The greatest benefit of a democracy is the freedom it guarantees the citizens. The freedom of speech, of association, of holding a different view, among others.

But these classes of freedom appear curtailed by the high level of intolerance by the government. The government appears fearful each time citizens want to protest against unpopular policies and high-handedness.

Nigerians are not in any way new to protests because over the years there have been several protests against unfriendly government policies that date back to the pre-independence era. However, the clampdown which used to be synonymous with the military has become a past-time of the government nowadays.

For instance, on May 15, 1994, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a pro-democracy group, was launched as fallout of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election. NADECO was populated by prominent Nigerians including the current President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu – with a primary purpose of returning Nigeria to democracy.

Similarly, in 2012, Nigerians occupied Ojota, Lagos in a protest tagged, ‘Occupy Nigeria’ and popularly referred to as the ‘Ojota Protest.’ Occupy Nigeria was a socio-political protest movement that began on Monday, January 2, 2012 in response to the fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday, January 1, 2012. The protest ran for many days, paralyzing socio-economic activities.

Also fresh in the minds of many Nigerians, especially the ‘GenZs’ was the #EndSARS protest of October 20, 2020, a decentralised social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria.

However, since the Tinubu administration came into power on May 29, 2023, series of protests have been organised by some Nigerians; notable among them was the ‘#EndBadGovernanceInNigeria’ protest held between August 1 and 10, 2024.

The protest that was also tagged ‘hardship/hunger protest’ by the organisers indicated that Nigerians were struggling to cope with the rising cost of living crisis, especially since the double-edged economic reforms of fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira by the government took effect on May 29, 2023.

On all occasions, protesters have been met with the high security presence of the police, the Army and personnel of other security agencies in a war-like fashion, suggestive of a degenerating intolerance dissenting voices by the government.

“In any democratically elected government, there should usually be the majority that will have their way and a minority which should have their say. So, silencing or crushing the voice of opposition is anti-democratic,” Sanmi Johnson Ibidapo, psychologist, told BusinessDaySunday that the beauty of any democracy was in having different opinions, and dissenting voices.

Ibidapo said that it was against the principle of fairness and justice to slap a child and still stop him from crying.

“So, if the policies of the government do not align with what people expect, people should have the opportunity to voice out their opinions; that, the constitution allows.”

Ibidapo, who is the coordinator of the Caleb University counseling and development clinic, added that silencing dissenting voices or crushing opposition voices in a democracy can trigger aggressive response especially when it becomes a public issue.

“Again, our leaders especially in Africa need to be very sensitive to the yearnings of the people, especially with reports of coups in some countries in recent times. It’s not a criminal offence to speak against government policies or to have a position that doesn’t align with the government of the day. This is a part of the uniqueness of democracy,” said Ibidapo.

According to him, the theory of frustration-aggression in psychology could be activated when the government continually prevents citizens from airing their views in a democracy.

“That’s the psychology of mass action. Sadly, this is not good for our nation because the enemies of the State can leverage on this to ferment trouble.”

Ibidapo said that when people are pushed to the wall, by depriving them from achieving their goals, they respond with violent aggression.

“It is inviting anarchy if people fail to raise their voice in a democracy. The definition of democracy is defeated if people can’t talk freely in a democracy,” Chukwudinma Okoji, a communication expert, told BusinessDaySunday.

According to him, Nigerians might have to weigh their voting patterns in future elections to favour candidates with proven democratic track records. “Since freedom of speech and expression is being crushed from left, right and centre, the only option left is for people to vote those who they think will be a better representation any time an election comes.”

However, Moses Lawal, a Lagos-based public commentator, said that Nigeria’s democracy has “matured” beyond the stage of any government being capable of crushing dissenting voices.

“We must not forget that the judiciary as an independent arm of government is the go-to place for any individual or group that is perceived as being at the receiving end of acts of suppression.”

Lawal is of the view that the media have been taking the government to task on some of the issues raised by protesters and believe the country could only get better with structured ‘check and balance’ in governance.

“Besides, we equally have a strong and vibrant media as the 4th Estate of the Realm. Summarily, “suppression” as a perception is best left to the judiciary to validate or invalidate. Any other alternative route for expression/interpretation might either be uncivil or lead to anarchy.”

Oshiomhole turns the heat on colleagues

In what seemed a moment of repentance, Adams Oshiomhole, a senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, last Wednesday on the floor of the upper chamber, pleaded with his fellow politicians and lawmakers to stop using the unemployed to disrupt elections.

He also urged Nigerians to be cautious of hackers in dealing with technology in elections.

“I don’t know if Mr. President will remember. I’m not sure I’m entitled to call the President as a witness, but just to draw your attention to what I said when we were both governors, first, the issue we must work hard to eliminate in our electoral process is violence. We can’t have an election that seems to be a war where young men and not so young, carry AK-47 either to chase away opponents or even to chase away the young men and women who are presiding over election or to take over coalition centers

“On that occasion as a sitting governor, I believe Governor Dickson was also at that meeting, I remember when I finished, I said, AK-47 is not like buying akara on the street [only big men can buy them]. I remember the former governor Amaechi asking me whether I was accusing the governors.

“I think I said something close to ‘yes’ because if you ask the security agencies, they will tell you that after every election, violent crimes increase because the politicians who procured weapons for children who are hungry and pay them a little fee, once the election is over, they are not able to retrieve the weapons, and the weapon are then deployed by these people for violence.

“You can see a strong correlation between the level of criminality, robbery, etc, immediately after the election, because these people have been abandoned since the results have been given, somebody said, I should not accuse governors.

“I’m not accusing governors now. I’m just recalling what I said before and when I listen to all those who spoke here, everybody spoke In unison, I haven’t heard anyone who says he doesn’t want a transparent election.

“If we all do, not from our lips but from our heart, and we decide to remove violence and convince ourselves that the Nigerian people deserve to hire and fire without fear of favor on Election Day, at least after every four years, correct law. We will have free, fair, transparent elections.

“The beauty of democracy is not the fact that you find yourself occupying an important elective office.

“It is the feeling in your heart that people actually in their free will find you worthy to be their voice and to entrust our collective patrimony in your hands to manage to deliver the greatest good to the greatest number.

“That for me is the beauty. If you achieve it by the game of body, by two rigging or other manipulation, deep in your heart, you know that you are not a happy person.

“Therefore, I wish to say the following. First, we should resolve each and every one of us and also collectively, that as elected persons, we as senators, shall not directly or indirectly, secretly or openly abet unemployed people and armed them to disrupt elections if we form our character, this problem is 90 percent solved.”

On the negative impact the military era may have made on the agencies of government in their dealing with the citizens, Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria, said it was a false existence.

“The only thing keeping Nigeria is force of arms. Remove the police, remove the army, we’ll see whether things will be like this. So, that’s not how to have a country,” he said. (BusinessDay)