True democracy and good governance depend on the people. In Nigeria, a set of passionate and progressive citizens has started educating themselves and others to make our collective voices count and to take our democracy back. We no longer trust our elected representatives to represent us, rather than their greed and political patrons. We no longer believe that we can make our concerns heard only through the ballot box. We no longer have faith in our so-called democratic institutions, which have become the means for unscrupulous groups to continually loot our national coffers and push our country to the brink of disaster.
Therefore, we can no longer remain passive. Nigerians Demand is a group of citizens who have decided to engage in direct, peaceful democratic action, to Participate, Educate and Disseminate, in order to be heard in Nigeria. We do this to inspire one another to speak up. We also do it to remind our representatives in every sector of government and the moneyed interests that direct them, that: We, the people, still know our power!
Nigerians Demand was born of the principle that, together, we can be the change we want to see in Nigeria. We are one of the movements the larger “Occupy Nigeria” movement, made up of diverse communities and organizations that came together around the January 2012 protests, has given birth to. We are autonomous individuals with no particular political affiliations or affiliation to any other group or organization, volunteering our core skills for the cause, as we believe it is our generational duty to. However, there is involvement by cause groups, civil society groups, and existing social justice organizations. We are committed to democracy, nonviolence, inclusiveness and real change – not just talk – in Nigeria.
The Platform
Our web portal www.nigeriansdemand.com was launched on January 23rd 2012. It allows Nigerians from every demographic to submit and categorize the demands they wish to make of the Nigerian government. These demands will then be authenticated, filtered and geographically mapped, as well as compiled into a Nigerians Demand “Manifesto” that will serve as the voice of the ordinary Nigerian who wants a New Nigeria.
Nigerians can make their demands via:
Our Online Form: on www.nigeriansdemand.com/demand
Twitter: #NigeriansDemand[Demand][#Location][#Category] e.g. #NigeriansDemand[create anti corruption court & empowerment of EFCC to ensure prosecution & adequate sentencing][#Lagos][#Governance]
Email: By sending an email to demands@nigeriansdemand.com. The Email must contain
[Demand][Location][Category]
Nigerians Demand
+234 1 2160475
info@nigeriansdemand.com
www.nigeriansdemand.com
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Nigerians Demand platform (www.nigeriansdemand.com) is an interactive tool for Nigerians to map their
governance demands with the aim of getting the true democracy we deserve. In recent times, Nigerians have
become more and more willing to engage in policy-making processes, due to greater political
awareness. Nigerians Demand is also a movement that allows Nigerians of every demographic, countrywide, to
make their demands known in a unified voice – because our voices must count.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
My Letter to the Man Nuhu Ribadu
Dear brother,
It is my great pleasure writing this to you. Meanwhile, my purpose of writing this short note to you is not only because of my concern for you but because of my great concern for good governance and democracy in Nigeria which a vibrant opposition is a sine-qua-non. For the fact that one of the main opposition parties in the country featured you as a presidential candidate is even of more concern.
I write to you in respect of your recent appointment as the chairman of the Task force and you acceptance of same. In retrospect, accepting such Greek gift is tantamount to a political suicide. You have just succeeded in digging your own political grave.
I always appreciate students of history, not only because I am one, but because they have the sense of looking back so as to judge the future. In retrospect, such acceptance by Bola Ige in the anal of Nigeria history should be an eloquent testimony that this kind of offer is dangerous; though Chief Ige is not here to narrate it better.
If that was far, can you compare the much-talked about track records of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala before she joined the crew to after? What has she done to our economy since she became the first “Glorified Assistant President” coordinating supposedly fellow colleagues? Reuben Abati used to be a great person before he accepted such offer that you (Ribadu) accepted with pride today. What can Nigerians and posterity say about Abati today? Oh! No Nigerian politician wants to hear such word- posterity. They don’t even believe in the word. But even if they don’t want to hear posterity, they should love nemesis because it will soon nab them.
I will charge you not to play politics with Nigerians in your response. We are all familiar with such response of ‘love for duty for country’. Don’t hide under the façade of community service. For what you care, with the advent of Mr. Twitter that President Goodluck Jonthan accused of ‘misinforming’ Nigerians, we have woken up beyond such smokescreen.
Don’t get me wrong, brother, I have no reason to doubt your intellectual capability and military zeal to effect change, but the truth is you cannot beat them; you can only opt out or join them. Remember, you will be reporting directly to the Honorable Minister of Petroleum Recourses, Allison Maduekwe and all the members of Cabal. They will tell you what to do and what not to do per time. NEITI was created in 2004 or so to perform almost the same functions of your task force.
Come to think of it, even if you discover anything, because they know you will, who would you report this to? During your hay days in EFCC, you were reporting to Mr. President. What are the changes you think you can bring under this choky environment?
To me, this is a litmus test for your democratic ability and sense of purpose. Moreover, If your quote about your father wasq true, I hope your father would be expecting you to go back to your Local Government Area and contest for chairmanship or councillorship. I guess that was what your father meant by love for community service. Like the Confucian adage goes: “person who chases two rabbits catches neither.” If Madam Allison appointed you, it follows that she also reserves the prerogative to sack you at will.
I cannot imagine John McCain or Romney taking such appointment from President Obama. Let tell ourselves some truth here. We don’t want Government of National Unity, it’s a fraud; it has never work anywhere. If we must stick to democracy, out opposition parties must be vibrant.
Your acceptance of this juicy offer makes you an opportunist and rent seeker, if not political scavenger. You have not proved yourself worthy of leading our dear nation by this offer. There are thousands of areas that you can serve you country without taking this offer.
Perhaps my zeal for you was born out of my wrong perception of you and your pedigree. Whatever, but my candid advice is that you should not take the offer, if you are still member of opposition that we are expecting to snatch power away from PDP. Of course a lost dog will not hear the warning whistle of the hunter.
God Bless Nigeria!
Yours Sincerely,
Olujide ‘Gbenga
08/02/2012
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Occupy Nigeria: Lessons and Achievements
OCCUPY NIGERIA: LESSONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
The mid 2011, April to be precise witnessed the advent of what is now known as “Arab Spring” which started in Tunisia. Like a deadly cancer spread to Egypt, Yemen, Syria and then Libya with its attendant unseat of Hosni Mubarak, then “almighty” Mummud Gaddaffi. All these happened with the power of protests. Little wonder that the Prestigious Time Magazine Person of the Year went to the “World Protesters”. As if that was not enough, the so called developed world also got its own fair share the waves of protest in 2011 starting from #OccupyWallstreet, #OccupyOrkland, etc, though not for regime change.
All these laid credence to the much talked about #OccupyNigeria which started on 2nd January, 2012 in FCT which was a culmination of the dramatic removal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government on 1st January. The subsidy removal brought the price of PMS from N65 to N141 (about 120% increase), hence, the prices of all goods and services skyrocketed. It is worthy of note that the FG went ahead with this obnoxious policy, which Nigerians believe was an IMF agenda, despite the previous revelation by former Petroleum Minister, David West and other sector analysts that the much talked about subsidy does not exit and therefore a fraud.
However, it must be reiterated here that, although the idea of #OccupyNigeria was in the offing months prior the Jan. 2nd Abuja protest, the removal brought it to the limelight. The objects of #OccupyNigeria are viz; good governance, anti-corruption, cutting government opulence life style, and provision of infrastructural facilities. It was a lofty idea, I must admit and only a bad thinking Nigerian would not join the chorus.
Before I am engrossed in amnesia, the purpose of the piece is to examine achievements and lessons learnt from #OccupyNigeria. It is also the intention of the writer to encourage Nigerians to sustain such tempo and spirit, because it has great potentials of bringing the change Nigerians are panting for and put the people in the corridor of power on their toes. It must therefore be said here that all opinions are 100% mine and I am expecting others thoughtful minds to write something about their own experiences too.
ACHIEVEMENTS
1. Information is power. One of the gains of #OccupyNigeria is that many Nigerians are now informed beyond rhetoric. Nigerians are now alerted about the scandalous 2012 budget and more importantly the running of the government. A new citizen spirit has emerged. The discovery that feeding in Aso Rock for 2012 is to engulf a whopping sums N1 billion while millions of Nigerians are wallowing below, further sparked off the anger of Nigerians.
2. The protests which occurred in different parts of the country exposed the extravagant and opulence life of Nigerian politicians to the world. In fact, the solidarity protests by Nigerians in diaspora in London, USA, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain etc further gave wide popularity to to Nigerians’ demands despite the intentional media black-out and also served as a formidable pressure on the government. Perhaps, the National Assembly probe after the protests ended is an eloquent testimony that the protest was successful.
3. Although the protest ended abruptly against the wishes of the protesters, thanks to the dictatorial and undemocratic attitude of ‘General Goodluck Jonathan who declared a ‘mini-state of emergency’ in all the state capital, the protests made the recalcitrant FG to rescind on its former stance. Like a General announcing a successful coup d’état, the president unilaterally announced the reduction of price of PMS to N97.
4. The protests did not only achieve the reduction of price of PMS but it gathered dusts: That the Minister of Finance has no idea of how subsidy funds were spent and disbursed; the so called cabal members that are feeding fat on the subsidy; the Mr. President, the C in C, is not in control of Nigeria; the government officials inflate the subsidy figure at will for their own parochial interest; that governance in Nigeria lacks accountability and transparency; that Mr. President has no gut to question his ministers; that almost all the governors supported the removal.
5. The 12-day protests revealed that Nigerians are capable joining forces despite our religious and tribal differences. The protests witnessed Nigerians all over the world coming together to say resounding NO the way politicians are running the affairs of the country. Hence, one Nigeria is not only possible but plausible.
LESSONS
1. The protest started on 2nd January by Nigerian in every walks of life and NLC/TUC only joined the struggle on 9th January with a nationwide strike. But the mistake here was that we allowed the Labour Movement to hijack the protest from Nigerians as if they were the one that started it, hence, their betrayal on 16th put a total stop to the movement nationwide. It must be said here in retrospect that apart from Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century, there had never been a time anywhere in the world that a Labour organization spearheaded such revolution. This is not unconnected to the fact that one cannot become a labour leader without first being a ‘labour politician’. Nigerians should not have expected so much from Labour Leaders in the first place.
2. The two days observed on Saturday and Sunday did more harm than good. Although the 2 days were to allow Nigerians to restock, but the break soften the tempo and poured cold water on the minds of protesters who were full of enthusiast prior to the break. Of course, the break allowed the FG to muster efforts together and deploy soldiers to the streets and venues of the protests before Nigerians woke up from their break on Monday.
3. A great lesson learnt was that the much needed change in Nigeria is possible and that our politicians can be prevailed upon by the electorates. Right in the midst of the protest Mr President announced 20% cut of salaries of members of the executive and also promised to reduce government officials’ junketing outside the country. Though these are not enough and apparently not only what we are clamouring for but it is an eloquent testimony that if we keep on asking questions we will put politicians on their toes. And in contrast, if we keep mute, we should not expect any change.
In conclusion, it is convenient here to say that Nigerians have learnt that politics should not be left in the hands of politicians. We don’t need to be among opposition parties, human right activist or CLO before we effect the desired result in this country. We have seen it in North African countries and most importantly we have seen its semblance here, that we can thrust the ethics of change and good governance into the hearts of our politician. Hence, the change we are craving for is in our hands.
Be that as it may, this write up will not complete without acknowledging some patriots who gave their precious lives so as to achieve good governance in Nigeria during the January Occupy Nigeria. Though as I would like, I was not able to get their names, but I was told that we lost about 15 great Nigerians. We pray that may their gentle souls rest in perfect peace. We are proud of them and their names and bravery are written on the plate of our hearts. Meanwhile, I have the honour acknowledging our heroes, though time and space may not permit me to mention all their name; Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mallam El-Rufia, J. Japheth Omojuwa, Kola Oyeneyin, Kayode Ogundamisi , Tolu Ogunlesi, Babatunde Rosanwo, Odewale ‘Egghead’, and Seun Okin, among others.
God Bless Nigeria!
Olujide Gbenga D. 26/01/2012
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Do not leave me
As you dwell in the garden of compassion to hear me
My love, please do not leave me
Do not leave me to myself.
Your love is one of a kind,
Do not leave me.
Do not leave me here
Do not leave me there
Do not leave me in the dark;
Not even in the brightest light.
Do not leave me
Not in the ages past
Not in my now
Not until I die
Not in my forever when I shall close my eyes;
In great city of gold
Do not leave me.
Do not leave me
Do not leave me in my wrong
Do not leave me my chastisement
Do not leave me in my comfort zone.
Sweet love, do not leave me
Do not leave me
Not when I am lonely
Not when I am surrounded
Not in hunger
Not in choices of delicacies
Not in famine
Not in boom and plenty.
Do not leave me alone.
Do not leave me
As the lily among the thorns
As the apple tree among the trees of wood
So is my undying love for You.
Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples:
For I am sick of Your love
Do not leave me.
Do not leave me
Make hast my Love
Be thou like to a roe to a young hart upon the mountains of spices
Please, do not leave Us.
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