Contrary opinions are necessary every now and again.
Dissent is essential for dialogue and creative exchange of ideas. There is no
denying the fact that the world is a better place because some people thought
otherwise especially when they have good reason for such dissent. Many years ago,
the popular opinion was that the earth was flat and that the sun and moon hung
as light bulbs on a ceiling. Someone disagreed and proved scientifically that
our planet was spherical. His position though not immediately acknowledged has
become the truth today and has since remained so for man has indeed been able
to leave the planet and seen it from without.
However, man does not disagree against his own good. When
an adversary enters a farmer’s land to take possession, the farmer does not leave
without a fight. Instead he challenges the occupier enforcing his right of
ownership. In Nigeria of today though, it is different. While the majority
celebrated with temporal relief at the report submitted by the Farouk Lawan ad hoc
committee on the subsidy regime, some Nigerian youths took to the streets
protesting against the report. A good number tuned up at the National Assembly
insisting that the report was nothing more than a “witch hunt.” Shortchanged by
the federal government through inept leadership, mediocrity and corruption, these
youths dissented with the scheduled House Session obviously intending to
prevent it from holding.
In this society of ours emulating a civilized one, you
would expect that the normal thing to would be to produce a counter argument
based on facts and then argue your position from thence the way Galileo did
when he averred that the earth was spherical. What we witnessed yesterday, was
a case of desperation. Someone is trying desperately to hush the popular truth
without providing an intellectually sound argument as to why the majority
should be wrong. It does not take a Daniel to know that those youths were
sponsored and bought for sums as paltry as two to five thousand Naira per
person. The Nigerian youth is usually one who would pay the cheapest for every
service or commodity and possibly in some instance ask for a discount. The
Nigerian youth will even ask for a little more to be added to his purchase as
way of encouraging him. It is therefore strange then, that someone in this
harsh economy called Nigeria is protesting against his right to pay less or
better still protesting against injustice.
The federal government before now had been certain the
subsidy regime was a transparent one where foul play was merely left at a
minimum, if this was not the case, why hike the price and insist on it. Its
insistence on taking away the subsidy regime against the outcry of the majority
proves the government knew something majority did not. Some earnestly did believe
the government was right and that in the long run, the majority would be
silenced by the facts. That has not happened as we have seen by the report that
the truth like pregnancy cannot be hidden forever. The government like the
Gibeonites came with massaged figures proving how much burden it has borne and
how much it intended to save such that the public would be better off for it in
the long run. The majority disagreed then. Their protest though fraught with
challenges was not successful as the government stuck to its gun and indeed
brought the guns out to a peaceful protest to enforce by way of arms its poor
thinking. Today, someone has found out the Gibeonites but rather than demand
justice, some have sold their birthrights for a plate of porridge.
Time has come when the Nigerian youth must throw away all
forms of indifference and take an active interest in the way and manner they
are governed. For though he may not have an active say in the daily and
immediate decisions, their collective right to dissent as well as their right
to be heard cannot be wished away. This purchased dissent though is made
possible by the harsh economic realities which have forced many youths into
undesirable trades, and worse still a flexible conscience to be bought and sold
for two to five thousand Naira. Young Nigerians must get wiser for the future
is now. Lending yourself to a cause that further impoverishes you is not being
smart or fast but helping your adversary shoot you by your own hand in the leg,
while he watches you burn, a sight very pleasing to these sadists.
A man takes your farm and then gives you a tuber of yam.
He takes your land and gives you a shed. Another takes your football and gives
you a balloon. Someday, they will take your lives and leave you nothing. Always
ask, “What’s in it for you?”
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