The 'Jasmine Revolution' and the Nigerian nightmare

 That "moment of madness" that later picked momentum originated in the sleepy town of Sidi Bouzid. There, a young man named Mohamed El-Bouazizi paid the supreme price in a courageous attempt to say "enough is enough."

An Abuja-based labour activist, Asuzu Echezona captured the event in his opinion piece made available to Leadership Sunday. Protests inspired by the revolt in Tunisia have been replicated along Egypt, Yemen and Algeria, Bahrain and Libya. Also, there is a striking semblance between the popular Middle Eastern and North African uprising to colour revolutions seen in post-Soviet countries- in Georgia with the Rose Revolution and Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2003-2004. The protest so far has paid off, at least in terms of unseating two prominent sit-tight leaders - Tunisia's Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, both holding on to power for fifty-three years-twenty three years and thirty years respectively.