BREAKING: EndBadGovernance: South-East holds different kind of protest

The South-East states have fully boycotted the nation’s ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest, which aims to force the country’s government to step in and address the soaring prices of food products.

Nonetheless, despite the fact that there were no actual gatherings or significant crowd movements in any of the Southeast’s cities, many people thought that Southeast’s Blue-Collar Workers participated in the protest in a completely different way.

Many Igbo leaders and organisations had sent warnings days prior to the protest, urging the Igbo people not to participate.

Press releases were sent by Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the leading Igbo socio-political group, discouraging Igbo people in Nigeria and abroad from taking part in the demonstration.

In a video address, House of Representatives deputy speaker Rt Hon. Benjamin Kalu urged the Igbo people to abstain from the protest.

He issued a warning that if the Igbo participated in the protest, particularly in towns outside of their territory, it was likely that people from other areas would turn the demonstration against them and accuse the Igbo of organising it with the goal to loot and damage their properties.

Ndigbo completely boycotted the protest for the first three days and has continued to do so, in response to some of these calls.

There was not a single demonstration in the South East, according to a ZINGTIE correspondent tracking trends throughout the South East.

Igbo traders in Lagos, Abuja, and other parts of the nation also declined to accompany the throng of demonstrators who descended on the streets to demand that Nigeria’s president, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, lower living expenses and put an end to famine in the nation.

On August 1 and several earlier dates, when the demonstration was held across the nation, it was noted that Dr. Alex Ekwueme space, a public space that acts as a gathering place for protestors, was empty in Awka.

In the meantime, many locations in the South East saw what appeared to be a different sort of protest.

In spite of the tense national atmosphere, which resulted in minimal traffic in the area and the closure of banks, schools, automobile parks, and marketplaces, young people organised football teams and played soccer as a form of protest on August 1st in most cities.

As part of their own protests, other people were also observed eating, drinking, and having fun in beer parlours.

People were asking each other, almost in jest, where they were heading for their own protest quite early on the first day of the demonstration.

While playing football on the well-known Majuo Street in Awka, a few young people who spoke with ZINGTIE stated it was their own form of protest.

One of the young people, identified as Ejike, said: “I own a shop at Eke Awka.

“We are here to do our own protest since they said today is set aside for protest.

“Market did not open, so we have to do our own protest here. We heard that people are burning properties already for the protest, but here, our own protest is to play football on this deserted main road.”

“When they are done with their own protest destroying things, we will now go back to our markets.

“We are not joining anyone in their destructive protest,” the youth said.

The group of guys in videos that went viral on social media in Enugu, Onitsha, and Awka—where physically fit men gathered at bars and treated themselves to cocktails and chicken as their own form of protest—seemed to be a funnier demonstration.

One of the young people, Mr. John Nze, a printer, stated to the group of young people shouting songs and drinking at Aroma Junction in Awka: “This is our own kind of protest. We are here to eat and drink and protest along with our northern and western brothers.

“We want to say that we are happy with the leadership of President Bola Tinubu. We did not vote for him, but we know that our northern and western brothers voted for him.”

“So this is the time to reap the reward of their support to Tinubu, and we are here to urge our president to keep up the good work,” he said sarcastically.

In response to the people’s decision, the Minister of Works, Engineer Dave Umahi, and the Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, both praised the South East zone for following the request to abstain from the protests.

Speaking on Sunday in Enugu, both leaders said that the move shown good faith towards the Bola Tinubu administration and spared the senseless loss of Igbo lives, businesses, and property.

Reacting to the decision of the people, both the Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah and the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi commended the South East zone for heeding the call not to join in the protests.

Both leaders spoke on Sunday in Enugu, noting that the action prevented needless loss of Igbo lives, businesses, and property, while also showing good faith to the President Bola Tinubu administration.

“I also want to take the opportunity to commend our people greatly for heeding our call to shun the protests and go about their business. We commend them highly because they understand the value of hard-work.

“Sometimes, you may not be able to appreciate the effect of government policies immediately, but I tell you that some of these policies are well-intentioned. With time, if we can just exercise a little more patience with the Federal Government, we are going to begin to see the values of these reforms.

“We want to continue to call on our people to go about their business and know that if they destroy our assets, we are still going to use the wealth of our common patrimony to fix those assets. So, we must remain focused and continue to do our work,” Mbah stated.

In a similar spirit, the Minister of Works claimed that by choosing not to protest, the Igbo community throughout Nigeria and the people of South East Nigeria had made a loud statement.

“We are not going to protest. We want proper integration in the affairs of this country. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mr President, started it by giving an Igbo man the Minister of Works, appointing an Igbo Man as a service chief, among others.

“We have been excluded from governance and development in the past. But now, you can see infrastructural developments in the South-East. So, why should we protest against a man who has given to us what was never given to us before?” Umahi queried.

Similarly, Ndigbo had conveyed a clear message by abstaining from the protest, according to Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, National President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Worldwide, who spoke with ZINGTIE on Tuesday.

Okwu noted that, “our people have suffered so much in the past and have also borne the brunt of all the protests in the country.

“So, it would have been fool-hardy for any Igbo person to join in the protest. What are we protesting for? We have been marginalized for decades of years and nobody protested on our behalf.

“Now, simply because some people are not comfortable with the government, they want to drag all of us into it; never again shall we be made scapegoats in this country.

“The President is doing well and we shall continue to support him.

“So, Ndigbo not participating is another form of protest. Our message is loud and clear. President Bola Tinubu should be allowed to govern the country.”

Meanwhile, the governor of Anambra State was kicking off a project at Amansea, a border village in the state, on a day when the nation was protesting against hunger in the land.

Christian Aburime, the governor’s press secretary, stated: “The pertinent question on the mind of Governor Soludo seems to be: how can a nation, a people, so enviably blessed with fertile, arable land mass and clement weather conditions be struggling with hunger?

“This has spurred the governor to swing into action with his new initiative, unveiled at Amansea, in order to galvanise Anambra’s citizens into embracing agriculture on personal and family levels.”

He said: “Of course, Nigerians cannot afford to be waiting for Manna from heaven or from Abuja. As much as the government must take certain steps to address the rampant food inflation in the country, it is Governor Soludo’s belief that the long-term solution to our food crisis lies in the rich soil beneath our feet and the strength of our own hands.

“The timing of Governor Soludo’s initiative could not be more critical. As galloping inflation ravages the Nigerian economy, food prices have become the most visible and painful indicators of the nation’s economic challenges.

“Individuals and families across the country are grappling with impossible choices, forced to decide between putting food on the table and meeting other basic needs. There is, indeed, no easy choice.”

Dr. Nelson Omenugha, a special adviser to the governor on youth empowerment and convener of the political pressure group Youths Earnestly Support Soludo (YESS), claimed that the reason the protest in Anambra failed miserably was because Governor Soludo purposefully scheduled empowerment programs that have kept young people in the state occupied.

“That is the reason there is no protest in Anambra.

“When I was SUG president of Unizik, I dissuaded protest because if you protest and other nefarious elements take advantage and destroy things, you will still be the one to pay and at the same time, you will be worse off than you were before the protest.

“That was why we intentionally met with youths before the commencement of the protest to tell them all these.”

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