When rebellion is a virtue (Part 3) – By Femi Fani-Kayode | Opinion

Thankfully in Nigeria, regardless of whatever challenges we may have been confronted with over the last 23 years, we have enjoyed reasonable and relatively sane Presidents, term limits, a credible Legislature, an independent Judiciary, a free press and the rule of law.

I would not endorse mutiny or rebellion against a democratically-elected, constitutional and legitimate Government such as ours which enjoys a lawful and freely-given mandate from the people and whose legitimacy has finally and rightfully been affirmed by the Presidential Election Tribunal.

I wholeheartedly oppose the agenda of coup plotters, rebels and subversives in Nigeria.

In the case of our country rebellion is a curse and not a virtue.

I do not believe that a coup is desirable or appropriate here simply because, firstly, our Government does not seek to discourage, muzzle, stifle or crush dissent or legitimate and lawful criticism and opposition and secondly because we are not burdened with a sit-tight and insane ruler who seeks to remove term limits from our constitution and impose a vicious and corrupt family dynasty and civilian dictatorship on our nation and people.

Permit me to add that I have nothing but pity and contempt for those reckless opportunists, lazy intellectuals, shameless dreamers and dangerous schemers who erroneously compare our situation and circumstances with that of ill-fated and beleaguered countries like Togo, Cameroons, Mali, Niger, Gabon, Uganda, Sudan, Guniea, Ivory Coast, Chad and Burkina Faso and who actually believe that a coup is equally appropriate here.

Nothing could be further from the truth and, given the circumstances, another coup in Nigeria would be the worst thing that could ever happen to us as a nation today.

This is because firstly there is absolutely no need or justification for one and secondly because our experiences in the past with military governments was, to say the least, shockingly horrendous.

It took us just under 40 years of resistance, struggle and suffering during which we as a people were subjected to the most inhuman, extreme and barbaric form of terror, subjugation, humiliation and trauma and in which many were murdered, maimed, tortured, jailed, driven into exile and destroyed, to break the military yoke.

Those young people all over the social media, most of whom are millennials, Obidients and members of what has come to be known as the “GEN-Z” generation, that are busy fantasising and toying with the idea of a military coup, indulging in masturbatory illusions and calling for the Army to topple our Government and take over the reigns of power are naive, gullible, ignorant and irresponsible.

They do not know anything about the frightful dangers of military rule or the vicious, oppressive, draconian, repressive, reactionary, bloodthirsty and inherently unaccountable and unjust nature of military Governments.

They were not born when the June 12th struggle took place in 1993 and they know nothing about the series of bloody military interventions and coups that took place from Major Kaduna Nzeogwu’s January 15th 1966 mutiny (with all its attendant bloodshed) right up until 1999 when General Abdulsalami Abubakar finally relinquished power and handed it over to the democratically-elected Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

They do not know that the first and second coups in Nigeria, in January 1966 and July 1966 respectively, led to the slaughter and reprisal killings of thousands of Igbos in the North, our civil war in which three million people were killed and thereafter led to bloody coup after bloody coup for the next 29 years!

They do not know that between 1966 right up until 1999 we only had 4 years of democracy and constitutional Government and that within those years of military rule hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, millions of people suffered, human rights ceased to exist, thousands were unjustly sent to jail and our civic and educational institutions were infiltrated, corrupted and utterly annihilated.

They do not know and apparently neither do they care that millions of innocent and gallant souls over the years gave their lives and paid the supreme price for the democracy, freedom, civil liberties, human rights, constitutional guarantees and free speech that they enjoy today.

They do not know that to advocate for a return to military rule in Nigeria today is indeed a manifestation of madness in its crudest, rawest and most perverse form: it is neither justifiable or defensible.

I am constrained to concede that in some cases resistance and rebellion is a necessary evil which can and must be employed to remove tyrants and corrupt unconstitutional civilian life-time dictators who refuse to leave power and who have no democratic credentials or legitimate mandate from the people.

That is indeed the essence, thrust and overall mesage of this contribution.

I believe that such acts of insurrection, mutiny and rebellion may be necessary and appropriate in nations that are living under the subjugation, bondage and hegemony of corrupt and repressive life-time civilian dictators but I do not believe that they are appropriate for Nigeria.

I say this because in our country, for the last 24 years and since the advent of democracy in 1999, reasonable leaders with solid and incontrovertible democratic credentials, that are restricted by term limits and that respect civil liberties, human rights and the concept of a free press and the rule of law have led our nation and not sit-tight and corrupt monsters who seek to impose a feudal dynasty upon us.

That is the difference between the Nigerian experience and that of others.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

*Fani-Kayode is a former Aviation Minister