‘The Truth About Their Lies,’ by Adaramoye Michael Lenin
By Ishaya Ibrahim (Reviewer)
The Truth About Their Lies is a story of courage, perseverance, and refusal to be broken. It reveals in 68 pages the behind-the-scene events during and after the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protest. Through the lens of Adaramoye Michael Lenin, the reader is taking to the protest, arrest of protesters, and their detention in overcrowded cell with inmates sleeping in spaces too small for one to adjust posture.
In the book, the courage of Adaramoye and many of his comrades are revealed —a courage that only a few people express: the courage to keep power in check; without which a full-blown dictatorship is inevitable.
The 10-day protest takes off on August 1, 2024, despite heavy mobilisation against it. Traditional rulers, political leaders, Muslim and Christian clerics, emergency activist groups, and security operatives all tried to dissuade citizens from rallying. Some residential estates even put up billboards that read, “No To Protest.” The media was in overdrive, rehashing comments of influential individuals disclaiming the August 1 protest.
When nothing else could stop the protest, the judiciary became the last resort, at least to mitigate its impact. Through ex parte motions filed by government officials, they granted all kinds of orders restricting protests to specific venues, including football pitches or parks.
On day one of the protest, everywhere is tensed. It is in this tensed atmosphere that the author, Lenin, goes about looking for a place to print mobilisation materials.
Chapter one shows Lenin at a big shopping plaza in Abuja trying to print some fliers for the protest. From there, he makes a brief stop at the Eagles Square to survey the place. There, he sees security operatives in there hundreds wielding weapons of all sizes.
He leaves the Eagles Square for the National Stadium; the venue a Federal High Court in Abuja chooses for them to protest. At the stadium, an argument ensues with head of the police team who insists that the protesters enter inside the stadium. The protesters refuse, saying they are not there to play soccer. They add that the court ruling doesn’t specify what part of the stadium they should use. In the end, the police boss leaves them alone.
From 20 to 50 persons initially, thousands of protesters later assemble. With some mobilisation speeches given and the aluta spirit awaken, the protesters set out for Eagles Square, the original venue they had chosen, but which was denied them by a court.
Marching with their placards, they reach the precinct of Eagles Square. Meanwhile, a phalanx of mobile policemen, platoon of military officers, and other security agencies welcome them with teargas.
The Eagles Square holds a sacred significance for the protesters. They believe that occupying it would be a symbolic act of victory. This is because the square is the traditional venue for the transfer of state power in Nigeria. It is also used for the inauguration of a new government.
The security forces are determined not allow any protester near the Eagles Square. They repel them with heavy teargas, ensuring that the air becomes too smoky to breath, choking their windpipes and leaving them disoriented.
Live bullets are also used to make the point that the Eagles Square is a no-go area for protest.
Chapters two and three give a snapshot of the protest in other parts of the country, and the efforts of the political class to pacify them, including parliamentarians who all of a sudden started realising that there is indeed hunger in the land with many young people unemployed.
In chapter four, Lenin reveals how security operatives ‘abducts him’ and other comrades in the dead of the night.
His interrogation revolves around the protest, destruction of property and loss of lives. He and the other comrades are taken to the Abatoir Police Division.
In Lenin’s crowded cell of about 20 inmates, everybody is religious. Muslims pray five times daily, Christians pray with so much zeal, repetitively saying ‘Abattoir can never be my home.’ And for a good reason. Some of them have spent over four months held there with no guaranteed food supply, water, medication and even bath. Some lost their sanity in the process.
Meanwhile, Nigerian law does not anticipate anyone spending more than 24 hours in police custody.
In rare situations, the law provides for 48 hours for cases where the nearest court is some distance away. It is correctional facility that is designed to hold suspects for a long time, not police stations.
In chapter six, Lenin and other comrades appear before a judge for the first time. Charged with treason, the judge remands them in the Kuje prison, with bail conditions that are among the stringiest.
The author documents his prison experience where for the first day; nobody talks to the new guy. Poorly cooked meals are the order of the day. He learns of hierarchy among prisoners. They have their own judicial system – law enforcers and a chief justice.
Lenin and his other comrades are now on bail. The other comrades are; Daniel Akande, Mosiu Sodeeq, Adeyemi Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Angel Love Innocent, Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello, Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu. Their next court hearing is fixed for October 9.
The Truth About their Lies exposes the abuse of state’s institutions and a broken justice system. It is a book that should prick the nation’s conscience and anyone with a heart.
However, the book has some tiny proof reading errors and issues with the print quality, but does not detract from the message.
