Could the Egyptian revolution happen in Nigeria?
NaijaRock
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Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday July 8, 2013 at 9:4:25:
Just about 1 year ago, many Egyptians, mostly young people began a protest against their sitting president Mubarak who has been president for more than a decade. They were protesting against the increasing level of poverty caused by their govt's inaction and inability to encourage economic growth despite being in power for many years. Their non violent protest was able to remove Mubarak in office since he resigned and the army took power. After a short while, elections were held and a new president from the Muslim brotherhood came to power. Now, just one year after, the Egyptians have again sacked their democratically elected president by staging a huge protest at the Tahir square. The famous Tahir square is where Egyptians go to each time they have something to say to their leaders and this is mostly a people oriented revolution. They have the freedom to say what they want to say and not be killed for it unlike the case in Syria.The Arab revolution has been catching many Arab states like a storm and has removed a lot of people in power such as Libya, Egypt, Tunisia but in Syria, it has caused a civil war as their leaders have continued to kill its own people who protested peacefully. Could the Egyptian revolution really happen in Nigeria? Well, I'm not sure since it could go either way such as Egypt or Syria. Nigeria is not known to be a country that values human rights that much since the police mostly work hand in hand with politicians and people in government. I've not really heard of any peaceful protest that has held in Nigeria that the police did not disrupt either with tear gas or arrests. In Nigeria, it is hard to publicly protest against your Oga at the top and even men in uniform use that opportunity to arrest and victimize people, even when they are peaceful.If Nigerians really know their rights and were allowed to peacefully stage protests, I'm sure they would protest against many things such as the fuel price increase, increasing level of poverty, joblessness among graduates and so on. If all the unemployed graduates in Nigeria were actually allowed to protest peacefully, their numbers could run into tens of millions. Anyway, there is also the Nigerian factor and the fear that such protests could be hijacked by criminals and evil men.Peaceful demonstrations are part of what true democracy is about. People should be able to enforce their rights to freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to protest at public places without being attacked by policemen whose lawful duty is to protect them in the first place. Look at the case with Egypt, it was the police that actually offered protection to their own people while they protested. I hope Nigeria will come of age one day.
Comments:
Just about 1 year ago, many Egyptians, mostly young people began a protest against their sitting president Mubarak who has been president for more than a decade. They were protesting against the increasing level of poverty caused by their govt's inaction and inability to encourage economic growth despite being in power for many years. Their non violent protest was able to remove Mubarak in office since he resigned and the army took power. After a short while, elections were held and a new president from the Muslim brotherhood came to power. Now, just one year after, the Egyptians have again sacked their democratically elected president by staging a huge protest at the Tahir square. The famous Tahir square is where Egyptians go to each time they have something to say to their leaders and this is mostly a people oriented revolution. They have the freedom to say what they want to say and not be killed for it unlike the case in Syria.The Arab revolution has been catching many Arab states like a storm and has removed a lot of people in power such as Libya, Egypt, Tunisia but in Syria, it has caused a civil war as their leaders have continued to kill its own people who protested peacefully. Could the Egyptian revolution really happen in Nigeria? Well, I'm not sure since it could go either way such as Egypt or Syria. Nigeria is not known to be a country that values human rights that much since the police mostly work hand in hand with politicians and people in government. I've not really heard of any peaceful protest that has held in Nigeria that the police did not disrupt either with tear gas or arrests. In Nigeria, it is hard to publicly protest against your Oga at the top and even men in uniform use that opportunity to arrest and victimize people, even when they are peaceful.If Nigerians really know their rights and were allowed to peacefully stage protests, I'm sure they would protest against many things such as the fuel price increase, increasing level of poverty, joblessness among graduates and so on. If all the unemployed graduates in Nigeria were actually allowed to protest peacefully, their numbers could run into tens of millions. Anyway, there is also the Nigerian factor and the fear that such protests could be hijacked by criminals and evil men.Peaceful demonstrations are part of what true democracy is about. People should be able to enforce their rights to freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to protest at public places without being attacked by policemen whose lawful duty is to protect them in the first place. Look at the case with Egypt, it was the police that actually offered protection to their own people while they protested. I hope Nigeria will come of age one day.
Comments:
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Re: Could the Egyptian revolution happen in Nigeria?
Posted by Ohis Oladipo
on Monday July 8, 2013 at 9:28:19:
God save Nigeria.