{"id":2077,"date":"2020-10-22T22:14:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T22:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/?p=2077"},"modified":"2020-10-29T20:45:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T20:45:07","slug":"we-stand-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/2020\/10\/22\/we-stand-with-you\/","title":{"rendered":"We Stand With You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (October 22nd<\/sup> 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Fire<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria is on fire. Events there are unprecedented. President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed for \u2018understanding and calm.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s far too little and far too late. Even Nero\u2019s fiddling while Rome burned was more proactive than Buhari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigerians will neither forgive nor forget their President\u2019s action \u2013 or rather lack of action \u2013 to Tuesday\u2019s events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lekki Tollgate, where the protests against police brutality began two weeks ago, was targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCTV was disabled and under cover of night, brutality far exceeded the worst excesses of the now disbanded and infamous police unit SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday friends on Facebook \u2013 some were at the protests \u2013 say peaceful protesters were shot and killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears the State\u2019s response to police violence is to punish the demonstrators with more and worse brutality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reporting<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Media are covering the rapid escalation of the demonstrations into a full-fledged crisis. Nigeria is at the crossroads. Mainstream media like CNN (https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2020\/10\/20\/africa\/nigeria-protests-lekki-tollgate\/index.html<\/a>) and Al-Jazeera are covering the protests, but social media has made the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are killing us,\u201d A Nigerian friend said on Facebook. \u201cOur government is killing us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTell the world. Share it. Tell international agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had never seen anything like it. The violent protests get the headlines, but worse is happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even holding a Nigerian flag \u2013 it\u2019s a crime to shoot a person holding the Nigerian flag is \u2013 no protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It disgusts friends on my Social media. I asked what we can do to help; They all said the same. Nigerians have asked for our help. They want their plight highlighted and they want international agencies to be told what they are going through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The duty of The Fitted-In Project<\/strong> is clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#WeStandWithNigerianProtesters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We cannot remain silent in the face of injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot remain silent while the State kills its own citizens who are demonstrating peacefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot remain silent while the President ignores the murder of citizens of his country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Buhari has lost any legitimacy he once had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Legend<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It breaks his heart. Olusegun (Segun) Odegbami is one of the greatest players Nigeria ever produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was due to take part in an event organised by Empower-Sport Ltd<\/strong> and The Fitted-In Project<\/strong> today to commemorate the birthday of Zambian and African football legend, Godfrey Chitalu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday he informed us that he could not participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you may have observed, there is a massive crisis in my country,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is of a dimension we have never experienced before \u2013 lives are being lost and property being damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odegbami is trying to develop a strategy to find a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musonda Chitalu, one of the late Goal King\u2019s daughters, will deliver a statement of solidarity on behalf of her family and father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, protesters want international agencies informed and the perpetrators of the violence \u2013 past and present brought to justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That includes Buhari.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria is on fire. Events there are unprecedented. President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed for \u2018understanding and calm.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far too little and far too late. Even Nero\u2019s fiddling while Rome burned was more proactive than Buhari.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2077"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2092,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077\/revisions\/2092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fittedin.org\/fittedinwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}