By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Nigeria, on Saturday, June 12, 2021, celebrated her 22 years of undisrupted democracy.
The country had returned to democratic rule on May 29, 1999 after 29 years of military rule: 1966 – 1979 and 1983 – 1999.
From then, May 29 – the day Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, the last military head of state, handed over the reins of government to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the incoming president then – was designated as the nation’s Democracy Day until the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, changed it to June 12 in honour of the memory of the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola but which was later annuled despite being adjudged the freest and fairest in the nation’s electoral history.
This year’s Democracy Day commemoration/celebration, naturally, was wont to generate a lot of interest from Nigerians, given the challenges bedevilling the country, ranging from inflation to hardship, insecurity and the attendant fallouts culminating in the controversial banning of tweeter – an act many Nigerians considered a violation of their right to free speech.
Thus, majority of Nigerians had expected the presidency to address some of these burning issues during the Democracy Day commemoration/celebration.
In any true, healthy democracy, that is natural.
Some other aggrieved Nigerians saw the Democracy Day as a good opportunity for them to vent their feelings about the situation of things in the country hence they decided to embark on peaceful protests in different parts of the country.
Again, in a true democracy, that is also normal. In fact, one lecturer called it the beauty of democracy. The deputy governor of Edo State, while addressing a group of June 12
protesters, said: “I join you in this protest to say that democracy must go with freedom of speech.”
But it seems the Nigerian leadership sees protests as a threat to democracy.
And so, Democracy Day protesters were tear-gassed by security agents at Ojota, Lagos and Gudu, Abuja.
Their offence, perhaps, was that they summoned courage to exercise their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly.
But defending the tear gas attack on the protesters, the police spokesman, Frank MBA, said it was in line with international best practices to disperse violent protesters with tear gas.
The police image maker further justified the tear gas attack on protesters by claiming that it was meant to stop the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria from causing any destruction.
Mba later explained at a live TV programme that the police had an isolated case in Abuja and so needed to disperse a violent protest with tear gas instead of firing live bullets, adding that no citizen was in detention in relation to the protest as at the time he was speaking.
But Nigerians seem not to be impressed by Mba’s explanations.
In fact, many, including foremost human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, have condemned the tear-gassing of the Democracy Day protesters by the police.
Falana described the action as a violation of the human rights of Nigerians.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has also added its voice to the barrage of criticisms trailing the action of the police against the protesters.
Speaking through its executive secretary, Tony Ojukwu, the National Human Rights Commission called for an end to the violation of the human rights of Nigerians.
The main opposition party in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had, within a few hours after the tear gas attack on the Democracy Day protesters on Saturday, issued a statement condemning the action, attributing it to what it described as the ruling party’s aversion to democracy and repugnance towards Nigerians particularly in their demands for their rights.
Though laced with partisan sentiments, the PDP’s statement, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, adds:
“It is awkward that the APC and President Buhari, who were allowed their freedom when they protested in 2014, would turn around to subject Nigerians to actions of inhumanity, including the use of firearms against the people, as being witnessed today.”
The PDP also picked a hole in Mr President’s Democracy Day speech, claiming that he made no commitment “towards upholding
democratic tenets of free speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association and right to peaceful protest.”
Given the reasons adduced by the police for their clampdown on the Democracy Day protesters, one can’t help but ask certain pertinent questions.
1. Were the protesters armed with any form of weapon(s) to warrant them being tagged ‘violent’ and attracting a clampdown with tear gas?
2. Are placards recognised all over the world as instruments of peaceful protests? If yes, why are placard-carrying protesters tagged violent and clamped down on in Nigeria? Could it just be the usual ‘Nigerian thing’?
3. Did the placards some of the protesters were carrying, at some point, turned to arms by some magical powers while still appearing as placards in the eyes of the public?
4. What specific act of violence did the Democracy Day protesters commit to earn the tag ‘violent’ and merit being tear-gassed?
5. Of the two groups of Democracy Day protesters in Abuja, which of them turned violent: the #BuhariMustGo protesters at Gudu Or the #I Stand With Buhari protesters at the Millennium Park?
6. In a democratic system of government, do the citizens have a right to carry out protests?
7. Has DEMOCRACY received a new definition or is it still bearing the one given it by former American President, Abraham Lincoln, who defined it as GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE?
With the June 12, 2021 Democracy Day incidents still generating ripples across the country, methinks that providing answers to these questions will help to make the picture clearer and enable us to objectively answer the bigger question: IS TEAR-GASSING DEMOCRACY DAY PROTESTERS A PROMOTION OR DEMOTION OF DEMOCRACY?
