If the Egyptian protests were in Nigeria…

“It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.”

These are the inspiring words of Isaac Asimov the famous American science writer and author.

Considered a master of hard science fiction and a man with great imaginary mind and prolific in mystery and make –believe stories.

It is from this great American pen-man that I have decided to borrow some imaginary conceptions and share them with readers this week. In the hopethat  I might have planted a seed that will flower and come to fruition at the end of the day.

Precisely I am letting my imagination fly freely as I look back at the victorious revolution that took place in Egypt last week. A revolution that ushered in a change that started like play – play and I am here imagining what it would  have been like, if the resilient protests had been in my dear country Nigeria, the most populous rich black nation on planet earth, with different set of people and peculiar characters. I can still imagine with a sense of flinch the kobokos, frog jump, kicking, pounding, beating and brushing that could have flown like missiles from our various security outfits to the protesters if it were here in Nigeria.

Ye! Plenty head could have been broken, many lips swollen and some set of teeth definitely missing from brutalized mouths. And some families might probably be holding a wake keeping, funeral or some seven day or forty day prayer session by now.

 But we are all witness to the civility that transpired between the angry resilient people of Egypt and their security agencies, specifically the military, the strongest institution in the country. We saw how it is, to be a soldier with guns, armor tanks, grenades,  and whips and yet mingle freely with humanity among the people. The soldiers did not overzealously pounce on the protesting civilians with koboko, unleash teargas on them or send many of them to their early graves with AK47 riffles or bombard them to yonder mercilessly with their armoured tanks. We saw first-hand what it means on how to stand by the truth and listen attentively to the voice of the people. The land of Pharaoh and its people displayed a sense of true comradeship to the entire world to behold with envy and support. They fought against injustice and dictatorship among themselves with a united voice, thus shaming a few unpatriotic descendants who were bravely chased out by the people’s might.

Honestly I have decided to subscribe my imagination to the advice of Mark Twain who said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus” So as a matter of urgency has decided to give my curious eyes a break and use my imagination to focus  properly on our dear country and try to imagine how it would have looked like if the protests that saw to the fall of the last pharaoh of Egypt (Mubarak) had actually taken place in Nigeria, how would the Nigerian security have handled the situation? Would the soldier have come out with stern  faces ,wading their guns, armor and men brutality through our streets? Would General Maikarfi order his boys to shoot down Emeka, Audu, Segun, Hauwa, Ngozi and Kemi  who came out protesting the shameful issue of indigene versus settlers and other  cheap ethnic bias that has  long been eating the country and causing wahala and katakata across the country? Will IGP Elogbon specifically instruct his boys to happily discharge their bullets freely on protesting market men and women, who were on the streets to protest the high cost of rent at the markets and other excessive government charges and taxes?  I don’t want to imagine that the federal government would have quickly declared a state of emergency across the country or order more battalion of soldiers and police on the street. I am just  imagining if these men and women would have understood that they were actually supposed to go out and defend and protect their ‘own’ people not to harass, shoot or kill them like aliens or enemies from other countries. What would have been the fate of our men and women from our villages, including the elderly who might have all trooped out to protest the negligence, hunger, insecurity and long abandonment they are facing? 

Part of the imaginative questions in my mind are: would our learned lawyers  and the entire members of the Nigerian Bar Association bravely join the protest or resort to siding the politicians with ‘big grammar’ or make many mountains out of anthills, by subjecting the protest to various forms of litigation, court injunction, indictment, court order or jurisdiction palaver?

What about our Doctors in white, would they have thrown down their stethoscopes and join the protest to express their anger and frustration at the shameful sites of our hospitals and lack of reliable health facilities and personnel across the various government hospitals across the country?  Would they have encouraged the nurses, and other health workers to patriotically join the protest to fight for good wages and suitable working environment and at the same time discharge their national duty ,  attending to the injured and nurse some battered head and swollen mouth?

Imagination they say built the world, so I am sharing some imagination this week, on how it might have been if the recent protests in Egypt had happened in Nigeria. I could imagine our desperate and expensive politicians sending out bags of Ghana must go,  mudu  of rice, and specially printed antapa with their faces engraved on the cheap material, and other egunje to the various mobilizers and organizers of the protest to see how they could turn the whole thing into tribal, ethnic and religious sentiment, including hijacking it for their selfish political ambitions.

Some of them might use the opportunity to turn the whole thing into a political affair with the various political parties dividing the protest into party line. Don’t be surprised to hear these are PDP, CPC. ACN, LP, PRP, ANPP, APGA , MEGA or WAZOBIA party members, and from there the political confusion and division will set in, creating disunity among genuine protesters.

I can imagine the number of thugs and political assassins that would be drafted to destabilize the protest and how many patriotic lives will die cheaply in the hands of these mercenaries.

I am still flying freely on the wings of imagination wondering if the soldiers, police, and other security agencies drafted to confront the people would have shot some of their wives, children, mothers, sisters, brothers and fathers who might have joined the protest against the high cost of Kerosene, the dilapidated structures they live in and the lack of affordable and qualitative education for their children? I pity our school pupils who might have innocently also joined the protest as the koboko won’t be spared in whipping their buttocks zealously. What if the Nigerian students, through NANS, had decided to join the protest, how many would have been shot dead or wounded by some trigger happy policemen and soldiers, as they march boldly agaisnt the high cost of school fees, poor infrastructure and constant strikes?

Believe me imagination is wonderful, free and creative. I just imagined what role our flamboyant traditional rulers would play. Would most of them have brought out their subjects from their secured palace and join the protest in support of abolition of the indigene /settler disgrace,  fight openly against the corruption epidemic eating us slowly away and  demand to the end  of the various ethnic and religious crisis going on across the country?

What about our famous juju men and women, including all the Bokas, Alfas, Mallams. Would they have also joined the protest and use all their ‘hidden’ secrets to see to the success of the protest all across the country? And what about our almighty segregated media. Would they have join forces and protest the high cost of printing and broadcasting materials, the constant assassination and brutalization of their members in the hands of overzealous security men and politicians and their poor remuneration, including the muzzling of the important Freedom of Information Bill (FOI), or rather busy competing for advertorial from the various group of protesters and government and instigating division through sponsored editorials, sensational stories and biased articles?

Ha! What won’t imagination do in this world? I am just imagining the role of our famous Labour Union and NGOs and their zeal of conversing for a cause. I can see different group of NGOs across the country, marching through our streets, specifically in Abuja and Lagos, making big noise and shouting out to the international community to come to their aid. I can imagine some of them seeking for donors for camp beds, mattresses, buckets, stove and some chop-chop to keep body and soul together and silently thin out at the end of the day. 

What about the famed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ( MEND) in the south- south, would they have abandoned the creeks, dropped their weapons and joined the protest democratically in their quest for a better Niger Delta, with good roads, sensible shelters, education and compensation?  And the mysterious Boko Haram in the north-east, would they have dropped their daring killings and join the protest to express their grievances and needs?

Would all the notorious armed robbers in the country, the pickpockets at our bus stops and the heartless ritualists and kidnappers roaming around our neighbourhoods, drop their trade and join the protest for a better life and  genuine living? Imagination goes with many questions along the way.

So don’t mind me, if only you know what imagination can do. It allows you the freedom to think freely and like what Dr.Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), the famous American writer and cartoonist rightly observed: “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.”  So how would it have been if the Egyptian protest were in Nigeria? Please free your own imagination and think left and right, high and low, maybe you might find your answer.

NEW  NIGERIAN  ON  SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20,  2011