POLITICS: UI PROTEST: THE POWER OF U AND I IN UNITY

By Rianat Ademola

Unity embodies working together to accomplish a goal. During the sitting that moved the motion on Nigerian Independence, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, gave a speech celebrating the nation’s march towards independence as the soon-to-be prime minister. He read, “The future of this vast country of Nigeria must depend mainly on the efforts of ourselves to help ourselves”. In this remarkable speech, he foresaw the cure to the ailment of Nigeria in the repetitive word ‘ourselves’, “this cannot be done if we are not working together in unity.” As crucial as the wise saying of the old man was, the new generation did not take heed to his advice. They left it buried in remnants of history, only now realising its significance. Lailah Gifty Akita, a Ghanaian writer, echoed this sentiment in one of her inspiring quotes: “There is beauty and power in unity. We must be united in heart and mind. One world, one people.” She addressed the unity that Nigerians have lost, which lies in the graves of our past heroes.

A situation that exemplified unity was the University of Ibadan protest, in which students, a segment of the country’s population, fought against restraint in unity during a peaceful demonstration on July 17th, 2024, in response to school fee increases and electricity rationing, among other concerns. Students continued to demonstrate in their masks, drawing support and attention from media houses around the nation. History has repeated itself, but the only lesson we can take away from it is that there is nothing to learn from it, as German philosopher Georg Hegel once said. This is what represented the victory of the students in the protest. The history of the 2017 protest that took place under Mr. Aderemi Ojo’s administration which escorted the then-new bride Students Union in exile did not frighten the students. UItes defied the consequences and faced their fear, the fear of what happened to Ojo Aderemi or the recent protest that saw the arrest of four students did not make them drop their placards as they hit the street with their solidarity chants.

During the inauguration of the student union president on May 14th, 2024, four students staged a peaceful protest and thus, were summoned to the Student Disciplinary Committee. These four students dared to look at the scornful eyes of such an act. The four students, a minimal number of the population of students, were arrested for their outcry to reverse the school fees hike, while others kept mute on the issue. The discord in unity made room for the students’ plight.

On a larger scale, the October 2020 Endsars protest was a nationwide demonstration in Nigeria that started after weeks of indignation and fury over images and videos depicting extortion, harassment, and police brutality in that country. Much as more of this protest needs to be often demonstrated to the government, the thought of the lives that bid farewell to the world as a result of exercising their rights, or the blood that still filled out nostrils when we recollected those incidents. All of the destruction tainted the idea of a protest. It has prompted people to drop their placards. As a result, people had no choice but to disregard their rights and remain silent in exchange for safety.

In one of Mahatma Gandhi’s amazing quotes, he said “Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.” One does not know the truth behind this quote until one looks at the democracy that is practiced in Nigeria. Citizens live under the repressive government gaze, afraid to speak the truth that seems dangerous to reveal, freedom of speech becomes a threat to lives when exercised and smiling while hardships hit harder becomes normal. Nigerian democracy has coined out ‘crazy’ as its objective and is prepared to slap down any objectivity. Nonetheless, Democracy holds that the people are the ultimate source of power. However, it is ironic that here, in Nigeria that power belongs to the government officials who only befriend the high-ranking citizens and neglect those that did not fit the category. The rule of law, also disembarked from the liberal journey of democracy. All things considered, The recent UI protest unveiled the truth that we all are afraid to believe, that there is still power in the hands of the people.

The unity that comes from working together to accomplish a goal is the key to the success of the protest held in UI. One might wonder how a protest that once resulted in an arrest and the dissolution of the students’ union could lead to victory. The protest symbolizes the power of unity which can be viewed from different angles.

First, there were the participants, who stood firm in their determination to fight together for a seemingly dangerous course of action. The second consideration is the protest’s decorum. This is the kind of behavior that democracy preaches and should be supported. It was indeed rare among the others. It has set a standard for a democratic world to follow. A realization that Nigerians can achieve success through unity rather than apathy or silence in the face of suffering.