By: Safwan Mohammed
There is mix reaction as to whether Nigerians should embark on the planed national protest or not. With many are in full Support that the protest should hold to express people’s concerns on the current economic issues in the country, ranging from High rate of inflation, hunger, poverty, unemployment, insecurity among others. While many are antagonizing the protest on the ground that it may lead to public unrest, destruction of lives and properties, anarchy and infiltration of various crimes.
First of all, protest is one of the tenants of democracy which is very fundamental in safeguarding the democratic principle. Nigeria is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which was established in 1966. Which provides for the freedom to assemble in peace as governed by Article 21, which states:
“The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others”.
Furthermore, Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution provides that every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests. Even though, the Constitution provides that everyone has the freedom to freely congregate and associate with others, Section 45 of the Constitution permits restrictions on certain right in the interests of defense, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, or to preserve the rights or freedoms of others.
The protest if well executed, with all sence of responsibility without violence, will bring the necessary changes in policies of government. The Fundamental Question here is, can we have a protest free of any form of violence?
After due consideration, and trend of events in the history of Nigerian protest, I categorize the intended participants of the protest into two (2), thus:
- Those with genuine intentions: this category of people will conduct themselves to have a peaceful protest to achieve the goals of the protest.
- Highjackers: this are group of criminals and opportunist who usually highjack peaceful protest to launch their crimes and steal properties of government and private individuals.
The ENDSARS protest was a typical example of such instances where highjackers highjack peaceful protest to steal and vandalized properties, and this protest is not an exception.
Where the protest becomes violent, the government may use security apparatus to make sure there is peace and other in the country. The government can employ all the instrument of violence of the state to cub the violence and make sure the lives and properties of other citizens are protected. As the primary responsibility of the government is protecting the lives and properties of her citizens. This is permitted by section 45 of the 1999 constitution as stated above.
In conclusion, personally I am not in support of the planned protest for the following reasons:
- The fear of destruction of lives and properties as unintended consequences
- There are no known organizers of the protest. Neither their names nor their address is known
- There is 99% chances of criminals to used the opportunity to steal people’s properties. Which may cause more harm than good to the public
- It will be a threat to the peace and National Security, which no government would allow that even in a developed democracies.