All of a sudden Nigeria has discovered its greatest resource called people power

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) After nearly 60 years of docility, Nigerians are finally waking up. Over the last week, the government has been forced to suspend the imbecilic idea called Ruga, a General Overseer has been forced to take leave of absence and a senator has been made to publicly apologise for his hooliganism, thuggery and gender-based violence 

(2) In the past, our people would have turned a blind eye to all this and said: “God dey.” However, we are now accepting what Fela told us a long time ago: “If we are to jefa head ooo, we must to fight for am o.” Call it the eventual awakening of the African giant 

(3) Since 1960, Nigerians have naively believed that one day a messiah will appear from out of the skies and solve all their woes. Well, I am glad they are now seeing the fallacy of that senseless position. It is bodies on the street in their millions that will bring about change, not a Moses and his staff in Aso Rock. If you are not prepared to get off your backside and march for a better society, you have no moral right to complain 

(4) Two of the issues we have dealt with over the last week have had to do with gender. One involves violence against women and the other is of rape against a teenager. However, our women’s groups have been conspicuously anonymous in all of this. Shame on them. For instance, has even one old girls schools association in the whole of Nigeria issued a statement condemning rape?

(5) Has one female senator said a word about Elisha Ishaku Abbo? I find it perplexing that not one of them could issue a statement kind of similar to the one put out by Atiku Abubakar. Surely, they must ask one of their colleagues to apologise on the floor of the senate to all Nigerian women 

(6) Now, it is not unusual for people to use campaigns to further their personal careers and then abandon such causes after getting acclaim, attention and public office. This is exactly what has happened with our female senators and I find it totally unacceptable. The next phase of our people power campaign must be to take such people to task 

(7) Senator Oluremi Tinubu is now behaving like her husband. During his Nadeco days, Bola Ahmed Tinubu mouthed the slogan federalism and resource control virtually every day. Did we hear pim from him during this Ruga saga? Suddenly, the cat cut his tongue out 

(8) When Dino Melaye insulted Oluremi Tinubu on the floor of the senate, we all condemned him and rallied to her defence. Why she cannot stand up for other women in need of her support is totally beyond me. I think we should insist that Oluremi Tinubu makes her stance clear on the three topical issues in the news at the moment 

(9) One problem I have with many of the old girls school associations and women’s groups is that they are just a bunch of Gucci Girls and Lui Vitton Ladies. For them, feminism is just about the freedom to buy handbags. Child marriages, sex minors, infant mortality rates, eradicating female illiteracy, etc are no concern of theirs. Sometimes, I just shake my head and keep quiet so I do not appear to be crying more than the bereaved 

(10) Moving forward, I hope this new found discovery of people power is only the beginning. I look forward to seeing marches, demonstrations, strikes, sit-ins, civil disobedience stand-offs, etc. People power is our greatest resource and until we tap into it fully, we are going nowhere. Life changed irrevocably for blacks in America after the civil rights movement, so if we want the same living standards, we must be prepared to fight the same fight