By Felix Akpan PhD
My people often say that when the rhythms of the drum beat changes spontaneously, the masquerades run amok. That is the exact tendency the *#ENDSARS protesters* are orchestrating now in one of the most memorable protest ever in our chequered history. The protesters seem to have crossed the line in some states. In Benin they have allegedly attacked the Correctional Centre and freed prisoners. In Lagos, Abuja and other towns, they blocked vehicular movement in major highways and caused untold hardship for other citizens. All that's a breach of their constitutional right to peaceful protest.
It would seem like the protesters are tired and they are using style to invite the government to the party, in order to give a dog a bad name and hang him, in a manner of speaking. Conversely, is it plausible that *anti-#ENDSARS* criminals or institutional elements/agents are infiltrating the protest to cause mayhem in order to give the protesters a bad name so that the government might justify its imminent heavy-handed or repressive response? For those who don't follow global events religiously, there is nothing spectacular or extraordinary about the ongoing protests, especially, the methodology of sustaining the protests, which is not copied from the recent protests in Hong Kong, France, Britain and America. Even the restrain so far demonstrated by the government, is as a result of how protesters were treated in those countries. Who says, the world is not truly a global village, indeed.
In democracies, as soon as protesters cross the red line, when they breach their constitutional right to peaceful protest, the government uses force to break their ranks. Especially, when the government would have met some of their demands and the protesters still refuse to back down. In Donald Trump's America, during the recent *#Black Lives Matter Too Protest*, government used force against protesters who were protesting against police brutality, when the protesters took the liberty to peaceful protest beyond what is guaranteed by the Constitution.
As it stands, those who have highjacked the hitherto peaceful protest think that they can use it to solve all our nation building crises by instigating a break down of law and order, to provoke a revolution. But what they don't seem to understand, is that, it is very difficult for a revolution to occur in a multiethnic society with divergent history, culture and ideological positions. Especially, when the reign of power is in the hand of one of the dominant ethnic groups. Such radical change is most likely plausible through military intervention like the recent one in Mali. And to forestall that the government has quickly engaged the military in a compulsory exercise to keep them in check, while the protests last.
A thin-line separates protest from insurgency, hence, as soon as protests begin to manifest certain attributes of insurgency, every government all over the world would make use of the instrument of coercion to bring things under control. And they usually justify the use of force by saying it is a constitutional obligation to protect lives and property. Unfortunately, no matter the degree of force used against supposedly harmless protesters, the argument resonates with the international community. The 1989 Tienanmen Square Protest in China that ended in a military crackdown should perfectly remind those urging our youths on of what government can do without apology to anyone. That is why the protesters should do everything possible to remain peaceful, focus and engage the government constructively.
For me, Bob Marley and the Wailer's Heathen Lyrics, "he who fight and run away. Live to fight another day", provides the best way to engage government in a time like this. This is because as a pacifist I know, like all pacifists do, that all wars end on the negotiation table. And all revolution must claim its proponents.
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