#EndSARS: CBN and misplaced priorities

Blessing Enenaite Business, Politics 22/11/2020

#EndSARS is one of the major highlights of the year 2020 for many Nigerians.

The protest united the youths united in the call for an end to police brutality and bad governance.

Freedom of speech is the right of every individual. However, freedom after speech can prove to be a luxury.

EndSARS — Source: Facebook/Pastor Wale Adenuga

Promises made but unfulfilled

The people made demands and the government promised to fulfil them. However, nothing has happened to that effect.

Rather, the government asked for the protesters to bring a leader to represent them at a meeting.

Read Also: 6 groups of people in the #EndSARS protest

The #EndSARS protest was an organic one and so there was no leader to present.

Moe (@mochievous) – an advocate of #EndSARS – had her passport seized. The reason remains unclear. Blankets statements such as “the passport belongs to the federal government and can be withheld at any point” does nothing to shed light on the situation.

Although it has since been released to her, we cannot ignore the fact that the seizure of her passport appears to be a penalty for her involvement in the protests.

Likewise, 19 other individuals and a company – Gatefield- who supported the protests had their accounts frozen.

1st of November, I was stopped and my passport taken some minutes to boarding this flight. No reason was given, other than “you are under investigation” today is 5th of November, I still do not have my passport back neither have I been told what the investigation is about. pic.twitter.com/5IHZbbZjTc
— Moe (@Mochievous) November 5, 2020

Government & CBN’s misplaced priorities

It is the duty of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that the Nigerian currency is strengthened. However, it has shifted from its duties into oppressive activities and tactics against citizens.

Protesting of any kind is not a crime in a democratic system of government. Moreso, one that focuses on ending police brutality.

It is alleged that the Central Bank froze accounts before seeking a court order. In one statement, CBN tagged the protesters as terrorists. How does asking the government to allow its citizens live peacefully without the fear of being harmed by the police, an act of terrorism?!

I am a witness to the fact that some accounts were closed and could not make transactions before the court even gave an order!!
CBN doesn’t know how to freeze the accounts of those embezzling public funds. Na peaceful protesters dey pinch una nipples. Bloody Oppressors!!
— DeboMacaroni (@mrmacaronii) November 14, 2020

Some Nigerians were convicted in the United Arab Emirates of sending money to Boko Haram – a terrorist organization. Yet Nigeria is still yet to identify the sponsors of Boko Haram. This is most shameful for a country that boasts of sophisticated intelligence.

6 Nigs convicted in the UAE for wiring $782,000 to Boko Haram. Abubakar Muhammad and Saleh Yusuf Adamu got life imprisonment.while Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad Ibrahim Isa, got 10 years.They lost their appeal.
— Abike Dabiri-Erewa (@abikedabiri) November 9, 2020

The government appears helpless in its fight against terrorism but unashamedly chooses to flex its muscle of oppression against peaceful protesters.

If the government is serious about the herculean task of winning the confidence of the populace, it must be objective in all things. This isn’t too much to ask.