We the youths must maintain the peace- Alhassan Haruna Dambatta

Peace is an essential component guaranteeing Development and harmonious coexistence, hence, it holds a part of our life that when destroyed, technically makes our lives look meaningless and barbaric.

The peace in Nigeria was recently destroyed by activities of unscrupulous elements who used riot as a tool to cause disharmony, acrimony and disguised themselves as peaceful protesters but end as hoodlums, miscreants and criminals who seized on the opportunity of the activities of this uncoordinated protest to cause havoc and breach the peace existing before the protest activity.

The protest initially gained momentum with International support and coverage which put the activities of the peaceful protesters at international limelight only that miscreants and criminals infiltrated the movement and seized the opportunity when the time was ripe and send another signal of destruction, vandalism and criminality to the international community.

Other factors contributed to the deadly metamorphosis of the peaceful protest into a monster which consumed the country within the shortest period in its history.

The IPOB factor equally inflamed the situation through a live broadcast transmission made from IPOB control room calling on their members to destroy and kill, including mentioning Yoruba elites names, specifically, Raji Rasaki was mentioned, the schematics of his house revealed and the bunker where they believe he kept his ammunitions were exposed to the embedded members of the group who infiltrated the crowd for their selfish end.

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The person behind the mic further called on the IPOB members to as a matter of priority destroy the NITEL exchange as he mentioned it. From the onset, we all understand that IPOB are all out to cause an uncontrollable situation which can generate to them the opportunity to desecrate the Constitution and possibly achieve their cessation project designed to leave the federation to build their dream Land of Biafra — the city of the sun.

This is why we the Youths in Kano and the north, in general, must not be deceived into accepting violence as a means of scoring scores with the government. I have participated in various protest since the time as a student leader and president of Students union government SUG, the recent was on 12 September 2020, where I lodged amongst academics, Lawyers and civil servants who know the pains they experienced caused by government activities and policies and were doing it for the betterment of the society and their children unborn, so using violence was never an option.

When we were challenged by the security operatives during the peaceful protest we organized in Kano, we challenged them back with an unarguable position provided and enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended. We told them that, first, we are not violent and the Constitution is the document that guaranteed our peaceful assembly and protest. Section 40 of the constitution explicitly provided and I quote

” Everyone is entitled to Assembly, freely and Associate with any other person and in particular he can form or belong to any political party, Trade union or an association for the protection of his interest”

Various other provisions in the constitution guarantee peaceful assembly and protest as provided in chapter 4 which made it a right that cannot be breach even by the government or any other individual or entity.

We must engage in peaceful protest to address the indiscretions of the political class and leaders who hold political office to enrich themselves to the detriment of the poor Nigerians but we must not do it the IPOB way, we must employ decorum and civility and engage in Advocacy rather than riot to achieve our aims of addressing injustice and repression.

In the north, we are already challenged by the activities of Boko Haram, bandits and armed robbers who have used the weaknesses of the security infrastructure and apparatus to refuse us peace and harmonious living within our area, so, the north cannot take the load of violent protest that only retrogrades our progress and load on us other elements of hunger and starvation, an example is a rough estimate of N400 billions of losses caused by the activities of the rioters in Lagos State alone, causing them 10 or 20 years of backwardness and lost of lives and essential resources.

Kano state is a peaceful city and it must remain that way especially with the need of shaming our detractors that whilst they choose violence as a means to an end, we, on the other hand, choose peace as a prerequisite to our peaceful coexistence.

Comrade Alhassan Haruna Dambatta Chairman Kungiyar Matasan Kano alaski1972@gmail.com