Revolution Must Not Be Violent, We Can’t Afford It – Omotade Isaac Adekunle

Revolution must not be violent, we can not afford it and we must not in any way encourage violence.

“Protest must be peaceful”. This statement resonated with many of the protesters before and during the #ENDBADGOVERNANCE protest in Nigeria as a false narrative of Anarchy is being spread by some factions in the society as against the actual cause “HUNGER”.

In a logical view of this, considering the turnout of protests in Nigeria led by well-meaning, hungry,  and genuine youths in the last 5 years, one can easily tell the twist of events during peaceful protests in Nigeria, if indeed the Rulers want the turn out of the protest peaceful. Take for instance, Government said they do not want protest for security reasons, but same government was reported to have paid some groups of persons to protest against the actual peaceful protesters.

I would like to reference Newton’s universal 3rd law of motion, which states: For every action in Nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

It is already overwhelming that we are divided as a people, but for any Nigerian to support the roles of allegedly sponsored state, and non-state actors to demonize the demands of peaceful protesters, and invariable sabotage it, may be the end of us all. We must learn to say this as it is, call a spade a spade. We should not encourage the narrative of things over people, neither should we encourage leaders to conveniently turn deaf ears to those they are meant to govern well.

Lastly, It is imperative to state this clearly here that, so far in the history of Nigeria protests, it is mostly the oppressors, political elites, that makes the demand for peaceful change impossible and create the avenue for violent change to be inevitable. If peaceful protest was respected and allowed to be effective, there would be no need for violent change. We can’t gaslight, talk down on the actual, genuine peaceful protesters and ignore the deadly acts of the state actors.