NEWS ANALYSIS President Buhari’s #EndSARS protest broadcast was low on empathy, confidence-rebuilding,

NEWS ANALYSIS

President Buhari’s #EndSARS protest broadcast was low on empathy, confidence-rebuilding, By Shola Ogunniyi

President Buhari gave a national broadcast on Thursday, October 22, 2020 in respect of #EndSars protests in some parts of Nigeria. In my assessment, which is based on his public persona and the pattern of his past prepared speeches, the President’s speech did not disappoint me. To me , the speech was Buhari-like and uniquely fair except for the subtle reprimand of Nigeria’s neighbours, foreign leaders and international organisations to get their facts right before forming an opinion about Nigeria.

For one, there have been cases of insecurity such as banditry, kidnappings, killings, etc., in Nigeria under his administration. But his concern and commiseration have hardly gone beyond occasional press releases by his spokespersons. So I was not expecting anything beyond that in his speech.

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Lest we forget, the governor of Borno State escaped assassination attempts on his life twice recently. I am not aware of his speech (!?) or public sympathy with the people of the state . From Katsina to Sokoto and Zamfara states, the trend is the same. And quietness has been the response.

The president acknowledged the right of Nigerian youths to protest and also the right of others not to be disturbed as enshrined in the Constitution of Nigeria. He mentioned the initiatives his administration had emplaced and outlined for the Nigerian youths

The President said he was deeply pained that innocent lives had been lost and also concerned with misinformation through the cyberspace. Categorically, President Buhari said the youths should discontinue the street protests.

However, the President did not make any reference to the Lekki shooting, which was the main attraction of the negative headline from Nigeria. Understandably, some Nigerians are saddened by this omission. And this scores him very low on the scale of empathy. Personally, however, I am not disappointed because just as I outlined above, that has been typical of him in some instances of similar incidents in the North. Clearly my expectations of him in this regard were met.

The President nevertheless ignoreD the temptation to declare a state of emergency in Lagos State. This is fair enough in my view. I understand there might be several political plots and undercurrents that would make such calls tempting. The fact that the President shunned it might be a good political move for the time being.

Finally, I don’t think the President gave a proper demonstration of the importance of Lagos economic activities to the Nigeria economy in particular. The foundational strength of Lagos economy has been touched. More than sixty percent of its economy is informal but the riotous siege and looting have dented a huge blow these important segments. It will take a long time before the State recovers from this. The investors’ confidence has been shaken. The capacity of the law enforcement agents to address the security situation is strained. I did not see much inclinations towards a confidence-rebuilding in the President’s speech. Could this be the fault of his speech writers?

All said, for Nigeria, the carnage is still on- both spiritually and emotionally. President Buhari has given a speech that is characteristically his. Nigerians need to reflect about the happenings in the country, remain strong, and look to the future with hope.