MUSIC, CARRIED OCCUPY NIGERIA (UNCUT)

If ‘Occupy Nigeria’ was a successful revolution or not, is a debate I’d leave to pundits; preferably political. I would follow such a debate critically and make my own judgments, based on the opinions of the speakers and what little knowledge I possessed before.  Also, I would not miss the chance to chip in a few words here and there, you know, with a tone of finality simply because I don’t (and can’t) bear the name looku looku - an onlooker!

 I can say authoritatively though, that, music carried ‘Occupy Nigeria’.  Yes. Music is the reason why ‘Occupy Nigeria’ (as I would refer to the NLC/TUC strike action that occurred early this year throughout this piece) lasted the one week or so it did. Music alone is the sole reason why we can call it a success, if we would.

Every Nigerian (and interested foreigner) has the basic gist of ‘Occupy Nigeria’ and the major characters involved - the President and his cronies, the labor leaders, social commentators, heads of civil society groups etc.  They were the ones occupying our TV screens and newspapers front-pages, pushing to the background the real major characters; the people, the masses!

The union leaders were fighting, on our behalf, the President and his cronies attempt at trying to alleviate our suffering. The heads of civil society groups convened rallies at which social commentators spoke. All good and nice except that, none of the above actions could have been thought of, talk less of it happening without the people. Yes, the common man is why the President removed the fuel subsidy, why the NLC/TUC embarked on strike…well, you know the rest.

‘Occupy Nigeria’ probably took off in Eagle Square, Abuja before spreading to other parts of Nigeria. Freedom Square, Ojota, Lagos ultimately became the headquarters of the movement. I was travelled home for the holidays, so I occupied at Liberty Square, Lugard Roundabout, Kaduna.

Nothing happened on day one at Liberty Square, Kaduna. Well, there were a few of us; about fifty, mostly educated and about a hundred policemen. Kaduna has quite a history of violence hence, the two to one ratio of policemen to citizens. We all just milled around, discussing the situation and coming up with strategies for a better protest. By twelve noon, we were done, leaving behind our contact details.

Day two, I got to Liberty Square and our number was still dire. Doubt began to settle in, as I walked over to a few faces I recognized. I shook the lads and wove at the ladies; they were mostly Muslim. It was all talk again until a TV crew from a local station showed up and we promptly elected a barrister to speak for us. By twelve noon, we were all dispersing for houses again, everyone determined to pull in more crowd.

I arrived promptly on the third day, wearing a maternity mask and a smile. The maternity mask we had selected the previous day as a symbol of our protest (and I strongly suspect also as protection against the harmattan dust the north is notorious for), the smile because we were finally a crowd! We had agreed to embark on house to house campaigns and public speaking – a primary schoolmate of mine, now an imam, spoke at his mosque. We had a little talk, educating the newcomers, after which a Christian prayed and then a Muslim - it’s a moment I’d never forget.

Next thing I heard, banging loudly out of the speakers, was, “food e no dey, brother eh, water no dey...” African Chinas’ ‘Mr. President’ was blaring out of the speakers as everyone sang and danced along, as another strategy paid off. Next was ‘Jaga Jaga’ by Eedris Abdulkareem and by this time, Okadamen were parking their bikes and joining in. We; hundreds of people of all religions and tribes, were all moving in a big cycle as we shuffled our feet to Felas’ ‘Suffering and Smiling’ – we were finally having ourselves a protest.

Someone may argue, as people did and are still doing, that it was a protest and not a concert or party. Firstly, I dare you to tell that to the Negro slaves who sang while they picked cotton, to the South Africans before 1994, to the Jamaicans on the streets of Kingston, to the Israelites in Babylon – music has always being the voice of the oppressed. Secondly, how do you keep people engaged all day in a cause on just talk, mere talk? Lastly, the only voices the people are going to listen to are the voices of people they love and are familiar with. Voices they hear every minute of every day on their streets, from their radios etc. The voices of musicians! While everyone played a role, none was more important than that of the musicians who came out in their numbers and carried the occasion with their music. Music, carried ‘Occupy Nigeria’.


N.B
I entered a shorter version of the above post for the Super Bloggers II competition on Omojuwa.com, I came in 7th. That version was also edited by the owner of the blog, the title changed to Music and Occupy Nigeria. So, a few people liked it and I have decided to share the original with you my budding and almost non existing audience, hehe. I'm also working on a short story based on this.
Also,  the competition is still on going albeit in its third session; Super Bloggers III, send in your stuff if you've got what it takes. Then, apologies to y'all who read the article before, thought I'd give you the uncut.
Have a good week people. Sala'am.