A Bauchi-based activist, Comrade Sabo Muhammad, has dared leading opposition politicians to lead the planned nationwide protest billed for August 1.
Nigerians particularly youths have been mobilising for a nationwide protest in response to President Tinubu’s unpopular policies that have caused widespread hardship in Nigeria.
The presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi have endorsed the peaceful.
However, Comrade Muhammad, while appearing as a guest on Albarka Radio’s programme ‘Top of the Day’ recently, criticized the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his recent comments supporting the planned protest.
He challenged them to lead by example as former President Buhari and the incumbent Tinubu whom they made reference to did not support faceless protesters but actively participated in it.
“If there is nothing bad behind the protest, all these gentlemen should come up as the real organizers of the protest so we can agree that it’s for the interests of peace and harmony,” he added.
“I advise our patriotic youths to shun the planned protest because it will not benefit the wellbeing of the nation. There are miscreants behind the movement. If you look at the common man, they are not complaining; they are expecting a better life from the current administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The people fueling the youths to embark on the protest have plans to lead the country into anarchy,” he said.
He called on Nigerian youths to disregard the planned protest for a peaceful atmosphere to prevail.
In a related development, Dr. Jibril Babayo, an academic from Sa’adu Zungur University, Bauchi, in an Eagle Radio Bauchi’s live phone-in program ‘Ana Tare,’ expressed concerns that youths who might lead the protest could be people with substance abuse disorder lacking self-control.
Dr. Babayo noted that some protesters might plan to destroy public places, including shops and markets.
He emphasized that the government should address the economic hardships that triggered the calls for a national peaceful protest.
“Even though it’s a right enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 as amended and a way of drawing attention to problems, protests sometimes lead to bloodshed, destruction, and loss of lives,” he said.
He advised the government to urgently review some of its economic and social policies to ease the suffering of its citizens.
