Thread by @naijama

A couple of corrections:
I did not say “Ṣe you are still screaming”, I said “You can continue screaming but …”
‘Gaslighting’ is trying to convince a person of a non-existent ‘reality’ - it doesn’t mean mere mocking - even if you confuse that with advice.

https://twitter.com/tundeleye/status/1450228557859393538

I was even ok with #EndSARS pivoting to demand good governance.
But to do that without any serious effort to engage in politics?
Even sympathetic supporters like @BankyW or @YeleSowore were derided as ‘politicians’, as if a democracy can work without people seeking votes!

It’s like having a driving licence, sitting in the bus and criticising the driver’s driving & where he’s going, but refusing to take over the vehicle because “I’m not a driver”.
Organisation & Fundraising for #EndSARS + numbers is more than a driving licence for Nigeria’s youth.

Active refusal to contest for political power means handing over not just the demand for good governance, but its design & execution to people who eventually see that those complaining fear to try, are afraid of responsibility (& blame): in short, are no real political threat.

The driver who knows you can tell him to park at the next intersection and take over yourself is more likely to start driving right, and to the destination you want, than the one who has seen that you are only all “Blah, blah, blah.” Or even ‘Scream, scream, scream’.

It took many years to get the FoIA into law. The FoI Civil society coalition identified like-minded legislators to push the cause at @nassnigeria. They campaigned and advocated, they didn’t merely scream.
Btw, drivers I have known tend not to react well to being screamed at.

Now a year later, there is much complaint about how little police reform there has been and how the police still operate with impunity.

But would that be the case if the demand for good governance had been backed by the thunder of an approaching wave of new politicians?

When barely ¼ of registered voters actually vote in elections, Nigeria’s young people have the numbers to elect their own and put them into the driving seat.

To my mind, continued attempts to convince them that they don’t, that they can’t … now that’s what I call ‘gaslighting’.