There would be no war, only a revolution

        As the # occupy Nigeria protests gains steam, the psychological warfare seems to have started. Different strategies are being employed by the government and its cronies to stymie the growing momentum of the protests. Panic text messages have been circulated, claiming the possibility of  Boko Haram members  posing as protesters would seize the opportunity to unleash mayhem in three major cities. The federal government still seething from the audacity of Nigerians for having defiled all odds to come out en mass to protest its draconian policies, have ordered civil servants to return to work threatening ‘ no work, no pay’.

       Prior to that, some state governors had already instructed their civil servants to return to work or risk losing their jobs. This action purportedly aimed at creating division in labour’s support base and weakening the protests, has met with a brick wall as workers have asked the government to go to blazes with its instructions. Meanwhile, the reality show continues as more damning figures and implicating documents are released by the petroleum marketers and the federal government officials who are hurling blames and slanders at each other for the rot in the petroleum industry.

       In an attempt to distract the populace from achieving its paramount objective which is the total eradication of corruption and accountability in the public sector, some mischief makers are dangling the carrots of religion and ethnicism before us. If you thought the #Occupy Nigeria protests was all about fuel subsidy, I advise you have a rethink. The protests is about the institutionalised decadence and endemic corruption that has paralyzed the country. Lest I digress, some politicians are trying to cash in on the chaos to bring up tribal and religious sentiments. This is aimed at keeping us further divided so that they can continue with their lootocratic agendas. In response to the Boko Haram ultimatum, the movement for the emancipation of Niger delta-MEND-has issued northerners in the south-south region its own ultimatum. In Benin city, hoodlums hijacked the peaceful protests to perpetuate reprisal attacks against northerners. In the north, the Boko Haram continues with its pogrom against the southerners unchecked.

  This perhaps was the reason for the recent comments by eminent Nigerians that the nation may be heading towards a war. One would hardly blame  them for taking such stance, given the nature and dimension which the protests have assumed. However, there would nothing like a war. The #Occupy Nigeria protest is nothing short of a revolution aimed at cleansing the Nigerian polity of corruption and vampire politicians who feed on the blood of the Nigerian masses. Every leader must be held accountable for his role in plunging the nation into this quagmire.

    Already there are indicators that the protests would not assume religious or ethnic lines. In Abuja, a human column made up of northerners and southerners was formed around Muslims who took a break from the protests to say their prayers. In Kaduna, Christians and Muslims arm in arm, formed human shields against police bullets. In other parts of the country, Nigerian masses have downplayed their differences and have come out in unison to lay show their grievances against an insensitive government. Nigerians have metamorphosed from the invisible wall of religion and ethnicity foisted upon us by parochial leaders for their selfish interests. Besides members of the scripted cabal cut across the different tribes and religion.

       This entails that the problem of this great country resides not in our cultural differences, but in our leaders and the political elite who have ganged up and rapped the nation of its resources. Let us not be swayed by such cheap sentiments. We all have a stake in making corporate Nigeria a feasible entity. As a people with a common destiny, lets us concentrate on the nucleus of the problem, rather than be distracted with the periphery. Waging a war on ethnic and tribal lines reduces us to mere pawns in a political chess game. #Occupy Nigeria is a revolution catalyzed by the strength of the people. Let us not forget that.