Erépá èé bímo re
Eré pá èé bímo re
Bí ò bí kùmò
A bí bílálà
Erépá
Roughplay doesn’t birth goodness
Roughplay doesn’t deliver goodness
If it doesn’t birth baton
It’s sure to deliver horsewhip.
We shouldn’t be talking about Lekki protest again. The one they organized last October ended in blood(y?) fiasco. After the claims and rebuttals of massacre by supporters and opposers of the protest, Lagos State government constituted a panel to hear alleged cases of maiming and killing at Lekki, gather evidences through those who wished to testify and make recommendations. Since the panel began its sitting in Lagos, ‘Comrade’ Omoyele Sowore hasn’t visited the venue of the panel to show them graphical evidences of massacre. Then, one is tempted to ask, what entitles Sowore to call for another round of protest at the same Lekki tollgate? If he had visited the panel sitting, that would have given him an opportunity to table his grievances. No serious government will allow another round of protest in Lagos since the ruins from the last protest still litter Lagos.
In readiness for the protest billed to hold tomorrow, members of the Nigerian Police have stayed alert to forestall breakdown of law and order. Lagos state government did well this time by seconding internal police to prevent lawlessness at the tollgate. It would have been out of place if soldiers were deployed since the misunderstanding and misconception arising from the earlier deployment of soldiers during the last October protest are still sour-smelling.
However, there’s an exampled circumstance for Oyo state government to learn from with the presence of armed-to-the-teeth police personnel at Lekki tollgate. After the Lekki protest against SARS operatives in particular and the rank and file of Nigerian police in general, during which some police officers were killed, others maimed and stations burnt, Lagos state government rose to the occasion by compensating the families of slain police officers, paying for the treatment of maimed officers and renovating and equipping burnt and vandalised police stations. If Lagos state government had refused to show emotional and financial empathy with the police in the state during the trying times, would the police have been motivated to return to Lekki tollgate to forestall breakdown of law and order tomorrow? The incessant violence and brigandage characterising Oyo state now are partly as a result of the refusal of the police to return their statutory duty of securing the state. They feel unmotivated by the inaction of the government towards the killing, the maiming and the vandalization suffered by the police in the hands of the hoodlums who hijacked the endsars protest. The state government has shown to them that it’s not concerned about their wellbeing!
Amotekun is trying its best to bring back sanity to Oyo state but its operatives are overwhelmed by the ubiquitous violence in the state. If there’s a call for protest today in Oyo state, which security agency is going to stay alert to forestall breakdown of law and order as it’s being done in Lagos as we speak?
The organisers of the proposed Lekki tollgate protest slated for tomorrow have tonight to sleep thrice before dawn and warn the Àró and the Òdòfin residing in them to let sleeping dog lie so it doesn’t disturb the peaceful, silent atmosphere with its barks. Silence is said to be golden but there are times silence is auspicious. It’s the same with protest; citizens have right to protest but protests are better done when it’s auspicious.
Nigeria in general and Lagos in particular should be ours to protect, not to plunder! No youth should go and do acrobatic roughplay at Lekki tollgate tomorrow. Any roughplay at Lekki tomorrow can only birth badness!
