The fact that former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, Ike
Ekweremadu, was nearly lynched by an angry mob in Nunberg Germany did
not come to many Nigerians as a big surprise given the present helpless
frustration among Nigerian masses home and abroad.
Someone even said that many such politicians would have been
waylaid and dealt with by the home branch of the masses had it not been
for the often AK-47-weilding security officers frequently shielding them
back home.
For the record, this is not the first time a Nigerian politician
has been harassed outside the shores of the country. Recall that on
March 10, 2016, then Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State was disgraced
at the Chattam House, London by a solo IPOB protester who called him a
“liar’’ and “murderer’’, stoically determined to stop him from making an
address.
What is however intriguing about Ekweremadu’s ordeal was that he
was physically attacked and made to scamper into a waiting car by a
seemingly angry IPOB mob baying for blood. A loud protester could be
heard in the background of a 56-second video that showed the ugly event
lamenting about how the senator’s constituents were being massacred by
herdsmen while he could afford to party and wine in a foreign land.
Methinks Senator Ekweremadu is bearing the brunt of a genuine
frustration among Nigerian masses. The security situation in the country
has deteriorated, with unabated killings by alleged Fulani herdsmen who
have been sacking communities and kidnapping travellers in the
North-West, North-Central and southern Nigeria. This situation coupled
with a tumbling economy and a seemingly clueless helplessness by the
current administration has compelled Nigerians abroad who share the
pains and burden of their relatives at home to see travelling
politicians as a convenient catharsis for their frustrations. This is a
luxury they can afford to enjoy in foreign lands where civil liberties
are part of daily life. Unfortunately, their counterparts at home are
hampered by the ever-brutal security forces which are happy to use
maximum forces on peaceful protesters. One can only imagine what would
happen if the often-worshipped politicians are ever physically harassed.
That should not be so. Although I personally do not support
physical assaults on public officers no matter what the gripes are,
public protests and civil demonstrations are a part and parcel of a
healthy democracy – more so, when it is recognised that those occupying
such positions are accountable to the masses. It is common to see
presidents egged and drenched by angry protesters in civilised
countries, a sign that power belongs to the people. Such outpouring of
emotions when not lethal or life-threatening is totally permissible, if
it galvanises public functionaries into living up to their
responsibilities.
Ekweremadu may have been an unlucky scapegoat (given his decent
representation in the Senate) who has taken one for a political crop
perpetually accused of being ensconced in obscene luxuries and
cloistered from the everyday grind of the long-suffering citizenry, but
his ordeal is a warning that “abroad’’ may no longer be a safe haven for
leaders who shirk their main responsibility of representing the
interests of the masses.
Oliver C. Orji,
England, United Kingdom
oliverchuksorji@gmail.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment