Many
Nigerians over the weekend were shocked by 2baba Idibia's cancellation
of his protest and President Buhari's postponement of his homecoming.
Azuka Onwuka explains what these connote for the two men and for
Nigerians.
President Muhammadu Buhari and 2face Idibia
Popular hip-hop musician, Innocent
Idibia, popularly known with the stage name, “2Face,” which he recently
changed to “2Baba,” came under heavy criticism over the weekend when he
announced that the protest against Nigeria’s dwindling economy,
scheduled to hold on February 6, 2017, had been cancelled. Interest in
the protest tagged “One Voice” had been building up for weeks, with
government and security agencies issuing threats and condemnation
against the planned protest.
However, the musician, who became popular through his song,
“African Queen,” shocked many on Saturday evening when he announced via
his Instagram page, “Official2baba,” that he was cancelling the planned
protest. In the video, he said as follows:
“Dear Nigerians, after due consultations, it has become clear
that the #OneVoice Nigerian protest scheduled to hold in Lagos and Abuja
on Monday the 6th of February is under serious threat of hijack by
interests not aligned with our ideals. The point and intent I’m making
is not worth the life of any Nigerian. It is a fact motivated by the
need to demand a better deal for the ordinary Nigerian.
“I therefore announce the cancellation of the planned protest. We will share further information in due course.
“I appreciate the massive support and I am convinced that our voices have been heard.
“May God bless you all and may God bless Nigeria.”
If 2Baba had not announced that cancellation through a video, few
people would have believed him. But the video made it clear that someone
did not hack into his account. The announcement was seen as betrayal.
There were allegations that he was threatened, blackmailed or induced to
back out of the planned protest. Some pointed out that he acted in line
with his name “2Face”: double face. Whatever was his reason, it was
clear that that action would affect his rating in the eyes of his music
fans for a while. If he comes out in the future to lead any campaign,
many will not believe him. If he had not chickened out, he would have
transformed from a music icon to a national crusader like Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti.
Everybody knows that opposing the Federal Government in Nigeria is
not child’s play, especially when it is led by someone who does not
brook opposition. So 2Baba should have thought the protest through,
weighed all the possibilities, including detention, threats, blackmail,
abduction, physical harm, emotional torture, and even his death or the
death of a member of his family or a protester. If he was convinced that
he could bear any of such challenges, it was only then that he should
have started such a campaign against the government.
What has worsened the image of 2Baba is the fact that in spite of
his announcement, the protest took place in different parts of the
country as scheduled on Monday, February 6. Shortly after his
announcement of the cancellation of the protest very late on Saturday,
conveners of the protest promptly issued their own statements,
announcing that the protest would go on as planned. They added that
2Baba was not the convener of the protest but was only co-opted as a
celebrity to give traction to the planned protest.
Be that as it may, it bears pointing out that the way presidential
aides and the police reacted to the build-up to the protest was
disappointing. Nigeria is supposed to be a democracy. Protests are an
integral part of democracy. True democratic nations and institutions
like universities create parks or squares where people can gather to
protest against or in support of any cause under the face of the earth.
It is their right. It tells the government what the people want, and a
proactive government starts solving the problem in time before it
snowballs into a crisis.
On Sunday, another cancellation was announced. This time, it was
from the Presidency. President Muhammadu Buhari, who went to the United
Kingdom on a 10-day vacation, was scheduled to arrive on Sunday. Because
of that expected date of arrival, 2Baba had last week announced that
the protest would be shifted from February 5 to February 6, so that the
President would be in the country during the protest.
However, a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Sunday stated that “The
President had planned to return to Abuja this evening, but was advised
to complete the test cycle before returning.” The statement added: “The
notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President, and Speaker,
House of Representatives. Mr. President expresses his sincere gratitude
to Nigerians for their concern, prayers and kind wishes.”
Coming on the heels of rumours of the death of the President a week
ago, that announcement about the indefinite postponement of his return,
created waves across the country about the state of health of the
President.
President Buhari is human, and humans can be ill. Since early 2015
when the campaign for the Presidency peaked, there have been
insinuations that he is not of good health. In the one year and eight
months of his reign so far, Buhari has gone on vacation three times
abroad. Each time, the information about his vacations has not been
managed well.
Those who use his age as an excuse do him incalculable injustice.
At 74 years old, Buhari is not very old. Professor Wole Soyinka will be
82 years old on July 13.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo will be 79 years old on March 5.
Mr Barack Obama’s Vice President, Mr Joe Biden, who left office last month, will be 75 years on November 20.
President Donald Trump will be 71 on June 14. These septuagenarians
and octogenarians are agile. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was some months away
from 79 years old in 1983 during the campaign for the presidential
election. Even though there were campaign materials mocking his age,
there were no rumours about his health.
If there is a medical condition that Buhari has, his compatriots
need to know, to avoid regular rumours and uncertainty over his health.
The more rumours arise about his health, the more difficult it becomes
for him to turn around the nation, because there will be uncertainty and
caution over the unknown.
However, it should be noted by those who wish the President dead
that wishing him dead cannot kill him. Nobody has any control over when
another person will die. Nobody knows who will die first between the old
and the young or between the strong and the weak. But that there are
people wishing the President dead should send a message to him. There
are families who are mourning because their relatives were shot dead by
security operatives over a protest or rally, and President Buhari has
shown through his words and actions that he endorses such killings.
There are families who have been wiped out by the repeated invasions of
Fulani herdsmen across the nation. Then, there are families who have
been thrown into hopelessness and hunger because of the mismanagement of
the economy under the watch of Buhari. These classes of people will
definitely not be happy with Buhari. There are also those who hope to
benefit politically by the demise of the President.
However, Buhari can learn something from the man who founded the
Nobel Prize. As a result of mistaken identity, Alfred Nobel read his own
obituary in the newspapers. The media celebrated his “death,” labelling
him the “merchant of death”. It touched him deeply and made him to set
up the Nobel Prize with his money, which changed the image of Alfred
Nobel forever. Once Buhari returns, let him start rebuilding and uniting
the nation by extending true love and justice to all sections of the
country. Let him drop his ineffectual economic policies and seek
pragmatic ways to revive the economy, so that history will be kind to
him.
Written by Azuka Onwuka
– Twitter @BrandAzuka
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