The inimitable Malcolm Fabiyi writes:
Further reading, Aba Women's Revolt
Rotimi Amaechi, the Governor of Rivers state has been in the news a lot lately, mainly for his very public spats with Jonathan’s government. Last week, in his usual blunt style, he suggested that Nigeria could never witness a revolution in the mold of the Arab Spring revolts because Nigerians lack the courage to stand firm for change. Their “elasticity” as he put it, “has no limit”.Continuing:
A revolution by definition is a sudden and cataclysmic shift in social and political structures in a nation. Its occurrence is therefore not predictable. Amaechi and the others who think they understand Nigeria and Nigerians should spend time reading history. Like earthquakes that can only be discerned once they have occurred, so too are revolutions.
Amaechi mistakes revolutions for popular, mass action. All of the 20th century’s most famous revolutionaries led movements that had only a few people. Rawlings staged a revolution in Ghana, yet he never had more than 1,000 men involved in his plot at any time. Fidel Castro began his march on Havana from the mountains of the Sierra Maestra with only 82 men. And the most storied revolution of all, the war for American Independence, began with a few hundred disenchanted Bostonians, burning barrels of tea at Boston Harbor.More here
Because of Goodluck Jonathan’s ineptitude, Nigerians are being stretched to their elastic limit faster than anyone could have predicted possible. The economy continues to work only for a privileged few. Corruption is now not only tolerated, it is celebrated. The middle and upper classes that have long been insulated from the tumult of the Nigerian system, have now been drawn into the cauldron of fire. Their tall fences, private schools, and exclusive hang outs have been breached by the rising tide of insecurity. This should give Amaechi and co-leaders reason to worry. Revolutions come more quickly when the privileged bourgeois class – the middle and upper classes – join the proletariat (masses) class in their discontent. The bourgeois bring their resources - their organizing skills, their tweets and facebook pages, their access to printing presses, their ability to fire off bulk text messages and engage extensive networks - to the battle for the soul of a nation.
Further reading, Aba Women's Revolt