Anti-Govt Protest: It’s A Political Gimmick-Wike…Why Nigerians Should Rethink Their Decision-President Tinubu… No, That’s Sheer Hypocrisy -Atiku

President Bola Tinubu  has urged those planning to organize  hunger protest in the country next week to rethink their decision.

Young people in the country are planning to  stage  a nationwide cost-of-living protests  on August 1,2024.

He  has also appealed to the citizens to give his administration more  time to  address the nation’s problems.

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that Minister of Information and National Orientation,  Alhaji Mohammed Idris, told  State House Correspondents after a closed-door  meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday that the president has  urged patience while submitting that there is no need for  the protest.

‘On the issue of the planned protest, Mr. President does not see any need for that. He has asked them to shelve such a plan and await government’s response to all their pleas. So, there is no need for strike. The young people out there should listen to the President and allow the President more time to see to the realization of all the goodies he has for them’ he said.

Commenting on the planned ‘hunger protest’ former Vice President Atiku Abubakar  submitted on Tuesday  that public demonstration is inevitable and unavoidable while  defending the constitutional right of the citizens to stage a peaceful protest.

Alhaji Atiku  submitted on X  that citizens must not be stopped from staging a peaceful protest , citing   Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which ‘unequivocally guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and association’.

‘For the avoidance of doubt, the rights of citizens to protest are enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution and affirmed by our courts.

Chasing shadows and contriving purported persons behind the planned protests is an exercise in futility when it is obvious that Nigerians, including supporters of Tinubu and the ruling APC, are caught up in the hunger, anger, and hopelessness brought about by the incompetence and cluelessness of this government’ he wrote.

The former Vice President has also accused the current political office holders of hypocrisy.

‘It is deeply ironic that those who now seek to stifle these rights were themselves leading protests in 2012’ he said while urging the Federal Government to fulfill its responsibilities with respect to safeguarding the rights of the citizens.

‘A responsible government must ensure a safe and secure environment for citizens to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to peaceful protest.

Any attempt to suppress these rights is not only unconstitutional but a direct affront to our democracy’  he added.

In the meanwhile, Minister of Federal Capital Territory,  Mr. Nyesom Wike, has alleged  that the planned nationwide hunger  protest is political.

He added that those who are seeking to  use the protest  as an opportunity to gain popularity had also made it a ‘political gimmick’..

The minister said this on Tuesday while talking to  journalists  after making an inspection visit  to the Apo-Karshi Road project which was  first awarded in 2011.

Mr Wike , who urged the  citizens to show patience, noted that the  Tinubu administration had only been in office for one year and  is working to fix a lot of rots in the country.

‘The country was rotten, you know that the country was rotten, and then a government has just come to see what it can do, at least to move from where we are to a certain level. And you say that a miracle must be performed within one year?

You are here now; we were talking about a contract that was awarded 13 good years ago. What has happened? Nothing. And now a government has come, to say we will fix all these things and we are too much in haste that it must be done now. That is not possible; the protest is political’  he said.

The protest , he added, is being promoted by  ‘political jobbers’ who sought to gain popularity, ahead of the 2027 elections.

 ‘Everyone is not happy that there is hunger, everyone is not happy with the unemployment, but this unemployment was not started or was not created by this administration. The administration is just trying to put things together, which of course will take some time.

And you know, I agree with Nigerians, when you’re hungry, you don’t want to listen to anything again because you’re hungry but understand that somebody is trying to solve that problem of hunger. So, let us not listen to political protests, political jobbers, who just want to be popular. We are going into elections very soon, and these are gimmicks, political gimmicks’ he submitted-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you