…Tinubu appeals for call-off of protest, promises intervention
As the Federal Government seeks a face to engage with over the said impending anti-government protest tagged ‘EndBadGovernance’ scheduled for next month (August), there are indications that it might be contending with the evolving phenomenon of “leaderless movements”, which has sprouted and thrived through the instrumentality of the social media over the years.
The planned protest against economic hardship in Nigeria, which is gaining surging support in the social media space and elsewhere, is scheduled to hold in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
It proposes to highlight the pronounced rise in the cost of food, transportation and other goods and services borne by Nigerians and elicit reliefs from government.
A report in the New York Times, titled: “World Review: The State of Democracy”, published in conjunction with Athens Democracy Forum, addresses the topic of leaderless movements.
The report states that: “There is something very 21st century about “leaderless” movements, all of them propelled and amplified by the formidable power of social media, which can with a click of a button summon protesters to a given place at a given time, armed with a set of slogans.”
It adds that “Some messaging apps have added a new, more democratic dimension, with polling features that allow group members to vote on where to go, and what to do.”
It further states: “These campaigns — some, like the #MeToo movement, … exist almost entirely online — still require coordination, decision-making and communication skills in the traditional sense, but nothing like the laborious organizing, sustained personal presence and charismatic individual leadership that galvanized the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s.”
Raising questions about the challenges and dangers of such “leaderless” movements, the report states: “The question for today’s leaderless movements is whether they can maintain their focus and effectiveness in the absence of a public face.”
On these dangers, the report warns:” There are definite drawbacks to these horizontal movements. A lack of control — not only over a movement’s followers but also its message — can lead to the kind of lawlessness and violence that have erupted at the edges of demonstrations led by Black Lives Matter, the Hong Kong protests and the Yellow Vest protests.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government, through the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Nigeria Police Force, as well as the House of Representatives, has warned against the protest.
Also, while Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, on Saturday accused the Labour Party and Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, of being the masterminds of the plan which is causing ripples across the country, President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday took a different turn, appealing for a stepping down of the protest and promising to address grievances leading up to frayed nerves.
Information Minister Mohammed Idris, who briefed State House correspondents after a meeting with the President on Tuesday in Abuja said Tinubu urged the organisers of the protest to shelve the plan and await the President’s response to their complaints.
Idris said: “The issue of the planned protest, Mr President does not see any need for that. He’s asked them to shelve that plan. He’s asked them to await the government’s response to all their pleas,” the minister said.
