Nigeria, a cosmopolitan country with vaults of resources is populated by many politicians, judges and elites who are responsible for its poor management.
This set of people have been controlling the electoral processes for quite a long period of time, thereby transforming the seats of leadership to their ‘personal property’. However, we are aware that manipulation of electoral institutions is a powerful means of maliciously perpetrating political malpractices in some complex ways.
A country where judges and the ruling class are supposed to be the gate keepers of justice has become nothing but a puppet of imperial elements. These ‘judges’ are quick to jail the poor and the powerless while leaving the big and ‘mighty’ to commit all sorts of atrocities according to their will without any legal actions against them.
This ‘elite’ class has no loyalty to the people; their only concern is how to enrich themselves and how to obtain power. With deceptive means, the elites and politicians who are responsible for years of atrocities are considered saints in the eyes of some people, especially in the eyes of some so-called religious preachers and worshipers of money. This is the reason why some thinkers consider religion as a powerful tool that can be used to manipulate the masses. The ‘Muslim-Muslim’, ‘Christian-Muslim’, ‘Moderate Muslim’ and Christian-Christian chants are typical examples of such.
It came to my notice that few days ago, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, incited members of his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Zaria, against the disciples of the leader of the Islamic movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, by telling them to vote for his anointed candidate, Senator Uba Sani in order to finish off remnants of Shiites in Zaria.
Sadly, not fewer than six innocent Nigerians that are part of the movement were gunned down by a combined team of heavily armed security operatives in the early hours of Thursday, 16th March, 2023, while conducting a peaceful protest against the seizure of Allamah Zakzaky’s passport by the Nigerian authority despite his victory in court since 2021.
This is while all people have the right to peaceful protest according to International and Nigerian Laws irrespective to their religion, tribe or ethic inclination.
Despite the December 2015 pogrom where over one thousand people were murdered by the army in Zaria, it’s obvious that nothing has changed because all the activities of the movement have continued. This implies that attacking or killing the innocent disciples can not bring an end to their movement.
Governor Nasiru El-Rufai should have provided a solution to the problem of banditry, poverty, hardship and youth unemployment while bringing an end to the lack of basic amenities in towns and villages across the state, making the people of the state happy, instead of gunning down innocent civilians. Instead, he keeps using his antagonism to the ‘Shi’a’ as an excuse to hide his political failures.
Yet, the troubling character of some Nigerians remains accepting and turning a blind eye to injustice.
We, the youth of this country, need to be committed towards knowing the positive steps to take regarding how to get better results as well as the right measures to take in bringing a positive change for the best. We have to think of our future and the future of our younger generation. Hence, we must be able to demonstrate commitments to positive reasoning and good actions .
Nothing is as bad as the emasculation of youths. Therefore, we must have implement our right to protest on anything we feel aggrieved about. We must wake up and be true intellectuals in both our thoughts and actions. Hence, the wider spectrum of pseudo-intellectualism must be out of our character. We shouldn’t allow any politician to play with our intelligence, for we are not slaves! Hence, we must reject any kind of pre-election or post-election violence.
We, the Nigerian youth, should be more determined today than we have ever been. All imperial elements and forces are operating against an unorganized and unreasonable set of people who are not ambitious enough to protect their own interests for the good of the society in general. To prevent the success of their malicious agenda, we must unite and think of our future here in this world and in the hereafter.
Ahmad, Shuaibu Isa
[email protected]
Friday May 17, 2023
International Member , Amnesty International
Member, Secure Nation Builders
Member ICRP
Member African Rising Movements
Member, Political Forum
Member, Academic Forum