Against the british?
Against Abacha?
Against Babangida?
Against Apartied in south africa
Against an OBJ 3rd term
and against the Yar Adua kidney fiasco?


i know the more ignorant of our country have been swept up in demonstration fever but this notion that Nigerians can't demonstrate is pathetic.

yeah. demonstrate against a president of 6 months that is facing election in 2 months from now. smh. crumbs.

i wonder.

ps - pls correct your spelling in the title.

thanks, fixed.

@Ikengawo

I am not a fan of your everything-no-matter-what-that-comes-out-of-Nigeria-is-good attitude here on NL, but . . .but on this one you are right.

Nigerians have demonstrated and gotten rid of would-be-sit-tight leaders, and attempts to heap on Nigerians "suffering" by claiming they do not fight back is disgusting. The fact is that the world watched, and sometimes collaborated, as military rulers mauled Nigerian protesters over and over again until their fighting spirit was broken.

The world tend to fall over each other when it concerns other places e.g. the jailing of Suu Kyi in Burma is celebrated at the highest levels, but do not bat half an eyelid as activists were jailed, harrassed, assassinated, exiled, etc for years on end.

Ikengawo:

Against the british?
Against Abacha?
Against Babangida?
Against Apartied in south africa
Against an OBJ 3rd term
and against the Yar Adua kidney fiasco?


i know the more ignorant of our country have been swept up in demonstration fever but this notion that Nigerians can't demonstrate is pathetic.

yeah. demonstrate against a president of 6 months that is facing election in 2 months from now. smh. crumbs.

I actually feel its a dishonor to those who have lost their lives while protesting or rioting in Nigeria, for people to come here and say things like"Nigerians love life too much", am like are you a 2 yr old or what?
Even Egyptians and Tunisians woke up late to chase out this old folks, good thing is they woke up. Even OBJs third term agenda did not work or IBBs dream to contest elections, thanks to public outrage.

At the end it all comes down to holding government accountable, that struggle is continuous and its not over.

koruji:

Nigerians have demonstrated and gotten rid of would-be-sit-tight leaders, and attempts to heap on Nigerians "suffering" by claiming they do not fight back is disgusting.

Care telling us which ones we actually DID get rid of, by OUR OWN COLLECTIVE WILL and not that of some puppet masters in the background, many of whom really did not have much good in store for us?

I don't understand why we NOW want to rewrite history? Jealousy ??

Were Nigerians really responsible for Obasanjo's failed attempt at a third term? Were Nigerians really responsible for IBB leaving office? Were Nigerians responsible for the 'ousting' of Abacha? Were we responsible for the end of the Buhari regime? Where Nigerians responsible for the removal of Yar adua from office?

I think it is one thing to LOVE NIGERIA and another to try to rewrite our history just because. I mean why REWRITE the history of the Nigeria every single person on the street knows too well? Are you in love in the real Nigeria or the Nigeria you continue to CREATE IN YOUR MINDS?

I usually don't agree with Kobojunkie but this time I have no choice but say I am on her side jeje

@Kobo even as a kid, as some point in my life I was tear-gased , that don't make me a hero but at least am a participant

Again you need leadership and fate timing for this things to happen in full scale, I doubt this is the first time protests have been made against Mubarak but the rest be it a coup or uprising did not elicit as much emotion as it has done today. Part of it technology, youths and of course people have had enough.

For Nigeria, during IBB or Abacha, when you start hearing or seeing headlines like "Don't hit up the polity", its a sign. I don't believe IBB thought he would live when he did or OBJ dropped third term cos of family emergencies. Like someone mentioned yesterday, we don't protest we riot!

We are not jealous of Egypt, its just that our struggles are different.

kcjazz:

@Kobo even as a kid, as some point in my life I was tear-gased , that don't make me a hero but at least am a participant

I remember every year during our inter-house sports programs, we expected the situation to get rowdy and the police coming in to teargas us. Should I also log that I was at least a participant then too?

kcjazz:

Again you need leadership and fate timing for this things to happen in full scale, I doubt this is the first time protests have been made against Mubarak but the rest be it a coup or uprising did not elicit as much emotion as it has done today. Part of it technology, youths and of course people have had enough.

Ok. So, we agree at this point that Egyptians probably did just what we as Nigerians did in the past, with mini-protests here and there, I mean before this big one.

kcjazz:

For Nigeria, during IBB or Abacha, when you start hearing or seeing headlines like "Don't hit up the polity", its a sign. I don't believe IBB thought he would live when he did or OBJ dropped third term cos of family emergencies. Like someone mentioned yesterday, we don't protest we riot!

We did not protest or riot to get IBB out of Office --No that is not what happened. We did not protest to get Obj to drop his third term bid and there were no riots of any kind planned, even over 6 months after we learnt of his plans. We know for a fact what happened, and in both cases, it had nothing to do with Nigerians protesting or rioting or even standing up against government. The same was the case during Abacha's time.

kcjazz:

We are not jealous of Egypt, its just that our struggles are different.

Well, if you want to think it that way, then fine. Only let's not jump into rewriting history. We all know what happened and it had nothing to do with Nigerian people, acting out.

@Kobojunkie
I cannot believe you wrote the below.

1. Protests were the major reason IBB couldn't put the finishing touches on his own planned 30-year rule. People were killed, houses were burnt, army tanks were called out.
2. It was under Abacha that Nigerian's spirit for protests was broken - the culmination of the longrun battle with IBB and then Abacha. The guy simply sent his tanks into the streets and went after activitists with his army of killers. Still the courage of many activitists and the fact that the nation was on the brink of war due to Abacha's 5-fingers of a leprous hand led Abubakar and his cohorts to "save" the nation.
3. Nigerians protested to get GEJ into his rightful position - in the face of an utterly shameless, toothless National Assembly.

One thing you are right about is that we have generally replaced one rotten leader with another. That however has to do with the plural ethno-religious-political equation called Nigeria. We are incapable of speaking in unison against a bad ruler. When Southerners condemn the action of one IBB, some Northerners say it is the will of Allah, etc.

Kobojunkie:

We did not protest or riot to get IBB out of Office --No that is not what happened. We did not protest to get Obj to drop his third term bid and there were no riots of any kind planned, even over 6 months after we learnt of his plans. We know for a fact what happened, and in both cases, it had nothing to do with Nigerians protesting or rioting or even standing up against government. The same was the case during Abacha's time.

koruji:

@Kobojunkie
I cannot believe you wrote the below.

1. Protests were the major reason IBB couldn't put the finishing touches on his own planned 30-year rule. People were killed, houses were burnt, army tanks were called out.

What protests? June 12th? Please, let us not rewrite history now. Babangida's departure had been planned long before june 12th happened. In fact, june 12th had little to do with his eventual leaving since, rather than attacking the army, the protesters cum rioters turned on each other and then you had Nigerians running back to their mother's village to save their hides.

koruji:

2. It was under Abacha that Nigerian's spirit for protests was broken - the culmination of the longrun battle with IBB and then Abacha. The guy simply sent his tanks into the streets and went after activitists with his army of killers. Still the courage of many activitists and the fact that the nation was on the brink of war due to Abacha's 5-fingers of a leprous hand led Abubakar and his cohorts to "save" the nation.

Longrun battle with IBB? What the heck?? LOL . . . . what longrun battle with IBB? Nigerians practically threw the red carpet for IBB up until the end. Even Soyinka barely spoke out against IBB back during those days and the reason we got mad and june 12th happened was because he(IBB) turned on his BEST BUDDY(Abiola).

koruji:

3. Nigerians protested to get GEJ into his rightful position - in the face of an utterly shameless, toothless National Assembly.

ROFLMAO!!

Oh Yes! We did protest to have Jonathan installed ILLEGALLY. Maybe to spite and shut those who instead wanted him impeached so we could have an election according which seemed the constitutional thing to do at that time.

We proclaimed Jonathan our messiah --- a man with no accomplishments to his name(only the very same who led the protest are today calling for him to step down/be voted out come next election).

But No, we did not remove Yar adua either. We instead made sure Yar adua could continue and eventually die still as president, even after dragging Nigeria and it's people in the mud for almost 6 months.

koruji:

One thing you are right about is that we have generally replaced one rotten leader with another. That however has to do with the plural ethno-religious-political equation called Nigeria. We are incapable of speaking in unison against a bad ruler. When Southerners condemn the action of one IBB, some Northerners say it is the will of Allah, etc.

NO, I am right that we have never really removed any leader, not even sick Yar adua.

Kobojunkie the success of these demonstrations is not the issue. It's the fact that people are now saying Nigerians don't demonstrate because they 'love life too much'. smh.

Tiennamen Square was unsuccessful, lets not forget that, but one can't watch that as say the chinese don't demonstrate.




If nigerians don't demostrate wtf is this





























[img]http://2.bp..com/_crTF7WM9Fu4/S7J16fNU61I/AAAAAAAAAtY/ryNczixxSv4/s1600/Omotola.jpg[/img]














[img]http://1.bp..com/_pGKKSeIs0ow/TAVIMliDsXI/AAAAAAAAAek/Z-lXXJvAXFg/s640/Members-of-Nigerias-Ogoni-001.jpg[/img]








[img]http://3.bp..com/_wsJK4A1e75I/S8ysWBDge1I/AAAAAAAAAEM/eKLvbih1WrE/s1600/Nigerians-protest-in-Lagos3.jpg[/img]











































































































[img]http://3.bp..com/_KOq6AlodkJI/SfiY43F5LTI/AAAAAAAACA0/fG96QQQKwUk/s400/Old+women+in+Ekiti+protesting+attempt+of+dark+forces+to+subvert+the+will+
of+Ekiti+people+on+29-04-09.jpg[/img]































If nigerians don't demonstrate or fight for what they believe in who are these people









[img]http://sheltonhull.files./2010/07/fela-kuti.jpg[/img]









[img]http://4.bp..com/_K5q5KP9B9Sg/TJp4gKMD-JI/AAAAAAAAALY/0IKrJGtOX0c/s1600/Obafemi_Awolowo.jpg[/img]














[size=4pt]aba women's rioters[/size]







usman dan fodio

For those who want to pretend now that June 12th demonstrations/riots brought the leaving of IBB . . . .

Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, in power since the military coup of Aug. 27, 1985 [see p. 33956-57], stepped down as President on Aug. 26 and handed over power to a non-elected Interim National Government. The term of office of this administration was set to end on March 31, 1994.

Babangida had repeatedly reaffirmed his intention of relinquishing the presidency by Aug. 27, 1993, [b]meeting a deadline set in November 1992, in the context of the promised return to civilian democratic rule [see p. 39179]. [/b]However, pro-democracy campaigners expressed bitterness and anger that the long-promised restoration of democracy remained delayed, and there was mounting unrest as protesters demanded that power be handed over to Moshood Kashimawo Olawale "MKO" Abiolaof the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the presumed winner of the aborted June presidential elections [see p. 39494].

Members of the new administration of civilians and soldiers were handpicked by Babangida. Chief Ernest Adegunle Shonekan, named as its head (effectively President), had ,

http://www.keesings.com/search?kssp_selected_tab=article&kssp_a_id=39582n01nga

again, nobody is arguing the success of these demonstrations. Most demonstrations do nothing, all over the world.
I'm addressing the ppl that say nigerians don't or won't demonstrate at all

Nothing we have had in Nigeria compares to what we have seen recently in Tunisia or even now in Egypt. Yes, anyone can protest, even cubans do it every other blue moon, but when it comes to standing strong, we have not done much of that in Nigeria.

because nothing they have had to go through compares to our sitation

we have never had 30 years straight of nonstop dictatorship.
We have had the right to engage in public discussion for a long time and critique our leaders constantly with no fear of harm.

there are isolated cases of our absolute worst dictators (babangida and abacha) killing or arresting people but egyptians have had to endure this for 2000 years, they've literally never seen democracy since the time of the pharoahs.

It's like constantly beating a dog from a distance and not allowing him out of his leash or not allowing him to bark back. The minute it breaks it's leash it will destroy you.

but you hit a dog that his still free to roam, free to bark and free to defend itself on every hit, you will see its retaliation doesn't need to be as extreme.


we are free people, if we dont like GEJ we don't need to shut down nigeria, we can simple vote Ribadu or Buhari in april, or anyone else from any part of the country.

even during colonialism we were ruling ourselves and were free to speak ill of the british. our independence was even handed to us after protesting and media assaults against it. the list if free thinkers and injustice fighters i posted has no equal in tunisia or egypt.
a man in tunisia set himself on fight, fair enough but fela kuti had his mother killed, was beaten half to death and arrested, and his home burnt to the ground. the minute he got the chance he drug his mothers casket to the military baracks and throw a concert at their doorsteps in protest, so it's not fair to call nigerian cowardly, complaining and arguing is our forte.

So, we do not need to demonstrate and stand strong to get our demands no matter what, even against the decay in our country, because we have not had a dictator for 30 years straight? WOW!!!

you literally just made of a scenario of what im saying to serve your arguement.


all i've said is

-we have demonstrated constantly, while i was in nigeria for 5 years i went to public school for 2 because they teachers were protesting the rest of the years away so i switched to a private school.

-our protests have not looked like the one in egypt this week because our problems have not looked like the ones in egpyt these past 2000 years

-we have a democracy, egypt is fighting to have a democracy, there's no comparison.



if we want our condition improved we are free to protest and have been endlessly since and before independence, but to say that nigerians don't protest or demostrate because they 'love their life' too much is ignorant because Nigerians have died year after year fighting for what they believe in.


do i believe nigeria is capable of the type of protest in egypt. yes. do i believe we need it, no, we have elections in april. if they go wrong, then yes we need it and will probably have it.

Bravo! Ikengawo. You nailed this discussion with those pictures. Those pictures truly speak more than a thousand words.
We are on a long journey and we going the right direction. We may not have reached there yet but we will.

@Kobojunkie
You are a mess. You know you don't believe IBB and his "FOREST OF  A THOUSAND LIES". I wonder why you would then be quoting the words of the deceiver-in-chief to proof he left voluntarily.

Did you watch IBB read his "stepping aside" speech on that momentous day. Well, the image that stuck with me was that of someone being forced to "flee". He was sulky, even as he claimed to be stepping aside and would be watching how his "colleagues" handle the affairs of the nation.

And why didn't you point to this part of your quote: and there was mounting unrest as protesters demanded that power be handed over to Moshood Kashimawo

And what is IBB expected to say anyway? Yeah, I ran with my tails between my legs

Kobojunkie:

For those who want to pretend now that June 12th demonstrations/riots brought the leaving of IBB . . . .

Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, in power since the military coup of Aug. 27, 1985 [see p. 33956-57], stepped down as President on Aug. 26 and handed over power to a non-elected Interim National Government. The term of office of this administration was set to end on March 31, 1994.

Babangida had repeatedly reaffirmed his intention of relinquishing the presidency by Aug. 27, 1993, meeting a deadline set in November 1992, in the context of the promised return to civilian democratic rule [see p. 39179]. However, pro-democracy campaigners expressed bitterness and anger that the long-promised restoration of democracy remained delayed, and there was mounting unrest as protesters demanded that power be handed over to Moshood Kashimawo Olawale "MKO" Abiolaof the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the presumed winner of the aborted June presidential elections [see p. 39494].

Members of the new administration of civilians and soldiers were handpicked by Babangida. Chief Ernest Adegunle Shonekan, named as its head (effectively President), had ,

http://www.keesings.com/search?kssp_selected_tab=article&kssp_a_id=39582n01nga

koruji:

@Kobojunkie
You are a mess. You know you don't believe IBB and his "FOREST OF  A THOUSAND LIES". I wonder why you would then be quoting the words of the deceiver-in-chief to proof he left voluntarily.

Did you watch IBB read his "stepping aside" speech on that momentous day. Well, the image that stuck with me was that of someone being forced to "flee". He was sulky, even as he claimed to be stepping aside and would be watching how his "colleagues" handle the affairs of the nation.

I don't have to believe IBB because I know what was recorded and expected and I know the protests did not lead to his removal. IBB promised he would leave after the elections, and people like Abacha were already making their own plans in the background. There are groups out there that still believe that even if IBB had not annuled the elections, Abacha would have taken over from Abiola anyways.

koruji:

And why didn't you point to this part of your quote: and there was mounting unrest as protesters demanded that power be handed over to Moshood Kashimawo

Ofcourse that was what the protestors wanted but Was power EVER handed over to Abiola? NO!

koruji:

And what is IBB expected to say anyway? Yeah, I ran with my tails between my legs

http://www.keesings.com/search?kssp_selected_tab=article&kssp_a_id=39582n01nga

Babangida already claimed one extension on his handover, and he probably guessed he would not be able to get away with yet another extension, without risking chaos,maybe among those in the army who probably also had their eyes on the price.

Nov 1992 - Extension of transition period

Adjustments to the timetable for the transfer of power to an elected civilian government were announced by President Ibrahim Babangida on Nov. 16. The presidential elections were now to be held on June 12, 1993, and not as scheduled on Dec. 5, 1992. The National Assembly (elected in July-see p. 38994) was to be inaugurated on the latter date as planned.

On Jan. 2, 1993 (the date on which the civilian administration was to have been inaugurated) the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) would be dissolved and replaced by a National Defence and security Council; the present Council of Ministers would also cease to exist, giving way to a civilian Transitional Council with the responsibility of overseeing the final ,

http://www.keesings.com/search?kssp_selected_tab=article&kssp_a_id=39582n01nga