
By Political Animal.
“Both my daddy and mummy have called to plead that I avoid every protest,it makes me wonder what the government did to our parents to make them this scared. They are the cause of our problem.They accepted everything past governments threw at them.But we have to fix the problem”
This was from one young man on Twitter because of the current situation or scanty protest at Lekki Toll Gate.
My son, you may not understand.Many of us are not the cause.
You may not have one solid reason to prove that such “parents” very decent citizens,who are in the majority,are the cause of the national problem.Maybe a few parents.
When you have your own children,you will understand.For some of us very elderly parents,it is not that we are ignorant of what is going on, but no elderly parent wants to lose their children at old age for any reason,in a nation where there is no provision for the elderly.
If the children die protesting,they may be labeled as armed robbers in the first place.Can we afford to go to the grave with such a shame?
In addition to this shamefully fabricated fact by government in most cases,who takes care of us.?
Secondly,the military regime was bloody and we had no social media at that time.
Most of us were brought up during such frightening regimes and were ruled by decrees.So,we lived and grew up with such a shock from the 60s.
Thirdly,we want to let you know that “Yesterday’s heroes” have become “Today’s oppressors”before our very eyes.
The present administration is full of former
June 12 activists,but that “June 12” generation is unfolding itself as a fraud before our very eyes .Can you now understand why we don’t want to lose you?.
We thought that they didn’t want their children to lose their future freedom and democratic rights, during the military regime,so ,they decided to fight and protest on our behalf during the June 12 days,
but, unfortunately those military regimes have become more tolerant and less brutal,based on what we are witnessesing today.
They are presently shooting at protesters, killing and packing their corpses in car boots for mass burial, which we rarely saw during the military regime.
We now understand that they didn’t like to be oppressed,so they worked hard to replace military oppressors to become present day oppressors.It is now their turn to oppress ruthlessly.We used to hear operation ” kill and go”,now it is “operation kill and remain” .Who dare challenge them.
Now we understand that most of them are not”June 12 heroes” but “June 12 opportunists and hijackers”
Our guess is that they were not really fighting for the soul and security of the nation,but a people who wanted a chance to get to power to do and put into practice what they saw the military,(who were then our mild oppressors) doing and the benefits they had with their properties all over the nation and oil wells.
The cycle continued from military to military to civillian to military to civillian to civillian to civillian…. Nawaooo.
We don’t want to lose our children and grandchildren, because we have discovered that, when you give an average Nigerian power,he or she would turn arround to become a political monster overnight ,
to oppress anything against his or her wish.
Just be a politician and you have made it for life.
It corroborates the notion of some Nigerians, (including yours truly)that some Nigerians who are dreaming and aspiring to be in power or wealth ,are just aspiring to become oppressors themselves.
Please don’t blame us.
Unfortunately our greatest fear again in your own generation (youths) with the social media,is that some of you who are shouting protest, protest online,butgo offline to align with the oppressors in order to get some crumbs.
We are beginning to realize as elders that majority of the youths are two faced .
They are strong online activists and offline supporters of the same oppressors.
They are strong online protesters, who aggressively declare ,that they will not keep quiet till their voices our heard but offline……Which means that,they also don’t want to die.
We can also state categorically that many Nigerian heroes ,are unfortunately identified and appreciated, only in retrospect, the week of their death.
They are villified in real-time and their history scantily or briefly told or mentioned, the week before their final burial . That is the only time their heroism is made known and also forgotten.
You can now understand our frustration,
and why we protest your protesting.
The scars on protesters fighting for the people are never recognized in the history of this nation.
Go and ask of Gani .F.
Author
Blogger
Publicaffairs Analyst
Activist.
