THE CLOSURE OF LAGOS

The cost of the shut down as a result of President Buhari’s visit is high, argues Sonnie Ekwowusi

The closure of Lagos last Thursday in order to facilitate the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Lagos State to, inter alia, commission the new Ikeja Bus Terminal, attend a colloquium in honour of the national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and also embark on a tour of the Eko Atlantic City, was completely unnecessary and un-called for. Surely, President Buhari deserves a befitting welcome to Lagos. But there was absolutely no need to collapse Lagos in order to give him a befitting welcome. Certainly the president’s visit to Lagos would have been organised in a more congenial way without causing great inconveniences, harm and loss to the people. The pertinent questions are: Is it reasonably justifiable in a democratic society to shut down the socio-economic, cultural and religious life of Lagos simply because President Buhari was coming to town to, inter alia, commission a project? Is it reasonably justifiable to close up or divert the major road arteries in Lagos unmindful of the harm and suffering such closure and diversion would cause the citizenry simply because President Buhari was coming to Lagos to commission a project?

The way we maltreat one another in Nigeria at times could give a reasonable man excuse to begin to believe that we are really occupying the lowest rung of human civilisation. And when outsiders call us names we kick and shiver in protest. But the great issue that cannot be overlooked is that there is something seriously wrong with the way we do things especially the disdain with which we maltreat the ordinary people. If not, why must suffering be inflicted on the people of Lagos simply because their leader was coming to town? Yet these were the same people who queued up under the sun to vote for the leader in 2015. Instead of the leader coming to town to thank the people of Lagos for voting for him, he is punishing them by keeping them under false imprisonment in their respective houses.

Why do the kings of the world plot evil against the poor and downtrodden? Why this rage? Why this arrogance? The closure of Lagos last Thursday simply attests to the militarisation of our democracy. We can be saying with our mouth that we are practising civilian democracy while in actual fact we are practicing military totalitarianism and despotism. We are chips of a traumatised military culture. Nothing has changed. But there are graver consequences for doing the wrong thing under the right name. The inordinate craze for preserving individual might has engendered a decaying sense of national purpose. It has led to the substitution of raw power without moral purpose for traditional idealism. For example, the sense of belonging -which ought to be a traditional ideal if not always a practice- seems to grow more elusive in Nigeria with every passing day. The old image of Nigeria as a citadel of equality, humanitarianism and peaceful co-existence seemed blurred. “… it is excellent”, writes Shakespeare, “to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant”. Using power like a giant fosters a hostile environment uncongenial to proper ordering of society.

Last Thursday was hell in Lagos. Passengers missed their flights; Awaiting-Trial-Inmates (ATI) who would have been taken to court for bail considerations lost the opportunity of being taken to court; the organised private sector lost huge sums of money; the sick could not be taken to the hospitals for medical treatment. In fact medical doctors on emergency could not get to their designated hospitals. Clergymen and Christian worshippers were denied ingress and egress to their respective churches to attend the Holy Thursday worship accorded so much eschatological importance in Christendom. Yet these were same the people, as I said earlier, who voted for President Buhari in 2015 being so contemptuously treated. The treatment was so hurtful that the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos Alfred Adewale Martins had to issue statement complaining that the last-minute restriction of movements in Lagos was a violation of the right to religious worship enshrined in our constitution. The annoying aspect is that this is not the first time this holiday-fixing faux pas has occurred. For example, after declaring Tuesday and Wednesday as holidays for the celebration of Eid-El-Fitri in 2016, the government, following the announcement of Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, dramatically extended the holiday to Thursday thus causing great damage to the people

Nigeria must be one of the few countries in the world today where life ceases to exist simply because a president is coming to town. As powerful as the president of the United States is no American city is shut down whenever he chooses for any reason to come to town. Nigerians who travel overseas are amazed at the simplicity and naturalness with which world leaders mingle and socialise with ordinary citizens. A friend narrated how he sat very close to the President of Ghana at a Sunday church worship in Ghana. Try that in Nigeria and security operatives will break your head. In the United Kingdom some political office holders bike to and fro work, whereas in Nigeria political office holders go about with killer convoys. Remember how towering academic Prof Festus Iyayi met his death after the men managing the convoy of the then Kogi State Governor Idris Wada negligently drove their vehicles in such a reckless manner and crushed him to death? In 2005 the convoy of former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel was involved in an accident in which five journalists lost their lives. In 2007, 12 persons died after the convoy of former Edo State Governor Prof Oserheimen Osunbor was involved in an accident along Lokoja-Abuja expressway. In November 2012 the speeding and reckless convoy of the late Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa killed a poor road-side orange hawker in Kaduna. In December 2012 the reckless convoy of Senator Danjuma Goje of Gombe State allegedly ran over one Haruna Maigari and also injured others. In January 2015, 14 persons were killed in an accident involving the convoy of the Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo. In March 2017 the Senior Special Assistant to Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima died and three others injured following a convoy accident along Kaduna- Abuja expressway. In January 2018 a police officer attached to the wife of Taraba governor, Mrs. Anna Darius Ishaku, died after the convoy of Governor Ishaku was involved an accident along Bali Jalingo road

PRESIDENT BUHARI DESERVES A BEFITTING WELCOME TO LAGOS. BUT THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO COLLAPSE LAGOS IN ORDER TO GIVE HIM A BEFITTING WELCOME