THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN SUSTAINING DEMOCRATIZATION IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Social movements are large and sometimes informal groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues (Wikipedia: 2016 A). They are also defined as loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal, typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structures or values (Killian: 2016). Social movements are not eternal. They are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and, eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist and it should be noted that many social movements are created around some charismatic leaders e.g. Save Nigeria Group is created around Nigerian Pastor Tunde Bakare, the defunct Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria was built around the opportunistic billionaire Ifeanyi Uba, etc. (Save Nigeria Group: 2015, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria: 2015), the bring back our girls campaign. The key processes of social movements started with urbanization; people of similar goals could find each other, gather and organize in larger settlements and subsequently facilitate social interactions. Mass education through speedy communication techniques, and spread of democracy and political rights.

Social movements are typified on different basis. The bring back our girls campaign has gone a long way in strengthening Nigeria democratic process. In 2015 the story that emerged from Nigeria this time last two year should have read something like this. “Last night, armed men attempted to kidnap more than 200 girls from Chibok government secondary school in Nigeria’s north-east Borno state. Security forces, stationed at the school to protect the girls, foiled their plan. The president, who flew to Chibok this morning to meet the girls and their families, apologised, admitting more precautions should have been taken. In the wake of several such attempts to kidnap women and girls over the past two years by Jama’at Ahlus-Sunnah Lida’awati wal-Jihad , commonly known as Boko Haram, he announced his government would undertake a comprehensive review to make sure this never happened again. The girls and their families will now benefit from comprehensive medical care and counselling offered by the government.”

If the story had played out like that, it would never have caught the attention of global politicians, celebrities and the Twitterati. But, of course, the girls were in fact abducted by Boko Haram, and one year later, the majority are still missing.

In all the discussions and news coverage that followed the abductions, the voices of women in the region were rarely heard. But they were the first to speak out, continuing the protests and activism in which they have been engaged since the start of the insurgency. A week after the abductions, Borno women, coordinated by Baobab for Human Rights, called on the government and their president to take action. They warned that the government would be seen as accomplices in the abduction if they failed to rescue the girls. They went to Chibok, lobbied the state government and made links with women and men all over the country and around the world.

Chibok was the not the first abduction, and it hasn’t been the last. It is estimated that at least 2,000 women and girls have been kidnapped since the start of 2014. Boys and young men have also been taken. It was not that this was not known before; a typical sentence in a Nigerian newspaper reporting on an attack would be “56 people were killed, 29 women and girls taken and property burned and destroyed.” Even before the abductions from Chibok, women activists in north-east Nigeria had been trying to raise awareness of what was happening, urge political action and provide services and assistance to those who escaped or were rescued.

The indefatigable Bring Back Our Girls movement continues to hold protests. Rallying people all around the world, they have called for a week of action in solidarity.

The purposes of this movement goes beyond “awareness” and deliver information about the plight of the 200+ girls kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria. We hope to create a database of articles reporting the most recent and relevant information. We cant imagine what the girls are living through, what agony their parents and siblings are going through waiting for their return and how their hope must lessen everyday that goes by. Please help us to keep this conversation going and to keep their plight in the public eye to and do what we can to make the Nigerian government so uncomfortable, they'll have to act.

The Bring Back Our Girls movement was started by Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Federal Minister of Education of Nigeria and Vice President of the African division of World Bank at a rally in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. It spread to social media via the millions of Nigerians and Nigerian-Americans on twitter who were joined by social justice advocates all over the world.

The Bring Back Our Girls movement is a demand by Nigerians for good governance from our officials. It is our “Nigerian Spring”, if you will. Not only must the government fulfill their duties as protectors of the nation and bring back our girls, they must also begin to take the matter of national security seriously and tackle all the issues that make it easy for a group of men to take up arms and terrorize a nation.

The save Nigeria group was founded in January 2010, the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) is a non-profit political society organization committed to creating a political environment that guarantees that only the best, brightest and most competent Nigerians are democratically elected into public office, bound by a credible constitution that promotes and protects the rights of every Nigerian As a political society organization, we interact with stakeholders on both sides of the power equation, namely, the people and the government. We mobilize the people for the right action that each occasion demands providing the needed support and leadership as the people organize themselves on the strength of their legitimate claim to sovereignty. As advocates of good governance, we speak truth to power and demand policy and governmental positions for the benefit of the people. In line with our core beliefs, we are galvanizing a critical mass of men and women, boys and girls, old and young in the days and weeks ahead to challenge and change the status quo and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH as we join hands to demand a Nigeria that befits Nigerians.

5 years ago, Save Nigeria Group (SNG) rose to the occasion at a time of great confusion for many Nigerians following the extended disappearance of President Yar’Adua. As we reflect on the state of Nigeria today, the words of SNG’s Convener, Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare, reproduced below are as true now as they were then; Fellow countrymen and women, I am here this morning to give account and to explain to every Nigerian why we took to the streets of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, on January 12, 2010. Just like you, I have read in the Dailies the comments of all and sundry regarding the “Save Nigeria Group’s Enough is Enough Rally”. Many wrote and spoke in support and some dismissed it with a wave of the hand. But those of us who led the protest and everyone in our group who marched did so because all other means of getting the men and women in power to do what is right concerning the state of the nation have yielded no tangible results.

To us in the “Save Nigeria Group”, it is amazing that:

(a) It took our rally to get the National Assembly to table the matter of “The Missing President”. Or was it a mere coincidence?

(b) It took our rally to get the absentee President to allegedly speak through the BBC Hausa programme for the first time since he disappeared from the radar fifty (50) days earlier;

(c) It took our rally to generate a counter-rally in support of offshore Presidency;

(d) The day after the rally, the Federal High Court in Abuja within four days, from the time the case was filed till judgment was given, in a seemingly preemptive judgment, ordered the Vice President to carry out executive functions delegated to him by the Absentee President.

So what would have happened if we did not march? The PDP-led government would have persisted with their cacophony of lies while taking the citizenry for granted and treating us with disdain and impunity. That the rally took place at all and attracted a large number of our citizens, male and female, young and old, Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths, points to the fact that social mobility in our nation is not frozen, and that in itself is causing a tremor of unease and terror in the oppressor’s camp.

Before going further, allow me for a moment to speak to my constituency. My primary constituency is the body of Christ, Latter Rain Assembly inclusive, as well as all lovers of truth – millions of people who on a weekly basis sit or stand glued to their radios and televisions as the Word of Truth is preached from this platform to the rest of the nation and the world at large. One question is agitating the minds of the conservative arm of the church at this hour.

Should Christians or their leaders participate in civil disobedience, street marches and rallies to protest against governmental arrogance, tyranny, oppression and corruption? What is the accurate Biblical standpoint on this issue? Is there a place for proclamation and outcry in the streets or does the Bible forbid it? Let the Bible speak for itself:

1. The first time the word ‘street’ occurs in the Bible is in Genesis 19:1&2 (KJV) when the angels of God refused to enter the house of misguided but righteous Lot and preferred to abide in the street all night before destroying Sodom. That in itself was an indictment and a protest.
2. From the lamentation of David after King Saul died, it appears that when certain types of news are proclaimed on the streets of a city or nation, a sense of joy and triumph envelopes the people therein. (See 2 Samuel: 1:17-20)
3. Oftentimes, when a people and their leaders persistently disobey God, He sends His prophets to the streets. (Jeremiah 11:1-6)
4. Outcry in the streets will only stop when a nation is rescued from the hands of strange men in government whose mouths speak lying words and whose right hands are right hands of falsehood. (Psalm 144:11-15) Are we there yet? NO. But someone may quote the prophecy of Isaiah out of context to confuse and mislead religious minds from taking to the streets (Isaiah 42:1-4). If this scripture relates to Jesus Christ, how come any of His servants will take to the street and not be in rebellion? Saints and strangers, scripture is not capable of private interpretation it takes scripture to interpret scripture. Let the Bible speak again: In His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke in the streets. Not only did Jesus teach in the streets, he commanded His disciples to take to the street and make proclamations against every city that rejected the message of the gospel. (Luke 13:22-27)

What then is the concealed message in Isaiah 42? What is it that Jesus would not say in the street? Let scripture interpret scripture again: Matthew 12:9-21, verses 16&17 are key “yet He warned them not to make Him known that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.” (Luke 10:1-12)  It is in the same vein that charitable deeds and prayers are forbidden in the streets, not strong protests against injustice, crass hypocrisy and corruption. (Matthew 6:1-6)

33. Whenever truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter, the voice of wisdom will cry aloud in the streets. (a) Isaiah 59:1-15 (b) Proverbs 1:10-33. Even in troubled times, prophetic fulfillment does not happen except the street and the wall of a city are rebuilt. (Daniel 9:20-25) Brothers and sisters, we have locked ourselves in the sanctuary for too long a time, fasting, praying and preaching for good governance in our nation. That in itself is not evil, but we need to do more than that as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We need to spearhead effective social mobilization, rebuild the spiritual streets and the walls of our nation and influence what is happening there. IT IS TIME FOR THE TRUE CHURCH TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND REBUILD ANCIENT RUINS

Occupy Nigeria was another social movement that exemplified the contribution to the maintenance of peace and security in Nigeria by a social movement (Wikipedia: 2016 E). Formed in January 2012, it used peaceful means like civil disobedience, civil resistance, strike actions, mass demonstrations and online activism to force the Federal Government of Nigeria to reverse its earlier decision of hiking the price of gasoline from 65 naira to 141 naira for a litre. After a full week of shutting down Nigeria without resorting to violence, the Nigeria government had no choice but to negotiate with the country’s labour leaders and the gasoline price was eventually reduced by being pegged at 97 naira per litre, though this was after the government’s security agents had killed some of the peaceful protesters by opening fire on them at point-black range (Dunn: 2102), and there exists a source that insists that the government personally told its security agents that the only way to stop the protests was by killing some of the protesters (Omojuwa: 2012).

In other words, the social movement Occupy Nigeria was able to use peaceful means to force the Federal Government of Nigeria to reduce its hike of gasoline from 141 naira per litre to 97 naira per litre (i.e it was done without unleashing violence on the government which would have directly led to the endangering of the peace and security of the country Nigeria) and this was internationally considered a huge success for the social movement Occupy Nigeria even though the security agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria succeeded in killing some of its peacefully-protesting members.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The impact of social movement in sustaining Nigeria democratization in Nigeria is a major challenge. This is so because the social movement objective cannot be achieved without proper collaboration or partnership with the media, this being the case, the problem of information dissemination, freedom of information, rural social awareness and national integration becomes a major concern.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of social movement in sustaining democratization in Nigeria. However, this study specifically seek to:

1. To ascertain the importance of social movement in Nigeria
2. To evaluate the extent to which social movement sustain Nigeria’s democracy

• To evaluate the role of the media in social movement

1. To synchronize the loop hole between democracy and the media

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

In other to achieve the objective of the study and proffering solution to problem of study, the following research question were formulated:

1. What are the challenges of social movement in Nigeria?
2. What ways can social movement help in democratic sustenance?

• What is the impact of the media in social movement?

1. What is the relationship between social movement and democracy in Nigeria?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is conceived that at the completion of the study its findings would be beneficial to:

1. The electorate who are the custodian of democratic powers
2. The government who are responsible for the administration of the state

• The media who are the engine room of social movement

1. The general public, researchers and institution for reference purposes.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study covers the impact of social movement in sustaining democratization in Nigeria in the 4^th republic (2011-2015), however, the studies has the some limitations which are:

1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher have to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
3. c) FINANCE: finance is a major limitation to the scope of this studies. This is because the available resources allocated to the studies is very limited, thereby making it cumbersome to expand the scope of the studies

1.7 DEFINATION OF TERMS

Social movement:

Are a type of group action. They are large, sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist, or undo a social change. Either way, social movements have been and continued to be closely connected with democratic political systems.

Political science and sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements. For example, some research in political science highlights the relation between popular movements and the formation of new political parties as well as discussing the function of social movements in relation to agenda setting and influence on politics.

Democratization:

Is the transition to a more democratic political regime. It may be the transition from an authoritarian regime to a full democracy, a transition from an authoritarian political system to a semi-democracy or transition from a semi-authoritarian political system to a democratic political system. The outcome may be consolidated (as it was for example in the United Kingdom) or democratization may face frequent reversals (as it has faced for example in Argentina). Different patterns of democratization are often used to explain other political phenomena, such as whether a country goes to a war or whether its economy grows. Democratization itself is influenced by various factors, including economic development, history, and civil society. The ideal result from democratization is to ensure that the people have the right to vote and have a voice in their political system

Mass media:

The mass media is a diversified collection of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.

Broadcast media transmit information electronically, via such media as film, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media comprise such services as email, social media sites, websites, and Internet-based radio and television. Many other mass media outlets have an additional presence on the web, by such means as linking to or running TV ads online, or distributing QR Codes in outdoor or print media to direct mobile users to a website.

Reference

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