Sowore’s #RevolutionNow and his Army of Cheerleaders -By James Sunday

Just to be sure, i consulted an online dictionary and it defined revolution as thus: ‘forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system. It gave the synonyms as follows: rebellion, revolt, insurrection, mutiny, uprising, and riot, rioting, rising, insurgence, insurgency, coup, overthrow, and seizure of power, regime change; and more’. It did not define it as a civil protest.

I do not agree with the Gestapo manner in which the convener of #RevolutionNow was taken. However, he and his army of social media cheerleaders should have known what to expect the moment they made their intentions public and proceeded to deface public properties in furtherance of their objectives.

I was in a conversation with a friend who asked what I thought about the whole revolution drama and I asked him: whose revolution is it? Where is it coming from and to what ends? Till this moment he also couldn’t answer my question or truly fathom.

Our rights to civil protests are guaranteed in the grand norm and not our rights to calls for unconstitutional change of government or insurrection. Though my law is rusty as a layman and I stand to be corrected if you know better.

As students of history, we are privy to the fact that many young people have gone to their maker unceremoniously for partaking in causes they understood nothing about. Politicians have repeatedly used young people in the past as thugs and ready tool to cause mayhem during and after elections and left them in the streets afterwards, with nothing to fill the hollow of their mouth.

I personally do not trust this revolution and the individuals fronting it. I don’t believe in it. Their credibility is in doubt at least that is what I think. Besides, where in the history of revolutions world over has any revolutionists advertised their intention beforehand without even making the people that should be a part if the process understand the true issues and pivots of the ‘revolution’.

Scholars have enquired into general patterns of revolutionary waves, seeking to understand the mechanisms that make them spread. A crucial condition, they agree, is communication. In the Atlantic Revolutions, which stretched over more than two decades of the 18th century, revolutionaries and their ideas could only cross the ocean by sailing vessel. As modern communication developed, the pace of revolutionary waves increased. In 1905, when the Constitutional Revolutions shook Asia, revolutionary slogans were circulated by the telegraph and modern means of transport, by railways and steamers. In the course of the 20th century technological innovations became ever more important for the expansion of political mass mobilisation. Drawing on satellite television, mobile phones and the Internet, the Arab revolts spread in weeks. Within seconds, revolutionaries send their messages against tyranny around the world. Unsurprisingly, dictators today feel uneasy about social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. However, how many people got Sawore’s message? Or better still, how many Nigerians are with him? Who and what is truly behind this fiasco?

Again i ask, what are the real reasons behind this #RevolutionNow protest? What signs are there that it has the genuine buy in of the people?  Sawore lost an election in 2018 against the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari. He has the courts to resort to or wait for another 4year to mobilize Nigerians, sell his ideas and contest again. He is a politician. The revolution he can call for should be through the ballots.

To be factual, this administration has fallen short of expectation. But a forceful change of government is also not an option. We are a nation of laws and we must follow its dictates. Revolutions vary in their motives and their aims. Some seek to overthrow and replace the political order. Others seek radical social and economic change through a legal means. Where does this one fall?

Questions will keep popping up because the motive and aim of this revolution is not in the milieu of absolute visibility. What are the ideals of this revolution, what are the dreams and hopes? Ask those guys at the Lagos stadium, not all of them can answer this correctly, perhaps because they do not know. They are being used and if eventually successful, to entrench another group of greedy lots to keep enslaving the masses.

Ideas play a critical part in all revolutions. Those who seek change are motivated by new ideas about politics, economics or society. Revolutionary ideas are developed, adapted and articulated by great notion. This one is lacking in all ramifications and reeks of politics, subterranean motives and Ill-defined process.

My advice to the government is that, Sawore should have his day in court. It is the right thing to do. Holding him incommunicado will amount to infringement of his rights. And moving forward, the government must also reflect deeply on issues of the moment. Things are going south.

James, a Journalist and Humanitarian worker writes from Kaduna.