Angry, These Young Visionaries March to Save Nigeria

Motivation

Olukayode: Good Leadership Nigeria was created in 2008 as a Facebook group and we currently have over 4000 members. Our focus is to enthrone good leadership and we intend to achieve this through public sensitization and election monitoring and by collaborating with other groups of like minds. We align with the SNG in this quest, especially in their agitation for the implementation of the Justice Uwais report on electoral reforms. This is a first step in the direction of enthroning good leadership after which we can address other social issues.  GLN is a free group – membership is open to all members of society and all ethnic groups.  A lot of people in Nigeria believe that our votes don’t count, [yet] we have seen elections such as [Kano state] where Governor Ibrahim Shekarau won the election by organizing vigilante groups to guard votes. We want people to understand why it is necessary to guard their votes. We enlighten people that their votes should not be bought and we intend to get involved in election monitoring as this is also part of the defence of votes. We do not need to praise our leaders for doing their jobs.  It is the right of the people to have good services and the job of the leaders to provide them. I created the group and our efforts are entrenched in our civil society background. We have no political ambitions but we will support any candidate that will provide good leadership

Ohimai: One of the biggest crises that has bedeviled this nation since independence is the challenge of good leadership and good governance. To have credible leadership in government, people have to come out to vote. People need to understand that they must register and vote and then stand by their votes to make sure their votes count. MYVC was put together to help inspire young people particularly because we came to understand that young people constitute well over 60% of the voting population and of the general population. If the young people are mobilized to vote and stand by their votes, we will have people voting the kind of leaders that we want in government. We will be able to prevent a situation where people come together under the banner of the so-called ruling party or majority party to rig the elections. MYVC is a democratic organization, founded on the principles of democracy and the rule of law and we came together with other partners, having initiated the campaign last year targeted at young people. Part of what inspired the MYVC process was the Obama phenomenon where the votes of the young people made a difference.  We realized that if it can happen in America, it can also happen here. We can get our young people to become involved in the process, get registered to vote, identify the people they want to vote for, come out and vote. Participate, vote at the polls to ensure their votes count.  For us, that is the only way to get out of the leadership crisis. If we sit back in our home as young people, and complain but do nothing, nothing will change. For us, it goes beyond protesting or holding a rally.  That is good, that is important but the core and more critical issue is the next elections and even beyond. How do we in 2011 vote credible leaders into government?  How do we get that done? There is no way we can get that done if our young people who constitute a critical mass do not come out to vote.  That is the thrust of the MYVC campaign.

Involvement in Save Nigeria Group (SNG) protest

Ohimai: The MYVC campaign is committed to good leadership. What has happened within the last three months in Nigeria is a total aberration of democratic governance. You have a President who leaves his country on medical vacation without following the constitutionally prescribed process of transmitting power to his deputy… A month passed by, 2 months passed by and for over a hundred days, we don’t know what has happened to him. Recently we heard he has been brought back into the country but nobody has seen him. What has happened in the last three months does not happen in a true democracy. That is why we decided to come out and support this cause. We believe the SNG group is committed to entrenching good governance in Nigeria and because this ties into the goals and objectives of our organization, we had to come out to support the cause. That is why we came to support this process today but this is not originally or essentially what we do as a group.

Goal of the Protest

Olukayode: The message we took out today – If you are privy to some of the pictures we took – was actually about the Justice Uwais report and electoral reforms. Our focus is to enthrone good leadership and the electoral process and specifically the forthcoming elections in 2011 is part of enthroning good leadership. Nigerians are tired of charlatans and mediocre running the country and that is why a whole lot of issues were raised. We are not the only ones calling for electoral reforms. A lot of the groups are pressing for the implementation of the Justice Uwais report on electoral reforms and the call of the government to uphold the constitution. The past few months has shown a breach of the constitution so we went out there to put this forward. Iwu is a factor is that process. We can’t have new wine in old bottles so it is best that Iwu goes. He was part of the perpetrators of the electoral fraud of 2003 and we don’t think he should continue as the INEC chairman. It is like asking cat to watch over fish. It’s impossible. I don’t agree with some of the issues raised but I agree with a majority of them. We are groups with different opinions but we have a united front today as some of our issues were aligned.

 

Outcome of the March

Ohimai: We must give credit to the SNG for their ability to manage the process over time in such a way that whether you have a multiplicity of voices or interests, everything was brought under a single banner.  The reason we stopped our protest march at the Federal secretariat is because the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG) Alhaji Yayale met with us to receive the letter that contained the demands of the SNG.  I think that was a big step for the protest and the cause this afternoon, because no better person represents the members of the Federal Executive Council – and as he said, he was directed by the Acting President to come and address us.  The message that was read by the Convener of the SNG Pastor Tunde Bakare and which was delivered to Alhaji Ahmed Yayale contained the 5-point demand of the group. So it is officially documented and it will eventually get to the Federal Government and I am sure that it will be read at the Federal Executive Council. The thoughts and interest of the SNG and other collaborators of today’s march will be adequately conveyed.

Not Reaching the Presidential Villa

Ohimai: Going as far as the gates of the Presidential villa would have been symbolic but the heart of today’s process was achieved: presenting our demands to government under the gaze of the international and local media.  Not reaching the gates… we refuse allow that to detract from the goals of the process. The Acting President personally directed the SFG to speak to us and receive the list of demands from us. This shows the Acting President has high regards for this process, he believes Nigerians are dissatisfied and he thought it fit to receive our message.

Two Marches in Two Months

Ohimai: I don’t think it is too many. This is a strategy that the group has chosen to employ. In the grand plan, there will be a series of activities that will culminate into acts of civil disobedience if the demands that have been made by the SNG are not addressed within the time-frame indicated.  Today’s march is to reinforce the first demands made… that we still stand by the demands we are making. Don’t forget that within the last few weeks following the protest, some developments have occurred, which include the purported return of the President. 

 

Timing of Acting President’s response

Ohimai: I think the Acting President has been given enough time. He has barely 6 months to implement change.  This is a man who came in on a joint ticket with the current president. They promised us 6000 megawatts of power; we are the world’s 6th largest producer of crude oil but have no fuel in our country. There is a public procurement act that was the first act signed in to law by this administration. That act makes provision for a public procurement committee to sit and consider every contract awarded to ensure they are duly and properly awarded. Up till now, as I speak that committee has not been constituted. The Yar’Adua government has carried out a lot of illegalities. We are telling the Nigerian government and the Acting President that he has a critical opportunity that history and necessity of time has placed a burden upon him to redeem the image of his government (of the joint ticket on which he came into office. There is no time to waste.

 

Six months to perform

Ohimai: We agree that the time is short but there are critical steps that will affect the future of our country. For instance, this executive council is comprised of ministers who are there for their own interests. It is comprised of people who are outdated and outmoded, who have lost touch with the contemporary reality of our people and the future of our country. For instance the Minister of Petroleum. Why is he still in that cabinet? The expectation is very realistic. Nigeria can be changed in four years by a very serious set of leaders in the cabinet. In six months he can dissolve the cabinet and bring in a transition cabinet of new, broad-minded and thinking people, set a new agenda for the country which we believe that if it is a good blueprint, subsequent administrations will want to build on that. Within 6 months, if the Acting President will take the right decisions and stop being controlled by the cabal of a few ministers and the first lady along with other unscrupulous elements who call themselves members of the national assembly if the Acting  President decided to be decisive about the future of our country,  revamp the cabinet with people who would put the future of Nigeria and the interest of the country first before their personal interest, not this current crop of ministers who are busy awarding oil blocks to themselves while there is fuel scarcity in the land. Not this crop of ministers who are the ones behind the importation of generators into our country and have vested interest in ensuring there is no power. The Acting President knows what these issues are. That is why we are surprised that he is not taking decisions they way we expect him to. Whether he likes it or not, it is better to take a decision now and let that decision prevail for the next 6 months than to sit back and take no decisions because he only has six months left.

Olukayode: It is said that the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. I am not expecting the Acting President to perform magical acts. What we are expecting him to do is to take the right steps. Those steps will determine what will happen in the future. One of the rights steps we expect is the sacking of Maurice Iwu. This is a critical step. For a while now, a lot of people have been shouting over the fact that Iwu cannot lead the current INEC to conduct credible elections. It is true. From all indices, it s clear that Iwu has to go. And I feel that the Acting President if he truly wants to implement the electoral reforms in the Uwais report needs to sack Iwu. Those are steps that will determine if the future is secure. Nigerians want to know if their future will be secured through all the decision he is making. The decision of changing the National Security Adviser, well maybe it’s strategic. But there are more pressing decisions that he needs to take that will assure us of a secure future. Part of that process is conducting credible elections in 2011. So whether there is enough time or not, make decisive decisions. Make decision that will determine and secure the future for us.

Protester’s 5-point Demand

Ohimai: First, there is the constitutional resolution of the anomaly of an invisible President co-existing with an Acting President constantly undermined by the cabal by the invocation of Section 144 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria without further delay;
2. Urgent electoral reforms with a wholesale implementation of the Uwais report as the benchmark to restore the integrity of the ballot box so that never again shall we be governed by a set of officials with dubious mandate like those who have taken us through 100 days of the theatre of the absurd;
3. In furtherance of the above, the Acting President must urgently come up with a Harmonization Committee on what the Senate and the House of Representatives are doing on the Uwais report;
4. A non-partisan transitional cabinet of the brightest and the best from all corners of Nigeria must be put together by the Acting President to chart a new course for the country while the Presidential Advisory Committee can remain truly advisory as the nation requires new thinking and new thinkers; and
5. Immediate implementation of the PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT signed into law in 2007 by Yar’Adua but which has yet to be implemented because of the sustenance of the corrupt tendencies associated with the weekly award of contracts by EXCOF.
All of these will help take Nigeria out o the current crisis. It is imperative for the cabinet to be dissolved because if the cabinet fails to cooperate with the AP to make that declaration, we will continue to linger in this crisis.  So section 144 should be invoked and all obstacles to its invocation should be removed, which includes [but is not limited to] the current cabinet.

 

Expiration of Deadline

Ohimai: We will weigh our options [on expiration of deadline to government]. The government will leave Nigerians with no choice but to embark on acts of civil disobedience if, by the timeline given to the Acting President, there is no change to the way things are. If two weeks pass and we still don’t know if the President is dead or alive, whether he is well or recovering… we will be left with no choice but to embark on acts of civil disobedience to which the government will then be forced to react. However, I must say we are fairly confident things will not get that far. I believe the Acting President and C-in-C of the Armed Forces. Mr Goodluck Jonathan is a reasonable and peace-loving man and I believe that since we have approached him with all sense of peace and understanding, I want to believe he is a reasonable man and a man of peace – unlike the national assembly which shut its gates against peaceful protesters. If that does not happen, we will be left with no choice than to take critical steps. As a follow-up to that, young Nigerians particularly are also displeased and disgusted by what is happening in Aso Rock so they are planning a peaceful protest on Tuesday next week. As I speak with you, young Nigerians between Lagos and Abuja are mobilizing their friends and members of the entertainment industry to come to Abuja on Tuesday

Focus of Third Protest March

Ohimai: [The upcoming youth march will put forward] …basically three points. We are saying enough is enough. We need fuel, give us power, we want to know the current status of the President. It is either Yar’Adua resigns or be removed. That is our first demand, our second point is that the Yar’Adua administration has failed us by promising us 6000 megawatts of power when they assumed office but till now nothing has been done. We want concrete steps to be taken by the time of the protest and the third demand is about Fuel. We don’t understand why we are the 5th largest producer of crude oil in the world but there is fuel scarcity all over Nigeria. These are cogent, very critical demands that the young people of Nigeria are asking their government about. In any civilized democracy, these are normal.  The group is marching under the umbrella of a group called ‘Enough is Enough’. I am part of the group and of the today’s protest as well.

Not Too Many Marches

Olukayode: The protest of today [and the previous one] is a general protest, which included groups from youth organizations but on Tuesday, the youth will be speaking for themselves. We constitute over 70% of the Nigerian population; we have a right to be heard. We are not asking for different terms. All our terms are aligned with those which have been previously presented and in particular with today’s. So if we are going to the NASS to further complement the demands that were made today, I don’t think it is out of place and I don’t agree that it sends the wrong signal. I think we are simply emphasizing the point.

Ohimai: We are going there on Tuesday to register a strong impression that apart from what was done today, we are coming as independent youth of Nigeria who are clearly displeased with what is happening in Aso Rock and we demand a change. If you look at today’s protest, those at the forefront are from the older generation. Tuesday’s protest is to tell the government that the young people of Nigeria are also disenchanted and want change. So it’s the same demands but streamlined into three core demands, which are also aligned to the grand demands of the SNG which were articulated today. [Tuesday’s march] might not be setting specific deadlines but as we said the acting president is a reasonable man and these are reasonable demands made by one, two, three groups. It is not likely that he will ignore them. We hope things will not degenerate into civil disobedience or drawing battle lines but at the moment I don’t see that happening.  I believe his heart will be moved if he sees young people coming out to demand these things

Protest as Ammunition

Olukayode: We are trying to forestall any further acts of illegality and also giving the Acting President the strength of the popular will of the people of Nigeria.

Ohimai: We are saying we believe in you and they want you to be decisive about the future of this country

Religious Riots on the Protest Agenda

Olukayode: Some groups raised the issue but it is not part of the 5-point demand.
Ohimai: It was not part of the 5-point demand but it was articulated during the protest. I think Hajia Najatu Mohammed spoke in that respect. Just to point out that what is happening in Jos goes beyond the issue of religion. It is a clear testimony of the fact that law and order has broken down in the country.  A few weeks ago there were reports of a robbery incidence on Lagos –Benin highway where armed robbers robbed and killed citizens with all impunity on a route that was supposed to be patrolled by policemen and law enforcement agents. So a number of things that have happened recently in terms of security show that there is lawlessness in the land and anything can happen anywhere. That is the more reason why we are calling on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan– yes, he has changed the NSA but Nigerians need to the know that they have a President who is in charge. When it is not even clear if the number one citizen is not in the country, anything can happen. Look at how the President was brought into the country. The Acting President was unaware, military men were deployed to protect him or receive him – they were not deployed to Jos when they were needed and they were not deployed with the knowledge of the Acting President. So that security crises was made possible by the fact that the Acting President was really not in charge – that needs to be dealt with immediately. The Acting President needs to show the world and Nigerians that he is charge of this government. Not necessarily because he is being ambitious but because that is his constitutional mandate. The constitution makes it clear that when the President is incapacitated or absent the VP takes acting capacity, so every authority and power of the Presidency is vested in him right now. He has to exercise those powers to the optimum whenever necessary. 

Endorsement of Consensus Candidate

Ohimai: The rank and file of the SNG comprises men and women of honour and integrity, men who cannot be bought over. The Wole Soyinka I know is not a man that can be paid to organize a crowd for any politician. Pastor Tunde Bakare likewise, Joe Odumakin, Olisa Agbakoba and so on. These are credible Nigerians who will not for any reason whatsoever put the integrity they have built over the years on the line simply because of any political ambition. Nonetheless, that kind of thinking does not come as a surprise to us because when you come out on a mission like this, there will always be detractors.  It will amaze you to learn that there were two other groups who sought the IG’s permission to hold a counter-protest that the same venue and time of our protest. That tells you that there are people who feel threatened by the wind of change that is sweeping ferociously through the land. They feel that if they don’t rise up to stop it now, it will take them over but the truth is that it they have been taken over already. It is just a matter of time. What they saw today will be child’s play compared with the future of Nigeria. The revolution has just begun. In the past couple of years, you will not see Nigerians come out in the hot sun to do what they did today but it shows that the revolution is building. If we do not see the kind of changes we want in Nigeria, they will see millions of people on the streets. Not just thousands as they saw today …millions who are into this cause not because of what they can get but what they can give. There are millions who are into this cause not because of any personal interest but because of their love for their fatherland. I came on board this process because of the love I have for Nigeria. I had never met Pastor Tunde Bakare, Wole Soyinka etc until the first protest. It is not about having any affiliation or pecuniary interests in this process. All of us are in this for the future of this country. Not the cabal or anything can derail or detract from this process. Nothing will stop us. Nigerians have decided to move for change and there is nothing that can stop that movement.

A petition is gaining ground to press home the demands of Nigerians

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