Living in terror: My government is a terrorist organisation

in Speak Peace4 years ago (edited)

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I've always known that the Nigerian government is filled with narsisstic animals that only want power and have no intention of fixing the society. However, recent events have shown me the depth of evil that lurks in power.

The past two weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for me and millions of well meaning Nigerians that simply want to live in a peaceful world. This need drove us to engaging in a peaceful protest that has shown us the true depth of evil and consternation that the government has against the people.

It all started about two weeks ago when people took to Twitter to share disheartening stories of police brutality in Nigeria. Virtually everyone had a story of personal or loved ones horrible experience of some sort of police brutality and oppression. The Nigerian police are renowned for being corrupt and abusive, to say the least, but in the midst of their corruption, a certain arm, known as SARS(Special Anti Robbery Squad) stand at the top of the shit pile.

Horrible experiences with this unit of the police engendered pent up anger in millions of citizens that were fed up of being treated like shit by men and women we pay to protect us. Eventually, this movement had a tag titled #ENDSARS and people used it to share some horrible stories on Twitter. In a matter of days, a website called endsars.com was created for people to share their experiences with these monsters.

History Lesson

So the question is, how did a tag and online protest result in the death of hundreds of citizens, despite being one of the most peaceful and "chill" events in Nigeria's history?

Well, we have to take a short trip down memory lane to understand the situation. You see, the president of Nigeria, General Buhari, is as bad as the come, but, just like every other Nigerian politician I know, he has the right amount of evil, political will and "motivation" to rise to power. He was once head of state under military rule in the 80s, and now, just like then, the country is in an economic turmoil, and the government constantly violates human rights and completely disregards the "constitution" it is built on.

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In the 80s, he got in through brute Force like the military always do and now, he came in through a propaganda driven election to depose the incumbent president. Since he came into office, we've seen Nigeria slump to new lows in terms of poverty and corruption, despite using anti-corruption as his mantra.

While he was dictator in the 80s, there have been numerous accounts of journalists, doctors, lawyers and generally anybody that speaks up against him going to prison. He employed fear and threat to life as his tools to governing and just like a leopard, he stayed true to his spots, because this is 2020, over 30 years later and we're living in terror.

When he ascended to power in 2015, I remember how my mum fell sick for over week. I was born in 92, so I didn't experience his military rule, and I thought she was overreacting. She said, and I quote "You weren't there Belemo, you weren't there" and continued crying on the phone. Now I know mama, I understand why you were crying because just like my mum, this man's terror has driven me and every body I know to tears and unprecedented emotional turmoil.

The first blow

The point of this history lesson is to familiarize you with the kind of animal we were going up against when we embarked on these peaceful protests. Different cities around the country gathered at different locations to protest the horrible state of the police and demanded accountability for crimes against humanity committed by people who were suppose to protect us.

The Government struck the first blow of sorts, by putting a gag order on news agencies. All the local outlets weren't talking about the protests, but when CNN, Sky news, Aljazeera and other international outlets started talking, the Inspector General of Police went on air for the first time to address the situation. What was his statement? He came online to refer to people protesting for their right to live as "attention seekers and clout chasers".

Undeterred by the lead clown of the police force, the protests continued for a few more days. Suddenly, stories about police brutality started spreading to other countries. The international outlets started documenting all the stories of police brutality and some like Aljazeera even made exclusive shows about the situation.

If there's one thing our "leaders" hate, it is being international disgrace. They don't mind stooping low to get power but just like the slaves they are, they get to power and just go around the world with cap in hand to beg for "support". Then they take all the support and hoard it for themselves.

Thus, the attention of the international community drove the top clown of the police force to take back his words but at this point, it was too little and too late. The deed had already been done and some shitty words on paper wasn't going to be enough; it's the same trick they've been playing for many years and there was no backing down.

The protests persisted and rightly so, because despite being unarmed and peaceful, the protesters were met with the very violence we were protesting against. Despite their attempt to stop the protests through violence, it persisted and day after day, the momentum and numbers increased to the point that somehow, people with cardboards and the Nigerian flag became a national security threat.

Hope for the future

The protests continued and we were getting way more attention from the international community, thanks to the internet. Locally, the media houses were doing the most to spin the story in a way that made us seem like the villains but try as they might, the truth, thanks to camera footages of the police and recently, the military using lethal force to "disperse" peaceful protesters always came out. We'll get to the military part later on.

The protest wasn't a political movement. It was by all definition, decentralised. There was no figure head or any political motive. We were just a group of random individuals from all over the country that had a common cause. For a country like Nigeria that is often divided along ethnic and religious lines, this was a monumental event because for once, the government had a unified opposition that just wanted accountability.

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Funding for the Nationwide protest provided food, healthcare and legal services. At the initial stage, it was a cat and mouse game, with the government using the idiots of the police to shoot and arrest unarmed citizens. However, every time someone got arrested, the legal team, dispersed Nationwide, would get them out and it was all from the funds donated.

The government, through the Central Bank tried to cut off funds for the protest by blocking certain accounts, so we resorted to Bitcoin and secret donations to the cause. The government also placed sanctions on certain organisations like Flutterwave who supported the cause because, like I said, the Leopard in charge, doesn't change. The same beast from the 80s is the same beast today.

However, for the first time in my life, I saw a Nigeria that I was proud of in the youths. We came together, irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliation to push a common goal. I was and am still proud of my country, but alas, the animals in charge had other plans and when pushed to the wall, they showed their true colours.

Animals in power

When the protest started getting too much international recognition, the tyrant president came on TV to read a script. He couldn't look at the camera to apologise for the lives that were lost due to police brutality. Instead, he said a bunch of bullshit and then, claimed to have disbanded the SARS unit...on paper, at least.

In reality, nothing had changed and this was evident in the fact that right when he was making his disgusting speech, three unarmed protesters were killed by the police. Nothing was done to the police officers and until today, nobody has been held accountable for those deaths.

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As if that wasn't enough insult to the people, the dictator and the Governor of Lagos were shown on camera discussing the issue. The president of my country laughed when he heard that one bystander named Jimoh was gunned down by the police. The bullet that hit him was shot by a police officer trying to disperse a gathering of peaceful protesters.

Every time someone died because of the protest, a part of me died. I slumped into depression for some days and I couldn't stop the tears from coming down my face. That poor kid didn't deserve this, he died because his government failed him and so, the protests continued, despite the government claiming they had ended SARS.

As I said, it was all on paper. They're politicians and all they do is talk. They claimed to have disbanded SARS but clips of the unit were surfacing from different parts of the country. The president and top clown's statements were bold faced lies, and we weren't backing down.

Every day, more people flooded the streets to ask for an end to police brutality and for the leaders to make concrete and tangible steps to fixing the issue. Instead, the protesters were greeted with violence. During the period of this protest, I saw more death than I ever expected and my heart got so cold. We've always known that the government don't give a shit, but realising that they'll rather kill you than fix a problem hits differently.

Despite the Government's unnecessary use of force, and threat to life, peaceful protests persisted. More people died at the hands of the government daily and nothing changed. But just like everything in this country, when you think things can't get worse, the animals in charge will surprise you.

Stupid propaganda

They realised using police force isn't working, and more people ere trooping in to join the peaceful protest. So, the government used their greatest weapon, poverty, to disrupt the protest.

You'd be surprised what someone is willing to do for $3 in the poverty capital of the world. The government then employed and armed thugs to disrupt the protest. This isn't propaganda by the way, because thanks to mobile phones, once again, numerous clips were caught of these thugs coming out and getting into government vehicles.

As if this wasn't stupid enough, the government literally released prisoners and then pinned it on the protesters. Like, there's video evidence of people literally climbing out of a prison. The gates were locked, nobody got in but people came out and then they somehow claimed it was protesters?

They also paid a bunch of idiots to make a counter protest called prosars to somehow cancel out the endsars protest. Everyone with a brain could see through this ridiculous plot, and though it derailed the protest for a minute and further strengthened their fake claim of the peaceful protests being a threat to national security, the struggle for freedom continued.

The Lekki Massacre

A few days before the Nigerian army carried out the Lekki genocide, the top clown of the army, general buratai, came out openly to say that his allegiance is with the president. Do you know how scary it is for the leader of the army to state categorically that he's not neutral, that he's not for the people but that his allegiance is with a democratically elected president?

When this story broke, I knew in my heart that something bad was on the horizon. Why will the military want to get involved in a nonviolent civil issue with the government?

20-10-2020

On the 20th of October 2020, the Nigerian military was used to murder a gathering of unarmed citizens that were singing the national anthem and waving the flag. It is dubbed the Lekki genocide or Lekki Massacre depending on where you check.

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This dastardly act wasn't random, or sporadic. The army carried out a calculated assault on its own citizens and if it weren't for live feeds gotten through Instagram and Twitter, the world would never have known of the monsters in power.

  • First they pulled up on protesters, and then flanked them. Effectively barricading them.
  • Then they waited till it was dark enough, turned off the lights in the toll gate and began shooting at the protesters.

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It is the saddest day of my life as a Nigerian citizen and even as I write this post, my heart bleeds. Scores of people were injured that day, with countless individuals suffering gunshot wounds and an unknown number of deaths until today.

The whole event was captured live on djswitch's Instagram and until today, many still believe her life is at risk. The events got international coverage and like every bad news, it spread like wild fire, capturing the attention of many influential personalities calling for an end to violence in the country.

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The country has descended into chaos but this was all because of the inept government. They will try to pin it on the protests because propaganda is all they know but the truth is on the internet.

In this same country where terrorists were rehabilitated and sent back to the society; peaceful protesters who asked for a better life were met with violence. At the end of the day, the only bright spot was seeing youths, millennials, and Gen Z come together for a common cause. We put all those archaic differences aside and pushed for a better life.

Even though the protests have stopped due to the unrest caused by the government, we will not stop probing and asking for a better life. We're part of history and when future generations sing the national anthem, and get to the part where they say "the labours of our heroes past, shall never be in vain", they will be singing about us.

For now, we've at least been able to expose our government for the inept, narsisstic, and blood thirsty cowards they are. The president, vice president and everything affiliated with him is an international disgrace.


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thanks for sharing, I am gonna share this with friends in various countries.

It's a little confusing cause i don't know much about the history and politics and demographics of Nigeria at all, I'm piecing it together now. I am not able to spend so much time researching but I give a little bit of time to Nigeria every day right now.

Of course I want to give my attention to other places like Thailand and Congo and Belarus, there are so many things happening in the world, but I have you guys right in front of me at Hive and I feel it's my job to focus more on Nigeria as it's suddenly closer than ever at Hive.

I've experienced protests and talked to protesters in a few countries over the years....it's ridiculous how similar the tactics are everywhere. I really feel the best chance we have to fix this worlds problems is to change the way we use the internet to connect with each other more...that is my main goal at Hive now.

The internet was immense in this particular protest. Sadly, the worst is yet to come. The country is in turmoil because the people they sent to disrupt the peaceful movement are out of control. They've weaponised poverty for so long and now it is working against them.

The only sad thing about this situation is that the politicians don't suffer. It is the common people that bear the brunt of the problem and at the end of the day, they will say it is because of the protests

sure....it's definitely not a pretty situation and there are always people trying to steer protests in a direction that benefits them, or to hijack them.
it happened in Egypt and other countries in the middle east. Hopefully we can learn the lesson from that...I don't know what it will take to prevent a similar situation but I believe it must at least be possible to reach a better situation thanks to these protests.

I think it is a function of the type of leadership. Some people cling on to power and see criticism as a threat to power. Fundamentally, an idiot

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Ufff, sad. A severe conflict awaits you in Nigeria, perhaps even worse than in Belarus. It will be difficult. I wish you all the best of luck and as few casualties as possible.

Tough pill to swallow but looks like the gospel truth

and it is all because of the money game read the book money game and beyond and plenty more books, spread the message with meme we have 5000 here, spread the message :)

And the tyrant president just read another script minutes ago. Still no remorse for the dead.

Na mugu

I was heartbroken when I was listening to that foolish man 💔

Oh my fuck @belemo! I don't think I've ever been so captivated by an article. Your English is stellar and the picture you painted here gave me chills. I pray for you and all of Nigeria my brother.

I know I should have a lot more to say but I'm shocked by this article man and I don't know what else to say. Please be safe.

I try to stay safe man but Nigeria is a living breathing death trap right now. Actually, it has been this way my whole life

Nigeria is in my prayers @hive-naija. Be smart. Be safe!

I have been following what has been going on and not shocked. Your President doesn't care and has ulterior motives it seems and after he released known Boko Haram terrorists back into the population things were going to happen. Unfortunately you need a coup to get rid of him otherwise there will be civil war. Africa is littered with history repeating itself and Ghadaffi said it is easier to rule if their is turmoil.

It is such a sad place to live in. Life has no value and all we have are bloodthirsty tyrants

Stay safe brother!

Lets get married bro. I need to leave this place somehow

I would man, but I'm already married to a Somali lady! I can only marry one African at a time.

Polygamy is normal in both Nigeria and Somalia. Just saying :))

Good point, but I'm pretty sure they would deny another marriage visa on the US side though!

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To support your work, I also upvoted your post!

Do not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:

October 2020 is the World Mental Heath Month

May God help Nigeria now. Killing people for their rightful demand is brutality.

It is fucked up

It is that bad. I really can't air my view on this government. So angry at my country leaders

It really sucks.

I have shared it to my FB account. with some commentary. It is most likey that the algorithim of FB will just bury it and no one will see it, or maybe it will get deleted for using hive or posting such things. would not be the first time my account gets deleted for such things. oh well.

I am not going to pretend I know what exactly you feel here. But my lifes experience has led me to come across certain individuals that have broaden my view on why tthere exists such things. for starters there is a book by Larken Rose titled "The Most Dangerous Superstition". Can download the book in pdf free in english and spanish and or listen to it on youtube also in either inglish and spanish. hopefully it will get translated into your own native language and keep spreading on in that fashion.

English is my native language, so it won't be too stressful to get

Hope you are staying safe.

As safe as I can be. No where is safe in the country anyway.

#CommunistInsurrection

Don't defund your police unless you want China and the United Nations to take their place.

We're not trying to defund the police. We're trying to give the police more pay and better lives.

It's pretty crazy man. Like Belomo said, the youth are actually fighting for a pay rise for the police as part of their demands! The thinking is, they police are terribly underpaid so it pushes them to 'supplement' via extortion.

Excellent piece bro.

"Genocide" is a little strong and incorrect to use for this, even though I've seen a lot of people using that term. "Massacre" is more accurate. The difference is the fact that the soldiers fired indiscriminately into the crowd and made no distinction between any of the ethnic groups. In a genocide, they would target a particular group only.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. The important and horrific detail is that the Nigerian government ordered the military to open live fire on peaceful protesters on Nigerian soil. That in itself is a breach of all kinds of global conventions related to rules of engagement and crimes against humanity.


The other thing that really brings this so close to home for me is this. A Hivian, much like yourself, who is a young person with a presentable appearance, would be their prime target. Imagine sitting in a cafe with your friends writing a Hive post, or shooting a 3Speak video and SARS rolled up on you. You'd have committed all the top "crimes"in their eyes. You're making money from the Internet, you Yahoo-Yahoo boy you! And crypto? "What's that? Is that like Bitcoin?". Was it you that told me some of those animals were carrying bitcoin wallets to extort crypto traders they find?

So they refuse to provide an environment where the youth can thrive, no jobs no opportunities. The youth then go out to make their own way, and that's a crime too?

Bloody ridiculous!!!

[Sorry I'm so angry that my words are a little jumbled today]

Bro, I always get weird stares whenever I talk about crypto. It's exhausting, to say the least. This place is fucking up my mental health.

Imagine covid19 palliatives discovered in some part of Nigeria and no TV or Radio station or even government parastatals had said anything about this. Nigerian government are the roots of the evil happening in my country

Fuck them all Bee. They're all bastards

Bro pls, what do you think about the YDP suggestion? Is it gonna as we are planning for it abi what's your take on it sir

No clue tbh. I'm not jumping on any bandwagon. I'll wait and see how things are structured and if it isn't bullshit, I'll participate

I hope everything works out as expected

Wish the best to you and to your people, I upvoted and resteemed your post :)

A ruler of the country should be like a mother who tenderly holds her child in her arms. This is how the present should be and this is the call for the future. No ruler of the country needs a violent police force, just as a father needs a stick to beat. To beat his people is as cowardly as when a father beats his crying baby. The state power must not be violent, the father does not control his situation, nor does the ruler of the country. The power should be quiet, wise, non-violent, and free. The rulers must be aware, that only a life in peace, quiet and help can calm the great soul. The situation is stored in me, I think of you and of a free and peace living Nigeria.

You speak the truth man. The ruler of my country is by every definition a tyrant and everyone against him and his draconian policies lives in fear

Reading this sends shivers down my spine. Images of the Tianmen massacre from 1989 in China comes to mind, followed by scenes from Hong Kong in recent years, and Belarus, Thailand in recent months, albeit probably not as brutal as what has happened in Nigeria. All of these situations have a common theme of a brutal government silencing innocent protesters. And the worse thing is that all these governments have a skin that is thicker than a wall.

Take care.

They'll use propaganda and any other political tool at their disposal to hide and clean their tracks. It's is pure evil.

How many were shot dead in Lekki?

Impossible to tell. Eyewitness reports said that the military was secretly taking dead bodies from the scene. Hospitals were very busy that day and everyone, including the military that was caught on camera is denying it.

So a few hundred most likely?

I'd be afraid to even post anything like this about the government in my country. We're supposedly allowed to say anything we want, but I am fearful of doing so.

Not going to lie, I'm a bit scared that I could be picked up by the Department of state security because of it.

What country are you from?

God bless you and your people, I wish you nothing but the best. Hopefully allied states can step in to regulate this tyrant government moves.

Highly doubt anybody will interfere. Everybody has their own problems

Africa is blooding..
Their are killing people in every side of our country.
Its sadness me a lot.
All dictators and big mandators have to go away and let people leaving their life in freedom not in authority and terror.
My heart hurt.

My heart breaks to hear of the corruption and violence Nigerians face today. I often complain of corruption here in America, and I've been beaten without cause by American police, jailed, and otherwise harmed unlawfully here. But I have never faced summary execution, or been subjected to arbitrary lethal violence in the way you have described in the OP.

I am convinced presently that there is no just and lawful national government on Earth today. No NGO, extranational, or transnational institution of nominal significance exists today that the Nigerian people, my own, nor any jurisdiction can turn to for help, because all are the fruit of corruption, dependent on it, and the best that can be hoped for is that the competitors for power amongst the cabals are able to profit from aiding those unjustly oppressed enough to disrupt that oppression.

America has brought democracy to too many countries with abhorrent consequences for me to expect American help would usefully resolve issues in Nigeria. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya all provide meaningful examples to any that might suspect otherwise.

However, people around the world today are all similarly protesting the brutality of the police claimed to be intended to protect civilians and promote just and peaceful society. From New Zealand and Indonesia to Germany and France, from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to Chile and Argentina, and all points in between with but few and lucky exception, the people protest militarized police and the thuggish brutality undertaken to protect the corrupt predator class in control of governments. Clever progagandists do everything they can to mislead and derange protests, just as has been very successful here in the USA in a decade since the Occupy Wall Street protests were infiltrated with identity politics and now are used to pit the people against one another using every possible division; left, right, black, white, old, young, male, female, Muslim, Christian, gay, straight; where before the people had rightly targeted financialization, corruption, and deceptive policies.

Unified against predatory and corrupt overlords we cannot fail. Divided by the deception of the enemedia and clever populists against our fellows, we cannot succeed.

While I have not faced tanks and machine guns yet, I expect to before the decade is out, here in America. Every people of the world, and all the civilians just intent on living in peace and passing on their legacy to their children, are in the same boat regarding corruption and the overlords that seize power using it. The enemedia owned by those predators is used to trick us to hate and fight our fellows rather than the actual enemy we have in common.

On Hive we can speak freely, one to another, and the lying 'fact checkers' and censors cannot impede our mutual aid and understanding. Free speech is the critical mechanism that enables prosperous and felicitous society as folks use it to join their voices in unison against the criminals seeking to silence us all.

Thanks for using that mechanism to speak forthrightly and enable my understanding of the plight of Nigeria and it's peoples. I only hope we can speak of how to coordinate our actions to protect one another and prosecute the criminals that seek our wealth, freedom, and our very lives, together.

Hopefully the impetus they have shown on the soccer fields, bring it to life for the good of Nigeria

Whoa... Sounds intense. Disturbing as well. This is one of the main reasons I speak out against government so much, it too often leads to really horrible injustice.

However, for the first time in my life, I saw a Nigeria that I was proud of in the youths. We came together, irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliation to push a common goal.

That's inspiring to hear! I've been feeling similar in some other ways in regard to seeing more people waking up in general and it's encouraging.

We've always known that the government don't give a shit, but realising that they'll rather kill you than fix a problem hits differently.

Indeed... I think if more people realized that it would be helpful, so many still seem to think their government cares about them...

It is the saddest day of my life as a Nigerian citizen and even as I write this post, my heart bleeds.

So sorry to hear that my friend, my heart goes out to you and all of the others involved.

In this same country where terrorists were rehabilitated and sent back to the society; peaceful protesters who asked for a better life were met with violence. At the end of the day, the only bright spot was seeing youths, millennials, and Gen Z come together for a common cause. We put all those archaic differences aside and pushed for a better life.

Nothing can bring back those who were lost and it's heart breaking, though hopefully awareness is brought to the issue and some positive changes can occur in the future so that these like these don't keep happening. It's really sad to see, we should be able to peacefully work things out and so many continue to insist on using violence... sigh