During my time at university, there was a protest at my school that led to an eight-month suspension. The protest resulted in significant damage to the school senate building, which was one of the best in West Africa, as well as the destruction of the lecturers' cars. As a result, the school had to send us all home for eight months. When we returned to school, each student had to pay a significant amount for reparations, regardless of whether they were involved in the protest or not.
The majority of the students planned to peacefully protest in order to convey their demands to the school authorities. However, they are unaware that there are individuals with a completely different agenda. If we were all united and spoke with one voice, we could achieve our goal. This way, the school wouldn't have wasted 8 months of my life, and the same holds true for most students who are not at fault. I can already see a similar pattern in the ongoing protests in Nigeria against the poor government and economic hardships.
Frustration can't bear peace.
What leads to protest most of the time is frustration and any situation that leads to People protesting is already becoming unbearable but we all process things differently. The way I will process things that hurt me will be different from the way another person will process them. Some people are very good when it comes to handling emotions and when they are protesting they just want people to listen to them but some people on the other hand always let their emotions get out of hand during protests, they are led by the spirited atmosphere and beginning to do the unthinkable.
The truth is that some people are not concerned about the protest. All they see are opportunities to fuel their hate, unleash their anger, and most importantly, fill their pockets. This group doesn't really care about the masses or the outcome of peaceful protests. They also don't care about the outcome and they want is to loot, kill, and destroy properties. They simply want to do what their hearts desire, and others don't really matter to them. Most times, these individuals are the reason why most protests fail, and why some people avoid protests entirely, as it's always hard to predict the outcome of any protest.
No peace, no protest
Nothing born out of frustration brings peace. Protest is like a fire that can escalate at any given time. The tension can be managed, but the longer the protest, the more dangerous it gets. Some Nigerian protesters are already looting and stealing in some parts of the country, which has resulted in police taking drastic action, and this is just the first day. There is no peaceful protest anywhere, but the tension can be managed because everyone will come with different motives and some people will come with no motives at all and plan to just follow anything the crowd decides. But I still believe it is the best way to voice out your opinion but I don't believe in peaceful protest.
Thanks for your time.
