On 12^th January 2010 The Nigerian people hit the street to protest what seems to be an unending vacuum in the country’s leadership created by the Absence Wjithout Official Leave (AWOL) of Mr. President. Even though the above seemed to be the overriding kernel of the rally, other issues which include, but not limited to issues of Electoral Reform, the terror status of the country and corruption were equally highlighted by the mass protest.

Beyond the ritual of protest which in the recent past had culminated in a member of the Executive arm or legislative arm of government, usually a Minister or a legislator addressing protesters with the promise of their grievance being looked into by the government, the Abuja rally led by the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka created a new dimension in the protest by blatantly denying the Speaker of the House of Representatives the opportunity to relive the “we are looking into the issue” deceit.

The rally was one that had enthusiasm as its propelling force, a desire and a wakeup call to Nigerians that power resides in the people, by their ability to organize as a collective force which defines their roles and responsibilities as stakeholders in the Nigerian polity and that is calling their leaders to order when disorder is the order of the day.  However, this is not to say the Abuja rally by its dimension is a successful recipe for future engagements it however provides the impetus for sustained mass mobilization and consciousness building, dynamism in the struggle for change and classic example of using the Objective conditions; when situations are evidently abnormal with huge contradictions which can only be resolved by change

Therefore to effect this change in the polity, people’s organizing must be dynamic to address the lack of success in engagements in the recent past, by modest standards the rally was a success for a broader coalition for change, its provides new dimensions that must be taken into consideration for building a peoples movement in the country;

1. The bulk of mobilization for the rally was done by the institution of the Church, in more specific terms the Family Worship Centre and the Latter Rain Assembly with scores of muslims also on the rally train. Religion has come to play a leading role in the beliefs of the average Nigerian, this presents an ample opportunity to radicalize the pulpit (The messages of Pastor Sarah and Pastor Tunde Bakare were clearly overtly radical) and by extension the Nigerian people. Maybe it is time to define a Nigerian Liberation Theology. Clearly this presents an opening into redefining a role for the religious in the public sphere of the country.

 

1. What consistent messages do we bring to the Nigerian people, fine; the overriding message was change but there were clearly distortions in terms of materials for people’s consumption, aside the pressure value of a rally, it is also a ground for education and consciousness building. It would not be out of place for us to define clear and consistent messages that are clearly birthed in alternatives to the status quo, that way we are able to mobilize on the strength of genuine change agenda rather than an elitist recirculation journey. These alternatives must be able to find relevance in the dreams and aspirations of the Nigerian people and also communicate strategies and modes of delivering on such alternatives.

 

1. Clearly one of the failures of the Pro-democracy movements of the 90’s was seeing democracy as an end in itself. We must avoid the mistakes of the past and define the political objectives of the struggle, else discontented power players would ride on the back of such struggles to re-access power and re-enact the order of the day in a different fashion, therefore we must be alert to the manipulation of the elites and seek to define a clear political objective so that at the historical juncture we don’t lose the moment.

 

1. The Abuja rally clearly is one that has its international dimension with the news of similar rallies to be held across different parts of the world, this goes to underscore the fact that policies and power that shape the everyday lives of our people are not just machinations of local politicians but one that has its international dimensions, therefore the new found organizing must find a way to connect the tripartite; the local, national and international dimensions on a consistent tempo to create the desired pressure for creating change.

 

Looking at the above dimensions, we must therefore

1. Create an engagement strategy that build people’s structure for peoples power rather than messianic tendencies with progressive elements or politicians
2. Our work with Faith Based Organisations must clearly transcend the border of building awareness on health and education related issues into genuine civic engagement with an agenda of radicalising its followership and like a puzzle fuse it into the overall movement for change
3. From our relative years of work, what clearly comes out is that we must establish  real alternatives for the people, this must be shrunk down for easy and digestible reading for the Nigerian people
4. There is a huge challenge with defined spheres of youth organising especially the student’s movements. How do we then build informal structures that would fill this gap while working towards reviving “the Formal Structure”. Clearly there is a dynamism associated with youth today which is expressed in different forms, IT driven, the Hype Culture,  our strategies must take these into cognisance to get this generation thinking again.
5. The work we do at home must not end in the local policy space, it must resound in international dynamics (Negotiations, diplomatic manouvres, conventions amongst others.)

 

As highlighted earlier, the modest success of the Abuja rally is not to say it is “Uhuru” for the Nigerian people and organizing in the country but it creates an impetus for building a people’s movement in the country and therefore we must bring our years of work and experience to bear in this new wave of enthusiasm flowing across the land. We must seek to empower, systematically build a rights conscious citizenry where we work and provide clear alternatives from our interactions with the Nigerian people and when the opportunity presents itself, all this would come to bear.

But first and foremost, the pressure must be seen to be sustained in the consciousness of Nigerians and this is the most important task as at today the 13^th day of January 2010.