Protest in Nigeria, my opinion, by Abubakar M. Kareto
My stand on protest is that as long as we keep democracy, people must be allowed to protest against the government if the need arises to express their anger over government policies and programmes. Even in the more mature democracies, where democratic “consolidation” has been reached, people often protest.
Demonstrations inform politicians of voters’ concerns. Protest remained one of the major pillars and ingredients of democracy; if Nigeria is not ready to accept protest, then we dump the system and adopt a dictatorship that uses decrees to ban protest.
Religious leaders, community leaders, and even decent politicians can lead people to have a peaceful protest rather than coming under any guise to condemn and discourage it. It is illogical, irrational, unjustifiable to accept democracy and reject protests and demonstrations by the citizenry.
Again, if protest remains non-violent, it can deepen democracy’s reach and improve its chances of survival. Very often, protest is the only way minority voices can be heard.
Protest is at the core of democratic consciousness, which is why authoritarian governments contain them, condemn them, or repress them.
You may choose to have contrary opinion backed by different thoughts but this is my stand based on my understanding of the democratic system.
Written by Abubakar M. Kareto.
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