October 1st Protest: No Justice, No Peace -by Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Organizers of the protest vowed that no going back. It won’t be surprising if many Nigerians join the protest. Even some of those paid and unpaid clerics who think rulers are gods and their decisions and policies must be warmly accepted are making adjustments to that “article of faith.” They have come to realize that silence is not golden and, in our situation, it is foolishness and imbecility. If care is not taken, silence in the face of injustice will definitely lead to our extinction as our rulers seem to be determined to wipe us off the earth surface.

Although resistance to bad policies of a government who would rather respond with bullets as its citizens beg for bread could be a bit tough. However, while silence will continue to lead to countless hunger and depression induced deaths as we now often witness, resistance has the chance of success or failure—as protesters are either crushed or they succeed. I listened to one renowned cleric who had hitherto joined other clerics to make protesters look like followers of Satan. He has now changed his stance when this dangerous regime fired another missile of hardship against Nigerians with the new hike in fuel price. The cleric said he has nothing against anyone who wants to protest even though he will not openly encourage it. He lamented that when people are pushed to the wall, resistance is inevitable.

Those who have access to Nigerian rulers should please tell them that there can be no peace when there is no Justice. “If you don’t have an established critique of my oppression, you don’t have a right to an opinion on my resistance.” This quote is attributed to an American activist during a famous speech. Those who think they can use real threat of imprisonment or weaponization of religion to stop the masses from resisting against the ruthlessness of those they elected to manage their affairs must be bad students of history if they had ever learnt history.

Even our Omnipotent and Omniscient Creator forbade Himself all acts of injustice despite the fact that He cannot be questioned for His actions. Our Just Creator knows that the consequences of injustice are terrible. Injustice can consume a nation and had consumed many nations in the past. It will not hesitate to consume any nation whenever its cup of iniquity is filled to the brim. Only enemies of Nigeria will continue to clap hands for this current crop of rulers as they pilot the country to wilderness and sinisterly shepherd Nigerians to the precipice of perdition

It is, therefore, naive for anyone who makes the defence of Tinubu government a hobby to think their loquaciousness against critics of this heartless regime can make any difference to stop the looming rage. Bad governance must be resisted by all legal means. Protest is one of the legal means to resist bad government policies and it cannot be criminalized no matter how hard Nigerian rulers and their spokespeople try to. To do that, the political system would have to cease to be democratic and transform to fascism. In the meantime—before this regime transforms to full-fledged fascism—citizens should enjoy the remnants of their democratic rights to express their grievances.

Many are aware that the federal government is about to start paying the minimum wage after dribbling the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and scoring many goals against it. One thing the government made sure it put in place before the implementation of the so-called long awaited minimum wage is maximum hunger. This is to render the so-called 70k useless. We do not need an economist to tell us that the 70k is meaningless. It had been wrestled of its purchasing power before now that it is about to be deposited into civil servants’ accounts.

This minimum wage, for those who do not know, will cause inestimable damages to the livelihoods of a lot of Nigerians. Marketers will undoubtedly increase prices of commodities especially staples. Civil servants will wail that it is because of the meaningless salary increment that prices of things move northwards. But what about other low-income salary earners in the private sector who are in the majority? I am aware that our rulers in Abuja have threatened private firms who pay less than N70,000 wage with jail term. Our rulers should imprison themselves first because as at the time of issuing this threat, they themselves had not paid civil servants in their payroll the said amount.

How many defaulting governors will go to jail? Or would they be sacred cows which they have always been? How many of them were able to pay the previous 30k not to talk of 70k?Many private employers will definitely not pay not out of sheer wickedness but because it is not feasible. The implications are too numerous to list. Many businesses that are yet to shut down will do so. Many employees in the private sector will quit their jobs and resign to fate as it will be better to expect death while doing nothing than to work and suffer in order to die. That is what being employed—and going to work—means to many Nigerians today. This is how terrible the situation is. What about increase in crime rate? This is the most terrifying consequences of the minimum wage which is, in other words, maximum hardship.

Students are dropping out of school. Teachers do not have strength to teach. Farmers are crying of loss. Beggars do not know whom to beg. Generous givers have stopped giving. Families are disuniting. Children are turning against their parents. Parents are disowning their children. New couples are afraid to procreate. Old couples are departing. Men are running away from marriage. Ladies are begging men despite their beauty. Foreign investors are relocating. Local investors are afraid to invest. All government refineries are dead. The only private one is not allowed to breathe. Yet some mentally deranged individuals are at war with anyone who says things are getting out of hand.

I have been asking a question. I am yet to get any plausible answer. Even the implausible answers are not forthcoming. I will ask again. Where is the trillions of naira allegedly saved from oil subsidy removal? We were told it will be used to improve our standard of living. Now standard of living and Nigerians cannot be STRINGED together in a sentence and MADE a correct sentence.

As you can see, the sentence above is not grammatically correct. Standard of living! Nigerians! There are poles apart.

Dear Nigerian rulers, no peace without justice. Those shameless people without integrity who continue to tell you that all is well or things have not got out of hand are your enemies and enemies of the masses. Take action—patriotic and benevolent one—before it is too late. All is not well. May God ease hardship for Nigerians. We are indeed going through Hell.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com