4 Reasons Why The #EndSARS Movement Can't Be Won In The Streets Alone...

1. WE ARE DEALING WITH A ROGUE ORGANIZATION

Let me make this very blunt. The Nigerian political class is inarguably the worst in the world, capable of extreme wickedness and evil...

Officially, our politicians are the highest paid in the world, and that, in the poverty capital of the world. Add that to the unofficial embezzlement of public funds, which is 10 to 100 times the official one, and you will get the true picture...

People who enjoy such humongous privilege at the expense of the people can NEVER do you well. Let this be very clear in our minds. They have mastered the art of deception so well that you cannot even imagine the terror they're capable of unleashing...

...in order to retain their power and maintain the status quo. The leaked audio of Rotimi Amaechi says a lot. He declared, “Nigeria can never change”.

The politicians have in their FULL CONTROL the official and unofficial agents of violence.

They will unleash the unofficial agents (thugs and hoodlums) in order to cause mayhem and discredit the protests, and then use the official agents (military, paramilitary and police) to quell it. You can't win them in the violence game, and on the STREETS alone...

2. OUR ULTIMATE GOAL IS A NEW NIGERIA

The #EndSARS movement is unique in the sense that it rapidly became a metaphor for everything undesirable in the nation — summed up as BAD GOVERNANCE. Hence, deep down, the agitation is really about a New Nigeria.

The ultimate goal is the rebirth of a New Nation, the Nigeria of our dreams. This is even beyond restructuring. It is a total REBIRTH. We all know that between fertilization and delivery of a new born baby, there is a formative PROCESS...

...that takes nine months to perfect, shut out from the eyes of the world. The seed of the POSSIBILITY of a New Nigeria (in our lifetime) has been firmly sown in our consciousness. That is the major GAIN this protest has achieved. It is fertilization...

But there is still a process that needs to be followed through to achieve desirable outcomes. That process, supervised and nurtured by the youths themselves, won't be in the streets...

3. POWER IS NOT HANDED OVER IN THE STREETS

If you're a business person, you'd understand that the purpose of advertisement is not to close a SALE, even if that's your ultimate goal. You advertise to court ATTENTION and create awareness of what you have to offer...

...You then NURTURE your prospects and CONVERT them to PAYING customers. The TRANSACTION that will place money in your hands, is the goal.

Similarly, since our current crop of political leaders are condemned to maintaining the status quo and keep us in bondage,

we will need to TAKE POLITICAL POWER from their hands, and retire them from politics. That exchange of power cannot be done in the streets. We must sit back and invent a workable fail-proof STRUCTURE to realize this dream. This wresting of power will not be done in a few weeks...

4. ONLY A FRACTION ARE IN THE STREETS

One of my students complained about the ASUU strike preventing him from joining in the protests. Yes, a lot of parents would rather not have their kids join the #EndSARS protest for fear of their safety...

But more importantly, not everyone is wired for expressing themselves in the streets, and many other reasons. Hence, we have only tapped into a tiny fraction of the power and genius of the Nigerian youth to change the narrative. We must change strategy.

We must be able to have strategy and brainstorming meetings off of the streets and offline.

A New Nigeria Shall Be Born In Our Lifetime #EndSARS #EndBadGovernance @omojuwa @aproko_doctor @fkabudu @mrmacaronii @LekeAlder @adeyanjudeji @sam_adeyemi @AishaYesufu