By Olusegun Olanrewaju
When a young man, a business tycoon well-steeped in the hospitality business in Abuja, decided to organise what he then called a one-million-man-march to prop up a dictatorial military regime in Nigeria in March 1998, many thought he had gone bonkers.

Daniel Kanu, then in his thirties, decided to organise the march to garner support for the late General Sani Abacha’s regime which had become a pariah in the comity of nations, just before he suddenly died in office.

Not satisfied with his endeavour which was then considered derring-do, the young man was later to up his ambition, declaring he was going to embark on another two-million-man march much later.

The platform of his engagement which reportedly had its roots in the United States (remember the one led by the late civil rights crusader, Martin Luther King), was what the promoter, Kanu, called ‘Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha’ (YEAA). The march later took place in Abuja on March 3rd and 4th, 1998.

Needless to say, the late General Sani Abacha benefitted a lot from the act of illicit political bravado. The subsequent two-million-man march, then considered the largest gathering in the history of Nigeria, for which Abacha is now known, was coordinated by YEAA and NACYAN (The National Council of Youth Associations of Nigeria).

*Origins
Million-man-marches, according to a source, are planned as policy responses by way of ‘unconventional political strategy campaigns’ to effect a socio-political cause. In June 1966, there was one such in a ‘March against Fear’ in the United States, organised by the activist James Meredith at Memphis. It ended up in Mississippi on June 26. The march was described as a unique platform for the civil rights movement.

A replica is always conducted by the ‘Black Power’ movement spearheaded by the pro-Black National Association for the Advancement of Coloured Peoples (NAACP).

Over 20 years ago, million-man-marches brought people from across the nation to Washington, in what was termed historic gatherings to address American race relations.

The Washington Post reported that in most cases, with hundreds in attendance, it was the largest demonstration in history which “created the following atmosphere of issues.”

*Objectives of marching
The objective of the marches include rallying the youth, such as those that formed part of campaigns by the then unpopular military ruler, Abacha, to transform himself from a cold-blooded ruler to a civilian president.

And were the rallies successful? Well, it depends on who was throwing the can of information anyhow. For example, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Africa Research Bulletin, reported that, as part of mobilisation processes, YEAA had distributed free exercise books to schools, and had plans to distribute a brand of subsidised imported rice then dubbed, ‘Abacha Rice’ into the country before the unexpected death of the beneficiary, Abacha.

To show that it meant business, YEAA announced that it had bought two new buses, equipped with speakers and modern communications equipment, in honour of the event (on 20th March 1998). Reports recorded that many prominent politicians and other famous Nigerians attended, as well as supported, and spoke at the rally.

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According to an interview, Daniel Kanu later granted the press, particularly two government-owned ones, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) 2 Channel 5 and the Voice of Nigeria (VON) on 3rd March 1998, the costs of the rally ranged between N400 and 500 million, “paid for by patriotic individuals”.

A book was to unearth some hidden undercurrents in the march. Entitled, ‘Regime Change and Succession Politics in Africa: Five Decades of Misrule, the publication said the march was likely government-backed, adding that nearly N2.5 billion was spent on the fiasco. This was contained on page 115 of the book captioned, ‘Repressive State and Resurgent Media under Nigeria’s Military Dictatorship’.

*The ‘modern face’ of a facade
What Kanu wanted to achieve with his misadventure, was later to become the obsession of subsequent political actors on the Nigerian landscape. For example, in 2010, another attempt was made by the same Kanu to organise a diaspora campaign for former civilian president, Goodluck Jonathan.

They had a lot to learn from the ‘experience’ and ‘organisational wizardry’ of the convener pro-Abacha’ one-million-man march, Daniel Kanu, who was then positioning to run for the governorship race in his native Imo State. By then, Kanu had transmuted into the ranks of an aspirant democrat who now vowed to recover Imo State’s ‘stolen future’.

Five years ago, Kanu announced plans for another two-million-naira march. He shared his plans on social media, particularly on Facebook and the sharing buttons, Pin email. emailshare, Sharetelegram, Sharewhatsapp and messenger.

Kanu regretted that the marches he organised to prop up the dictator, as part of a long-range national planning programme tagged Vision 2020, had been truncated. The end of the dream for coordinated marches darted at improving a lot of youths, especially for leadership.

Some time ago also, a coalition of about 50 support groups announced a plan to hold a two-million-man march in solidarity with a presidential candidate and his running mate in the capital city of a state in the South-South zone.

The organisers vowed to ‘shut down’ the host city with supporters of the presidential candidate who, they claimed, were eagerly waiting for the campaign train to come to their city.

And that would not be the only time such a grand plan would be mooted, by political adventurers, so to say. A few weeks earlier, another group had announced that it had hosted a ‘one-million-man march’ in another part of the country.

During his era, a group also planned to organise a one-million-man march for former President Olusegun Obasanjo. This elicited a strong negative response by way of a write-up by the late newspaper publisher, Sam Nda-Isaiah, who wrote that ‘Mr Fix-It’ (as he then dubbed Obasanjo) had “only decided to insult Nigerians again by engaging in what he knows best.”

Several states had million-man-marches in support of Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, of the Labour Party (LP) and the organisers claimed that it was massive.

*From one-million-man-march ambition to five and 10 million version
A member of the House of Representatives, Farah Dagogo, recently declared that the people of the Niger Delta region would organise a 10 million-man march for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, across the region.

Dagogo, in a statement made available in Port Harcourt, said the solidarity march would be held in the Rivers State capital ‘in the coming days, and in other Niger Delta states, to further galvanise the people and “prove to naysayers that the region is for PDP.”

He dismissed fears of protest votes from the region against the party as a result of the outcome of the PDP presidential primary election, saying panic of that stead is far-fetched as the Niger Delta has been a traditional stronghold of the PDP from 1999 till date and 2023 will not be an exception.

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Just on Sunday, amid a heavy downpour, vehicular and human movements were paralysed in Lagos, when the Chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages, Management Committee, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Oluomo, led a mammoth crowd in a five million-man walk-in support of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, his running mate, Kashim Shettima, and Lagos State Governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, and Femi Hamzat’s victories in 2023 general polls.

The rally is sponsored by the ex-chairman of the Lagos State’s chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, MC Oluomo, witnessed a large number of supporters who converged on Teslim Stadium and National Stadium, Surulere.

MC Oluomo said the decision to hold the rally for Tinubu as earlier scheduled, followed approval by APC chieftains and stakeholders in the state and express the majority’s readiness to ensure victory for Tinubu and Sanwo-Olu in 2023 general polls.

According to MC Oluomo, “This is a mega rally, we are shutting Lagos down for Asiwaju Tinubu and Sanwo-Olu.

“This is to show our support, strength, and capacity for APC candidates because they are the best for the job at hand.”

MC Oluomo led millions of residents along the highways of the nation’s commercial capital in a march that proceeded from the National Stadium, Surulere, and ended at Oshodi.

The rally for Tinubu by MC Oluomo followed the October 1 Independence rallies for Peter Obi held across Lagos by “Obidients” in the city.

*Effectiveness of marches
Many commentators, especially on social media, have often doubted that such rallies have attracted or can attract such many people.

Many wonder what the population of the host city itself was, probing if the organisers had planned to invite participants from all over the country.

Recently, the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai told Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, that his planned two million man-march in his domain in Kaduna would amount to a ‘pipe dream’. This shows the limiting edge to such marches in general.

True to threat, on the day the much-publicised rally came, el-Rufai’s thought was actualised as only a scanty crowd of fewer than 3,000 people took part in the march, a far cry from the two million proposed.

Similarly, two weeks earlier, in a North-Central state, reports say organisers were disappointed with the motley crowd that graced their proposed million-man rally. “The campaigners learnt the hard way that mobilising people for political rallies is not a tea party,” a report said.

A similar unimpressive million-man-marches ran into rough weather in other cities like Owerri, the Imo State capital, Abakaliki (Ebonyi), and Abeokuta (Ogun). In those instances, where turnouts were disappointing, not only to observers but also to the organisers.

A lesson learnt in the Abeokuta rally was that some committed young members of the movement questioned the mobilisation strategies of their leaders “as they forced the organisers to admit to the obvious failure of the rally. It was even gathered that the angry youngsters accused their leaders of deceiving them, and vowed not to be part of such rallies again”.

Also recently, a harsher verdict was delivered on one-million-man-march men when the spokesman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Dino Melaye, accused Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s supporters of using underhand tactics, claiming that the participants were ‘hungry Nigerians’ paid N1,000 each to march on the streets, ‘calling themselves Obi-dients’.

Melaye, who claimed while featuring on Arise TV Morning Show, said that their rally in the streets of Nigeria would not determine what way the presidential election would swing in 2023.

“I want to tell you that to assemble a crowd is just to bring out the money. Mobilisation is very very cheap in this country.

“People are hungry. If you go to Nyanya, Mararaba, people are being loaded in buses from Lugbe and every part of the country to stand and say they’re supporting…let them go to the election.”

He added, “I think Peter Obi was in Osun. He spoke in Osun, and we saw the result of the Labour Party in Osun – 2,700 votes – while PDP was counting four hundred and something thousand votes… so it’s not about the commercial mobilisation of the people.”

The controversial ex-lawmaker added, “Nigerians are hungry; if you go to Mararaba today to say you need 5,000 people, with the blow of a whistle, they’ll assemble and collect their N1,000 or N2,000. It is not the match on the streets that will determine the votes.

“We’re talking of proper votes and Nigerians know that (we are) speaking to the issues. We’re not on hype movements.”

*Adamant
Despite the criticisms, however, it appears the ‘million-man marchers’ are not ready to fully accept the hard nature of their undertaking in their approach to political campaigns ahead of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria today.

It is feared that some pecuniary gains are involved in endless marches that are usually more than not scanty at the end of the day.

“Even the organisers of one of such rallies have had to admit failure after another flopped march when they said though the turnout wasn’t as expected, we were able to show that there is nothing resilience cannot do.”

*Responses to topic
People respond in different ways to the usefulness or otherwise of the phenomenon of one million man-marches. A student, Robert Ojutalayo, expresses the belief that, if properly harnessed, the system of demonstration of public goodwill can better be handled. “It could be a good investment because it is a means of demonstrating that we are being bonded together, making a promise that we are going to do the right thing on a special day which we would never forget,” he says.

He, however, observes that the process is being marred in Nigeria by the greedy and corrupt components of the procedure, as attested to by a seasoned politician like Bino Melaye, an ex-senator and top political campaigner in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.

“It is a day we should never forget, I mean, waking up at about 4 a.m, on a cold day and fighting to ensure that the right cause is pursued, and the love of everyone is displayed, but what do you now make of it all with rent-for-one thousand naira crowds?,” Babawale Kadir, a Lagos-based lawyer, asks

An American, Aquila Powell, suggests an ideal situation for holding one million-march issue, especially as it pertains to civil rights and street protests. Speaking in Washington D.C, she said, “I was one of a small number of women that attended the (race relations) March. I attended as part of an effort led by The National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, along with several other civil rights groups, to distribute voter registration literature and to register new voters.

“That day was powerful, and the energy in the crowd was amazing. I enthusiastically spent most of the day talking with black men – young and old, about the need to get involved in the electoral process to hold elected officials accountable, and the need for all of us to work to improve our community.

“A major theme of the march was atonement. I hoped that the march would galvanise the black community to focus on doing better. When I hear reports of black-on-black violence on the rise in Chicago and my hometown of Baltimore, I am reminded that there is still much work to be done.”

In conclusion, what remains of the integrity of one million-man marches is that it must always leave behind a legacy of transparency, amity, and commitment as a political commentator entrusts.

“It should not be a cash-and-carry journey to nowhere. Turnouts have to get higher. Beyond higher voter turnout in elections, it’s hard to measure the impact of the gathering. The fact is, measurable justice is a process, not an event. As the legendary Ossie Davis famously said, “It’s not the man, it’s the plan.” Sadly, there was no plan to keep alive the spirit of the Million Man March.”