BANYO TEMITAYO
GENERAL Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on Sunday, commended the courage of Nigerian youths, who organised the sustained protests against police brutality, extra-judicial killings and bad governance, tagged #EndSARS, but indicated that they failed to realise when a change in strategy was urgently needed.
He said in 2012, when there was a need to gather to protest against a corrupt fuel subsidy regime, the rallying cry was to “kill corruption, not Nigerians.”
Bakare also decried the attack on young protesters at the Lekki Tollgate, saying the nation witnessed the “desecration of our nationhood as Nigerian Armed Forces stained the banner of our nationhood” with the blood of protesters.
In his State of the Nation broadcast, titled, “The building blocks of nationhood: A blueprint for the new Nigeria,” the former Vice Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change said the policeman on the street was the first ambassador of the government to the people, noting that any abuse of the power by the police was indeed an abuse of the trust of the people in the government.
He demanded for the tracking and prosecution of everyone involved in the ugly incident that took place at the Lekki Tollgate.
He, however, told the younger generation that the fight against all they decried, was a collaborative one, stressing that, at some point, it was clear that a change of strategy was required to save lives, “to safeguard the credibility of the moment and to preserve the gains made.”
“To this end, we, and I better say I, so that I’m not guilty of involving others in this matter, reached out to the Presidency, and challenged the government to be empathetic to Nigerians and to address the demands of protesters. We also reached out to some organisers of the protests, to fashion a way out of the debacle. But unfortunately, our collective entreaties to some of the young arrowheads of the #EndSARS protests were ignored,” he revealed.
Bakare said this just as he gave the Federal Government a list of 10 anomalies in the system that must be urgently corrected in the interest of nation building.
He listed the demands to include putting an end to what he called the oppression and subjugation of the Nigerian people by those who ought to protect and serve them; and the diversion of funds earmarked for the provision of quality education for Nigerians, among others.
On how the young #EndSARS protesters failed to realise when they needed a change in strategy, he said, “Our past experience with organising protests has shown that there comes a time when strategies are re-evaluated. In 2010, when we marched to the National Assembly to protest power hijack, and to register our demand, we left the complex early enough to avoid the counter-protesters who were trailing us.
“Subsequently, when we marched to Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, we registered our demand, handed a letter to the governor then and left the arena. When we marched to Aso Rock some weeks later, we presented a letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and left thereafter. Similar protests occurred across the globe.
“The cumulative effect of these protests forced the National Assembly to invoke a doctrine of necessity by which (former) President Goodluck Jonathan became Acting President and later President.
“In 2012, when we needed to gather to protest against a corrupt fuel subsidy regime, we converged on the Gani Fawehinmi Park, a venue that was unobstructive to vehicular movement. Our rallying cry was kill corruption, not Nigerians.
“For five days, we brought the nation to a standstill through the massive gathering of Nigerians. However, when by the fifth day of the protest, we got wind that the Goodluck Jonathan government would deploy armed soldiers in the early hours of the morning to dismantle our installation and potentially engineer a bloodbath, we deliberated and decided that our desire to see change was not worth the blood of any Nigerian.
“At the risk of being misunderstood and maligned, we called off the protest and channeled our collective energy in a more suitable direction. Our change of strategy, from the oppositional to the propositional, gave us access to the Jonathan administration to influence policy changes in a range of areas.
“It also won us the trust of President Goodluck Jonathan such that during the 2015 contentious elections, we were able to mediate between the contenders and we worked to ensure that President Jonathan left office with his head held high as a democrat. They are both living witnesses of how we involved international ambassadors of nations and circled them behind the scenes to ensure that there was a peaceful transfer.
“President Jonathan, as a result of our cordial relationship, wrote a tribute for my 60th birthday, which I still cherish till today. Our proximity allowed us to protest to the President directly when the national interest demanded it. All the subsequent impact we made was due to a timely decision to change strategies to avert bloodshed. This is why I am heartbroken by the current events.”
Bakare particularly stressed that it was a collective responsibility to build the “Nigeria of our dreams”.
“We must not pitch one generation against another. Generational integration rather than generational shift should be our strategy of choice,” he noted.
He said, “As I’ve said in times past, the hindsight of the older generation must propel the foresight of the younger generation. The wisdom of the elders must guide the knowledge of the youth as we build the Nigeria of our dreams. Where there are no patriarchs or matriarchs, there will be no offspring. Nation building is a continuum. There must be a unity of purpose across generations and across regions.
“At this juncture, I will need audience participation, to let me go home, rejoicing in the Lord that you consented to what is being said today. I will read a sentence, and I will lift up my hand. If you agree, just shout ‘#EndSARS’.”
He gave his 10 demands to include:
“End the brutalisation and murder of the Nigerian people by reckless police operatives and soldiers.
“End the oppression and subjugation of the Nigerian people by those who ought to protect and serve them.
“End the diversion of funds earmarked for the provision of quality education for our people.
“End the inflation of contracts to give the Nigerian people quality roads and efficient transportation network.
“End the corruption that has denied our people access to steady electricity supply.
“End political banditry and the looting of the Treasury to build political war chests.
“End vote buying, electoral fraud and the killing of innocent Nigerians just to win elections.
“End legislative brigandage, budget padding, backdoor allowances and the siphoning of funds through perennially uncompleted constituency projects.
“End Judicial rascality, merchandising of justice to the highest bidder.
“End the ‘State Aided Robbery Squad’.
Apologising to the youths for past failures on behalf of his generation, Bakare said, “To.those young Nigerians who have stood up to oppression, permit me to stand in the gap, to apologise on behalf of my generation, and the older generation, for the undesirable state of the nation you were born into. I say we are sorry. We are very sorry for the undesirable nation you have inherited from us.
“We salute your courage; we applaud your resilience; we hear you; we share your pain.”
