SHE was a woman of squat plainness. She wore a pair of trousers and a shirt, her idea of a battledress.

She was as curvaceous as a fat cow.

Her hiss was like a screech, a banshee of bad news. She was at the Elebu area of the Apata-New Garage expressway in Ibadan to cheer protesters breaking the law. The protesters barricaded the expressway and used old tyres to build huge fires.

Edmund Burke wrote about women like her in Reflections on the Revolution in France: ‘All the unutterable abominations of the furies of hell, in the abased shape of the vilest of women.’

She was with a friend, a radio journalist, and she tried to dominate her. The journalist expressed her support for the disruptive approach of the protesters, but without her friend’s grunting menace.

An officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps who rode a motorcycle was surrounded by protesters close to a barricade on the expressway. He was tightly hemmed in and escape was impossible.

The officer was old enough to be the father of many of the protesters but they jostled him. One of the protesters brought a tyre and showed it to the officer. The officer’s eyes widened and his lips quivered.

He feared he was about to be necklaced. The protester was not in deadly earnest, but how was the officer to know that the young man was engaged in what he believed was playful mischief?
The officer was released and was ordered to return home.

He was in noisy tears. He was about 15 years old and had been arrested by the police. The police accused him of blocking an access road with a bonfire. It was at another point on the Apata-New Garage expressway.

There were witnesses to the fact that the boy was an innocent passer-by, that he had nothing to do with the bonfire. The residents of the area said protesters had come early in the morning to padlock their gate. The protesters must have built the solitary bonfire and barricaded the expressway.

The policemen refused to listen to the boy’s explanation that he was going to a nearby shop to make a purchase. He showed them the money he was holding, but he was called a liar. He begged to be taken to his home, certain that his parents and neighbours would speak well about his character. A policeman pushed the boy towards their van and he was ordered to climb into it.

One of the onlookers told the policemen that the boy was innocent, but they were intent on taking their unfortunate quarry away with them. A senior officer then appeared and he was more amenable to reason than his men. He mocked the frightened boy and told his men to set him free.

The policemen drove towards the point where protesters had given the civil defence officer an unpleasant time. They removed the barricades but made no arrest. The policemen were greatly outnumbered by the protesters. The boy who was arrested and later released had been walking on a quiet stretch of the expressway. He was alone and the policemen were very bold.

The barricades were back on the same side of the expressway when the policemen returned about five minutes later. They did not stop and the protesters shouted in triumph.

One of the protesters made several trips in his car to get old tyres to feed a bonfire. Did he have a secret store of expensive petrol? The protesters roared when he unloaded a huge tyre after one trip.

One protester was interested in a fire of another kind. He crushed a tall young lady to his chest. It was a violent hug, but the lady, who was dressed in jeans and a green top, appeared chuffed. She enjoyed her public amorous mugging. They made vulgar love while others were foolishly making war.

The protesters had no leader and this made for a dangerously fluid situation. And they were a motley crowd, unlike the one described by Hippolyte Adolphe Taine in his book on the French revolution of the late 18th century: ‘The dregs of society rise to the surface. The capital seems to have been turned over to the lowliest of the plebs and to the bandits. Vagabonds, many almost naked, most armed like savages and of a terrifying physiognomy.’

Some of the protesters actually behaved like savages. It was apparent that they were not well educated, but even those of them who spoke good English did not display better manners. A mob is a dictatorship. The two types of protesters were united in their inflexibility. They said the barricades would not be removed even for a car carrying a woman in labour.

Another group of protesters on the expressway was more tractable than the one that harassed the civil defence officer, but less honourable. The breath of some of them stank of alcohol, but they recognised the fact that some services must be kept going even during a general strike. They asked to be paid for granting passage.

It was an odd demand for protesters to make and it would have shocked the rioter during the French Revolution who told a looter that it was against the revolution to enrich oneself.

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Your view
Stop misleading readers, more than 10 Muslims were killed in the Christmas Day attack.
Yahaya Muye, 07055701520

Stop writing rubbish, you lack professional ethics. What gutter journalism.
Muhammed, 08029462133

No one should have voted Jonathan, a protege of General Obasanjo and his wild third term agenda. His is a continuation of obtuse, impulsive, vindictive, banal regime since 1999 and it ought to have crumbled to the dust under a popular democracy.

Jonathan is all out to perpetuate a heinous third term replete with excruciating economic policies and political brigandage harmful to the masses. It is time Nigerians put an end to PDP lest PDP puts an end to Nigeria.
Ayodele Fagbohun, Akure, Ondo State

At times like these, the best option is to wage war to gain peace. Even in games, the best form of defence is to attack. It is the peak of foolhardiness to fold your arms when enemies decimate your population.
Dayo Oladeji, Saki, Oke Ogun

The president has disappointed all Nigerians because people voted massively for him and not his party (PDP) but why is he treating us this way? He said he once had no shoes. He has many shoes now and everything at his disposal and he has forgotten there are people that suffered and are still suffering like he once did.

The fuel subsidy removal is a disaster. Many people who travelled to their hometowns for the Christmas and New Year celebrations couldn’t afford the transport fare back to their places of residence.

President Jonathan should know that he can’t rule a country like Nigeria in a stealth way. He must be ready to step on toes without fear or favour and must also do away with the cabal in his government to be successful.

I think the major problem he needs to tackle is that of insecurity.

If President Jonathan can’t improve our lot, he should not take us back to the woods.
Oloyo Toyin, TAC LAWNA Secretariat, Lagos, 08057195427

Comments (1)

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The Xmas bombing-ala- Mandalla
written by klynAkintola Fran, January 16, 2012

I read with trepidation the coment by Mohammed(08029462133), its dishearthnening to see a nigerian disparage the sanctity for human life because of religious divided. One religion has the monopoly to take life, and another has no wright to defend itself. I pray that folks like this don't have opportunity of leadership in this country.

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