Gov. Chime vs Kogi Students

Comfort Obi

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State may be giving an impression that everything is alright. But my gut feeling is the opposite: Chime’s hard and expressionless face, as seen in the press, gives nothing out. But my summation is: Beneath that face is a worried soul.
It does not matter how much romance he is now having with people who never supported his candidacy as the PDP governorship candidate in Enugu. Nor does it matter now how much "support" he is getting from those who did everything to stop him from being the governor. In his shoes, I will not only be careful, I will worry that within three months of my administration, I seem to have fallen out with members of the structure which threw me up as a governor. This, however, is a discourse for another day. For now, Chime has a more serious and immediate problem in his hands. And it is coming from the students of the Kogi State University.
Penultimate week, Chime was on his way to Abuja from Enugu. He was traveling by road. Perhaps, like his predecessor, Chime either does not like flying, or he felt it was cheaper (for the state), to travel to Abuja by road. Now, Chime must be full of regrets. For he was on the road at the wrong time.
He and his entourage had a smooth ride until they got to the Kogi State University area. They met a blockade, in the form of students, in front of their university. The students were, according to the story, protesting the death of two of their colleagues in an accident by a hit-and-run driver in front of the university gate.
In Nigeria, motorists have no respect for school zones. There is no speed limit for such areas. Indeed, many Nigerian motorists have no respect for anything. They ignore road signs. Even Zebra crossing. In civilised countries, there is a speed limit of not more than 15 to 20kmph along school zones. If a motorist exceeds that limit, he/she is in big trouble. If, God forbid, you knock down anybody along that stretch, you lose your licence and may be locked up, and the key thrown into the Lagoon. Not in Nigeria. Neither the Nigerian “big man,” the Nigerian “little man,” nor the law enforcement agents, especially the police, care about speed limits. They break all the rules guiding the roads while driving. Indeed, atimes the police drive one way, big sticks in hand, especially when they are escorting one expatriate or one money-miss-road. The Nigerian police often beat the red light – not in an emergency, which is okay – but just for show! But I digress.
So, Chime’s convoy ran into this blockade by protesting students. The students wouldn’t make way for them. They didn’t care about the blaring siren. Indeed, that must have hardened them. As far as they were concerned, this siren-blaring convoy would stop to listen to their grievances. And indeed, Chime did. But what happened next passeth all understanding.
According to the story, the governor’s convoy stopped. And the students were happy. Whoever it is would address them, they thought. But the opposite was the case. According to the students, his security people, wearing suits and sun-glasses, jumped down. In Nigeria, that is the norm. Security people always think their principal is in danger. Even inside the church, they would flood the whole place. I have not confirmed if they do the same thing in Mosques. But in Churches, they stand all over the place, their guns bulging from their suits, their signature black sun-glasses in place. They will stand, blocking everybody. One day in a church, a pastor’s warden was stopped from entering the church because a governor was already inside. The other day at the burial of the late Senate President, Evan Enwerem, the reason the pall-bearers gave for not coming into the church to carry the casket out was that “security men stopped them.” There were too many big men and women in the church. But in that funeral, the dead man was the star, and deserved all the respect – even from gun-totting security men. But again, I digress.
So, Chime’s security men came down. And what did they do next? They began to shoot. When the shooting stopped, two students and a pupil of the Kogi State University primary school lay dead, according to reports. Nobody knows who asked them to start shooting. Was it the governor, or was it a decision they took in their over-zealousness? A student said the governor did, by raising a hand. I doubt this. But whatever it is, the buck stops at the governor’s feet. Since this sad incident, nobody is mentioning the names of those who shot the students. All we know is Chime. This is unfortunate.
Yet, the most unfortunate is that since then, not a word has been heard either from the Enugu State Government or the governor. There has neither been an explanation, nor an apology. Now, the students have gone real wild. They are attacking almost all vehicles plying that road from the South east, especially any vehicle bearing Enugu number, and more especially Enugu State Government number. In a statement , they say they will continue to destroy the vehicles. They say they would moiblise and carry the corpses of their colleagues to Enugu and deposit them at the Government House. And, rightly, they are asking for a huge compensation for the families of the dead. Yet, at the time of writing this, not a word has come form Enugu State Government or the governor.
In more civilised countries, the opposite would have been the case. For whatever it is worth, the governor should have tendered an unreserved apology. He should have issued a statement, explaining what happened, and condole the students and the families of the dead. The security people who shot the students should have since been identified, detained, and prosecuted. For, unless the governor’s life was in danger, they had no reason to shoot and kill the students. Whatever it is, Enugu State Government owes Nigerians an explanation. This silence is not golden. It is, to say the least, irresponsible.