Buhari’s supposedly rented crowd

By Baba Grumpy

I joined my first demonstration as a Fresh Jambite in University.  I was seduced by the charms of Omoyele Sowore, now of the Sahara Reporters Parish but then a very active member of UNILAG Student Union.

I was also taken in by the righteous fervor of Tai Solarin and his Ebony Magazine tale and all the articles I read and the discussions we had while loitering next to the Vendors’ stand close to Unilag Senate building.

We were determined to oppose SAP and how dare IBB and his family be accumulating wealth while feeding us ‘dirty SAP water’? While it turned out Tai Solarin was fibbing on the Ebony Magazine story, we all later found out that IBB reportedly committed worse money related atrocities than Tai Solarin accused him of.

So off we went. First point of congregation was Unilag First gate. Apparently we were something of a decoy while Sowore led the group that went via Unilag 2^nd gate and reportedly got to somewhere on the Lagos Island as part of the Anti SAP protests. We scared off the Unilag Security and marched into town, Herbert Macaulay, Yaba, Tejuosho, Barracks. The market people joined us willingly quite unlike the self styled Area Fada.

I wasn’t paid anything. I was proud to protest against IBB. Maybe people further up the chain were induced as we later understand that Student Union politics is murky and they had links to politicians. But personally and I speak for all of my friends back then, we were driven by youthful fervor and righteous indignation. Perhaps the foolishness of youth as bullets rang out when we go to Barracks. I don’t remember the Police shooting directly at us and from memory, no Unilag student lost their life in that protest.

A few years earlier, I was in Ekiti when Baba Awolowo visited to commission what is now known as Ekiti State University.  I was part of the crowd and worked many miles just to catch a glimpse of Baba Awo. I wasn’t paid. None of the people in my circle, young idealistic teenagers that we were, were paid or mobilized. It was love. Pure and Simple.

A few years after the SAP riots and during one of our enforced breaks from the University, I was again in Ado Ekiti when MKO Abiola visited.  Again, spontaneously and alongside others in the crowd of people, we gathered to see MKO in the flesh and hail him. I was not paid, none of my fellow ‘Ara Okes’ were too.

Crowds do converge spontaneously and without inducement. And mobilization doesn’t necessarily have to do with money. People can be mobilized via ideology or love of a personality.

I am not naïve, I am aware that people pay money to gather crowds. To mobilize people as they call it. My grandmother was a market woman and while she never indulged in market women politics, her bosom friend was the main woman / leader of the market where my grandmother had her shop and they get consulted and often handed money to distribute to fellow market people. I believe if you ask me to close my shop to come and greet a politician, there must be something in it for me.

So mobilizing crowds is not necessarily a bad thing.  It is a open thing. It is democratic. Nothing stops you from going to the same market to mobilize your crowd. And if for any reason that market is on lockdown because others got there first, you can go to the nearest town or market to rent your crowd.

Why are people so pissed off about the crowd that welcomed Buhari? To me, the crowd looked spontaneous, they don’t look induced, they were so exuberant it could only have been out of love. Buhari certainly appeals to a certain demography. It is not his fault, it is how Nigerian politics is played. I also believe he appeals to the common man. He feels different. He is not the ‘Dogo Turenci’ type. He definitely comes across as a man of the people. The unrestrained capitalists amongst us have thrown enough mud at him in their quest for him to let loose the hell of inflation and the four horsemen of the apocalypse on the poor people. He has resolutely refused and the people have noticed and their affection for him is genuine.

Many political commentators have commented on his core of voters that did not change in the 3 elections he lost. Many have commented about his vote winning powers in support of aspiring governors and national assembly members, commentators have talked about APC SAK etc. Under what stone have the critics of the welcoming crowd been hiding?

One thing though, they didn’t deny that the videos and photos were fakes. They only claim the crowd was paid. This critics if they are partisan ought to ask the mobilisers of this crowd how they managed to gather such a large number of people in a short period. Come 2019 and if any more ‘We Are Mumu’ protests are to be organized, you will need these mobilisers. Buhari’s opponents should stop trying to protest on the cheap. Spend some EFFING money to hire your own crowd.

How can someone like Charles Oputa not lead a protest on his own? Why does he need a busted flush & expired pretend politician like Deji Adeyanju? Reputation matters in everything. If you don’t have it, you run the risk that people will see through you and I believe they did on the Charly Boy protest.

Also anybody planning for a successful protest ought to gauge the mood of the populace if you are looking for people to join spontaneously. You don’t start your protest and then hope people will tag along without consultation. Okada riders have association, market women do, Area Boys do too and it appears their Oga is not Area Fada. Charlie Boy’s protest showed that his sphere of influence is only Gbagada. If he dares venture towards Anthony Bus Stop area, ‘na MC Oluomo go doctor am, no be Wuse Market people’.

Charlie Boy and other Nigerian celebrities like him should be aware that the public are not stupid. In times past, we saw how celebrities of all sort strutted into Aso Rock and came out with smiley faces no doubt induced or mobilized. However there is a new Sheriff in town and he is not a spendthrift. So please come and convince us that your ‘We Are Mumu’ protest is not because of non-mobilization.

To all those planning to upstage Buhari, please learn how to induce, mobilize or hire your own crowd. It is embarrassing protesting with only 5 people, it just shows you are barking up the wrong tree. Governors Fayose & Wike have deep pockets and so does Mummy Patience and Uncle Gbana.

Baba Grumpy works in financial services in the United Kingdom. He blogs mostly about football at http://babagrumpy.blogspot.co.uk. His Twitter handle is @BabaGrumpy