Study Notes on Nigeria’s Youth Revolt
By
Edwin Madunagu
What
actually happened in Nigeria, from October 8, 2020 to the last week
of that month? Did we see a protest, a revolt, an uprising, a
rebellion, a nihilist – anarchist self-expression, an insurrection
or a revolution? But why have I decided to put “revolution” last? Is
it because it is the “greatest” on the list or because it has
elements of each of the acts listed before it, but has something
which others do not possess or possess in degrees that are not
decisive?
To
this loaded question I reproduce an explanatory note which I gave to
three younger Nigerians – all female – during the event we desire to
give a name. It was an explanatory note which, though not useless,
begged the direct question that I have asked. I told them,
individually: “Revolution—as we know it today, in fact, every actual
revolution—has brought out the best and the worst of human instincts
…. However, a revolution not only says “No”, which other listed acts
also say, but goes on to say “Yes” in a self-conscious and
self-confident way.
Let
us now attempt a “fair” and “liberal” (that is non-ideological and
non-partisan) sub-narrative on this latest “class war” in Nigeria.
This may begin somewhat like this: At the beginning, some
well-educated young Nigerians—Leftists, liberal democrats, pure
idealists, etc—came together, directly and with the help of the
Internet, and decided to initiate a national mass protest,
physically and in the social media, against the brutality and
apparent impunity of a Nigerian Police formation called the Federal
Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). This group of young Nigerians, on
behalf of the Nigerian youths (roughly ages 18-35), who constituted
the main targets and victims of SARS, and on behalf of the Nigerian
people generally, demanded, primarily, the dissolution of the
fascist police formation. But they also made some ancillary, though
equally popular-democratic demands.
The
protest which became known as EndSARS, was at first peaceful (that
is, non-violent) and was supported by many Nigerians across age,
gender and ideological lines. But soon it was joined not only by
thousands of other like-minded youths across the country, but also
by other categories of Nigerian youths described as “hoodlums”,
“miscreants”, “outlaws”, “thugs”, “anarchists”, “thieves”,
“looters”, “nihilists”, etc. A leading Leftist lawyer (Femi Falana)
described these latter joiners, now called “infiltrators” and
“hijackers”, as “lumpen elements,” a category in Marxist class
analysis. A veteran Leftist public intellectual and columnist (Biodun
Jeyifo, BJ) then supplied a definition of “lumpen”, citing Online
Dictionary: “Of or relating to dispossessed and uprooted individuals
cut off from the economic and social class with which they might
normally be identified.”
It
was a class war in its crudest, most savage and most frightening
forms. It was a war that was directed not only against perceived
“enemies” but also symbols of “enemies”. It was a war in which
“collateral” damages and self-inflicted injuries were, in summation,
as heavy as damages and injuries against enemies and symbols of
enemies. Eventually, however, “law and order” was restored, the
Nigerian state regained control and began the inevitable “settlement
of accounts” with the protest and the protesters: initiators,
sympathisers, legitimate joiners and illegitimate infiltrators and
hijackers. End of narrative.
Now,
we may ask: Taking the Nigerian youths, as organized or simply
brought together in EndSARS protest, as a detachment of the popular
masses (as opposed to the ruling class, the power blocs and the
state) and taking a long and dialectical view of history, was
EndSARS protest a victory or a defeat for the popular masses? And,
also taking a long and dialectical view of history, was it a victory
or a defeat for the Nigerian nation as a whole?
My
answer to this question is heavily qualified: It was a victory at
both levels: a victory which was however obtained at a very high
price both in human lives and material acquisition, public and
private. The task of the Nigerian Left in this regard now becomes to
make such victories less and less costly-even if the immediate
organisers and inspirers of the struggles believe—erroneously—that
they are historically or ideologically autonomous or independent of
the Nigerian Left! We may recall or research the role of Karl Marx
in the premature uprising of the workers of Paris in 1871 (Paris
Commune).
How
does the Nigerian Left contribute to making future protests less and
less violent and destructive? I propose: By expanding the
popular-democratic struggle, that is: expanding popular political
education, fighting to strengthen and expand the “rule of law” and
the enactment of “good laws”, fighting for socio-economic reforms to
ameliorate the condition of the popular masses and seeking to
influence mass protest movements up to and including the assumption
of leadership.
When
I discussed the youth protest with a radical female academic, who
claims honestly and self-consciously not to be ideological or
partisan, her response was that it was a “pyrrhic victory”. That is,
with reference to Greek history, a victory obtained at a very high
cost. In other words, we were in agreement, except that I would not
bring in the Greek history – inspired qualification. I seized on my
advantage and asked her: “What will you have regarded as a clear
victory for the popular masses in this particular struggle—that is,
real victory?” She responded: “Social reform, restructuring, some
resignations and dismissals of public functionaries, the decimation
of demigods.”
Suppose these minimum objectives have not been met, would the
EndSARS protest be in vain? I asked my female compatriot. She
responded: “Those objectives failing, then let it at least be that
notice has been served regarding the masses’ capabilities and
readiness to ensure that going forward cannot be business as usual.”
She then added: “I just wish this mass awareness will be reflected
in 2023.” I accepted the lady’s listing and delineation of upper and
lower minimum objectives.
At a
stage in the EndSARS protest, after the Lekki-Epe Toll Gate
shooting, after the president had spoken, after the protest had
moved to the massively destructive stage in Lagos, Abuja, Benin,
Calabar and other parts of the country, it began to acquire an
ethnic, micro-nationalist dimension. I held my breath and started
exchanging calls and notes with comrades and compatriots across the
country. Fortunately for the nation and for the Nigerian Left, the
“fire” went off. But it went off not because sufficient conscious
efforts were made to put it off but mainly because the original
struggle, the EndSARS protest, de-escalated and therefore was no
longer available to be used or converted by the ruling class in its
fight-back.
In
conclusion: In the near future we shall discuss the objectives,
organization and conduct of Nigeria’s Youth Revolt 2020, or EndSARS
Protest. We shall analyse and evaluate the “absence” of “leadership
and organization” or the presence of leaders but absence of “central
leadership and organization” in the protest. We shall then propose
that the tragedy we witnessed was, in part, a reflection of the
current weakness of the Nigerian Left, a weakness that ab initio
indicated a possible derailment and contributed to setting a limit
for that struggle.
Madunagu, mathematician and journalist, writes from
Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. |