ENDSARS AND US By Hashim Suleiman
The famous Dj Switch that aired the famous Lekki Tollgate incident of 20th October, 2020 is today a sort of a world figure that got her Instagram and Twitter followers sky rocket owing to her resolve and advocacy. She speaks in world stages and appears so many serious people are ready and happy to engage with her. This and more makes it difficult for me to to insult or abhor any protester, I don’t have an idea what propels them into doing it, atleast as you can see Dj switch had a resolve but utilized it into stardom.
However, I do believe in dialogue, engagement and sound arguments, Nigerians are extremely divided, we don’t like one another and we judge people’s intelligence and actions by the tribe they speak or religious beliefs. Such makes it difficult for us to collaborate and form a common front, we all don’t see things from similar perspective and that’s why for example the #EndSars protests had a delineation among a certain curve of the geopolitical zones but trust me there’s a way we can all reach to one another and see reason to champion same cause. Such way is respect and understanding.
I am elated to here that most of the youths who champion this cause don’t champion bigotry but how far is the reach of their message? Pretty short. This is why we preach for political participation because it is only through such platform that one could gather enough wherewithal to reach out to as much to see reason to embrace a new leaf, a true Nigerian way. This is how revolutionaries change nations, they get to the top and drive down the change.
Therefore, I wish to tell the youths to begin conversations and engagement towards increasing the participation in politics, it’s not going to be a day’s job, it will require persistence and resilience to tolerance of absurd and mundane tendencies, the tactics of stooping low to conquer. Those youths we have left to represent us are only after handouts and oppression, opulence basically. There is no depth in character or street credibility. I have always said that I need to make more impact and leave a mark than amass money.
These protests have sparked up conversations that will never stop but how we engage and utilize it going forward will determine its effectiveness. Dj Switch, is talking, a lot of us down here are doing same even though not exactly same strategy and content but at the end of the day we’ll all converge and engage in sound arguments towards national cohesion and advancement, the time is sooner than now.
Aluta Continua
Hashim Suleiman
oneheartnaija 