National Issues
#EndSARS 2020: The New Band-Aid -By Veronica Wicks
A fundamental feature and measure of the progress and well-being of any civil society is to be found in its populace – Their education, their ability to take care of their health, their ability to gain willful employment, and seek out one another for business opportunities that can move the collective as a country, forward.
When you have rot and decay in a tooth, the dentist does not apply a band-aid to ease the pain and make you feel better. The dentist that’s worth his salt will tell you bluntly that you have a decay and it must be cleaned. This calls back to today’s #ENDSARS movement. Let us not forget the hashtag. This year’s new attempt at applying a new band-aid to cover up a rot that runs deep, and to paint over the decay that is rooted in all institutions of the Nigerian government.
A spade is a spade. The Nigerian Police Force are not the source of the rot here, let us call them a symptom. A symptom of decay that has been masked for so long with the wrong treatment could include inflammation of the ongoing rot which in this instance reveals itself in brutality meted out onto citizens. I would be failing my own integrity as a writer to not use this point to draw a comparison – To the greatest country the world has ever produced, the United States. The United States is a country quite similar to Nigeria in many ways; it covers a large land mass, has the highest population of people in its continent, and also has a failure that may appear similar to that of Nigeria, the policing of its citizens.
On its face, you may mistake the policing issue in the United States to that which the current #ENDSARS movement seeks to root out. But you will be very wrong. The United States police is one of the most empowered units in the world. They have world-class training, income, and camaraderie. The people welcome them, mostly, until you get to the core of a few racist members of the force who ruin the whole egg. The movement to reform the police in America is part of a decades-long effort to enforce equality across the American system on all fronts – Education, Housing, Healthcare, and others. The injustice of the American Police Force lies in the fact that its officers and the police system hold entrenched beliefs and attitudes from the times of American slavery that continue to play out when its black and brown and minority people are on the receiving end of brutality. The brutality is so effective in its accuracy that they create commissions and inquisitions to discuss the specificity of things like the applicability of chokeholds, the length of time for a stun gun use et al. America’s Black Lives Matter movement is one that goes beyond just policing, it is a work in progress on all fronts that is championed by the ACLU, NAACP and other organizations that are making small gains to move the needle forward in getting equal rights for America’s minority citizens. I do not seek to insinuate that Nigeria has attained the level of history that is comparable to America’s, or that Nigeria’s populace face the level of scrutiny that we can expect of a more developed society such as that of America.
What I do want to point out is that the movements that continue to be effective and that ultimately carry its citizenship forward are rooted in an unambiguously clear line of history that can honestly be alluded to, despite its ugliness. American slavery is one such line of history, it is a stain on America’s history that cannot be hidden until it is dealt with. Nigeria’s line of history remains muddled. Our most fundamental bone of historical contention is colonization by the British and subsequent amalgamation into “One Nigeria.” Whether you ascribe to the belief that Nigeria in its status quo is a functioning entity or a hodgepodge of fractured reluctant member-groups is beside the point, today. The sins of the Special Armed Robbery Squad (“SARS”) befall all who lie within the confines of the country’s borders. After gaining Independence from the British in 1960, Nigeria’s best claim to fame is the impunity with which its treasury has been looted by the same people who continue to circle the corridors of power. This is why the #ENDSARS movement is akin to a Band-Aid in my humble opinion. Let us continue this conversation there.
A fundamental feature and measure of the progress and well-being of any civil society is to be found in its populace – Their education, their ability to take care of their health, their ability to gain willful employment, and seek out one another for business opportunities that can move the collective as a country, forward. I hate touting clichés, but this one is apt – Nigeria has been crippled by a few “ELITES” who have robbed the country’s treasury of the ability to provide its people with good roads, a functioning education system, clean facilities and infrastructure such as power, water, clear air, and hospitals to take care of the poor, elderly and the sick. This is where the conversation should start.
Before we can #ENDSARS, can we dream a little? – Assuming Nigeria is able to recover the over $900 billion in stolen funds according to Wikipedia – what magic can happen? Would paying the police force be such a weighty struggle? Assuming Nigeria can begin to hold its most corrupt past leaders accountable for years of mismanagement, reckless and wanton lootings – what magic can happen? Assuming Nigeria can gather the men and women who hold it hostage before an accountability board, a referendum of reckoning and understanding – would it be normal for people to still expect that nothing would change with future elections or that chronic poverty will continue? Where have all the bullion vans gone? Would Nigerians lie prostrate for them to drive over knowing that this van is the difference between being able to plan a month ahead versus living in the hour, minute to make ends meet?
Let us begin by holding Nigeria’s heavymen accountable. Call them by names. Let’s start with the obvious bullion thieves, SAY THEIR NAMES —-
TINUBU
ABACHA
.
.
.
SAY THEIR NAMES!!!
GIVE US ANSWERS. WHERE IS OUR FUTURE.
Ending Police and SARS brutality is an ongoing issue that can only truly be solved when we understand why we are where we are after 60 years of self-rule. Without knowing your past, you are bound to repeat the same failures in the future. Until we get to the rot and to the root of the problem, #ENDSARS is another misplaced attempt to circumvent true healing, accountability, reconciliation, and reaffirmation to Nigeria as one true nation under God. Even South Africa had to have its referendum to move past its apartheid history. If Nigerians want change, police brutality is only a symptom. The real rot is festering in the corridors of power with the same people who have been running the country. SAY THEIR NAMES ALOUD. Only then can we truly begin to get the country towards a path of civil engagement and prosperity. They say one bad fruit spoils the bunch. It is true. A group of elevated criminals continue to run the country, rotting all of its institutions with the same corrupt practices. Let us hold them to account for their crimes and help to begin the healing process. SAY ALL THEIR NAMES ALOUD. Let them tell us what they did when they were in power. Let us convene a referendum of all past leaders in Nigeria. Let them answer for their terms in office. Let us see honesty and transparency. SAY THEIR NAMES ALOUD. ONE BY ONE. SAY ALL OF THEIR NAMES. If we believe in the truth of Nigeria, we must not be afraid to call one another by our names for the sake of honesty, accountability, and for the sake of the future generations of Nigerians yet unborn.
LET US SAY ALL OF THEIR NAMES EVERYWHERE. IN THE MARKET. IN THE HOSPITAL. IN THE CHURCH.
God Bless Nigeria.
