Say No To Terroristic Protest

By: Shehu Bashir Esq.

The difference between patriotic and unpatriotic citizens is in their reactions to the issues about the state of the nation. While one set is conscious of not creating a tension that could create more damage to the country, and as such approaching every matter with caution and dialogue, the other prefers to pull down the entire house with ferocious violence. And that is the red flag.

Whatever the Constitution allows for you is your right. Whatever the Constitution also forbids for you is your crime. The Constitution does not allow for violence, terrorism, murder, arson, destruction, robbery, rebellion and treasonable felony.

Protest doesn’t have to be physical gathering that can snowball into violence. It can be an expression in writing, filing in court or even electoral protest to vote against any government that is perceived to be underperforming. You may be unhappy with any government official but you will not be allowed to destroy the office and the nation at large. By all indications, this particular planned protest is a veiled terrorism by political reactionaries.

There are responsible Nigerians who have genuine concerns to express displeasure over certain government policies and have been voicing their minds on what should be done to improve the quality of life of the Nigerian people. However, none of these patriotic Nigerians is calling for war against the Nigeria nation and Nigerian government. Calling for an end to a nation could not have been a solution to a supposed problem.

Protest on call for improved good governance cannot and should never be turned into political agitation to “end” the nation or target the government official for physical attacks. This kind of “protest” is highly politically motivated. It is a threat against Nigeria and Nigerians. Therefore, Nigerians will not support any violent movement that will lead to looting, destruction of properties and even loss of life.

When a planned protest is politically motivated, and such is driven by mob mentality, the goal will not be for the good order but for the bad of others. It will be bad to target the businesses of innocent Nigerians, destroy economic assets and risk everybody’s life.

A decent democratic protesters, if they truly have a genuine concern would have formed themselves into a group through which they will formally communicate to the appropriate authorities for action. A mob sentiment to organize a free for all violent protest will do more harm than good. It is terrorism disguised as protest. Nigerians say no to terroristic protest.

As for the government, this is not the time to sit complacent and play the usual politics of “according to” in dealing with this precarious situation. Deliberate steps must be taken to stop these planned attacks on the sovereignty of Nigeria.

Considering the tone of the intended violence of those planning this, the character of those promoters, from all that we have read and listened to on their social media chats, it is obvious this is terrorism against the nation not democratic protest. You cannot aim to correct “a bad” government and push to do that through violence. The planned violence action is not for the good motive but for the bad politics.

I assume with certainty that there are sponsors of this seditious attempt, operating behind the scenes. Money must have been exchanging hands to orchestrate this mutiny against the government. Government should therefore follow up on all terrorism financing and be proactive about it. The entire structures of government’s anti-terrorism financing and money laundering should be activated immediately. Critical and relevant agencies like EFCC, ICPC, NFIU, NIS, NCS, NIA, DSS, NPF, CBN, etc should be charged to monitor all financial dealings and logistics movement of all those planning this, to prevent them from achieving their goals. Nothing should be taken for granted. No one involved in the sponsorship of terrorism should be spared.

It is on record that aftermath of endsars violence, we all read from the actors how they were sponsored by non-state actors to cause violence in the country. The revelations include how much money they were given to “end” Nigeria and to whom it was given. Are we still going to “siddon look” until the volcano erupts into destruction again?

The COMIT tool should be at the highest effective use. This attempt to overthrow the government can’t exist in vacuum. National security is everybody’s business. The ONSA should immediately draw out strategic plans to tackle this. ONSA should also immediately coordinate and deploy all the necessary intelligence assets to deal with this. There is no time to wait for action before reaction.

We are all Nigerians. No one is more Nigerian than the other. Political terrorists should not be allowed to hide under this protest to foment troubles and threaten the peace of the nation.

This call is for the soul of our country, general safety and public peace. Let us deal with the rudiments before they turn the country into fragments.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

GOD IS HERE.