Nairametrics| The protest planned for yesterday was critical for so many reasons. Among other things, it would have shown a real, tangible demand for reform.
Tuface was pressured to cancel the protest for security reasons, but a greater reason was that apologists of the government of the day feared that the protest would have harvested the bitterness of the masses, putting them under real pressure to deliver results.
But pockets of people within the administration who are desperate to see some change in how their government was run would have been just glad to see the protest go ahead as planned. Disillusioned politicians, including Advisors of key government officials were indeed fed-up and hopeful that such a galvanized nation-wide protest would be the trigger that will ignite changes in their administration, and in the political landscape in general. Tuface as the face of the protest was just right. He is loved by all, and people were willing to rally behind him.
It remains to be seen if what was left of the protest had the intended effect. But we don’t think it did. One of the reasons for the poor state of Nigeria’s politics is that there is not sufficient demand for reforms. Without this demand, there will not be a supply of reforms and there is no incentive to change. And the political class is quite happy with that.
Nigeria’s educated class have often been accused of being placid and uninterested in their governance machinery, giving room to people who are unqualified but eager. This is also fine by the political class. Sometimes, even when your dad knows you ned something, he still needs to see you ask for it.
