Tension, anxiety as FG battles to avert proposed nationwide protest

This week, the All Progressives Congress(APC) administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be under pressure. The administration will be battling to contain the anger of Nigerians who are poised to protest bad governance in the country.

Barring last minute change of heart, indications are rife that Nigerians will have a showdown with the Federal Government.

For those who have followed the events leading up to today, the desperation of both the presidency and the ruling party to stop the proposed nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest, is a confirmation that the Federal Government is rattled over its possible outcome.

From the presidency, office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), National Security Adviser, heads of security agencies, State governors, MDGs, ministers, the leadership of the APC, the endless convening of emergency meetings clearly showed that the government is in a panic mood.

The uneasiness and disposition of the party’s leadership, presidency, and other stakeholders are really understandable. Critical observers believe that they are worried that, pushed by hunger, frustration and hopelessness, the planned nationwide protest might turn violent and pose a serious threat to the present administration.

Afraid that what happened in Maghreb and Eastern Africa regions, particularly Kenya as a recent case study may play out here, the APC government at both party and government levels, have left nothing to chance in ensuring that the proposed protest is checkmated and nipped in the bud.

Yes, to many concerned Nigerians, some of the items in their charter of demands are actually utopic, unrealistic and unrealisable in the immediate period, especially as they require constitutional amendment through parliamentary processes, but many other ones are solvable within the ambit of the government.

What has become the source of worry and currently rattling the APC-led government is that the organisers have tactically and deliberately remained faceless, foreclosing the possibility of negotiating the unrealistic demands they made. The organisers have remained tenacious and relentless in insisting that the August date for the proposed protest is sacrosanct despite all entreaties.

The argument in many quarters is that many of the demands the invisible and faceless organisers are making are actually germane that the APC-led government would have easily tackled them instead of unnecessarily chasing shadows and irrelevances to circumvent the protest .

Contained in their unofficial demand lists to the APC government include resolving the pangs of the unbearable hunger in the land, the galloping inflation, reduction of fuel pump prices, increasing workers’ minimum wage, improving the power supply, stoppage of excess electricity tariff charges, fixing of bad roads, stoppage of budget padding, INEC rigging of election with impunity, cost of governance, highest bidder in appointments and excessive borrowings for looting.

Other demands  include stoppage of crude oil theft, fixing non-functional refineries, excessive bank charges, revisiting resource control, 1999 constitution, restructuring, consumption instead of production, subsidising mechanised farming equipment for abundant arable farmland, breakdown of law and order, injustice at the courts, failed civil service system, non-functional educational system, japa syndrome, corruption and unaccountability of public office holders. The rest demands are tackling worst housing programme, high interest rates for entrepreneurs, devastating economic policies, brazen looting of public funds, redressing growing division among ethnic groups, naira devaluation, lack of support for local manufacturers and local contents, highest import duties ever, underfunded army and police among others.

The faceless organisers also made it abundantly clear that; “we are not begging for power because power belongs to the people and we the people are here to say enough is enough.” They urged the government to; “tackle these things and see if anyone will think of protesting. Enough of unnecessary chasing of irrelevant shadows!”

Daily Sun observed that the more the proposed date approaches, the more nervous the APC-led administration gets, especially as the drums from the organisers of the protest continue to sound louder without showing any sign of backing down from the resolve to go ahead to execute their plans despite all the antics the presidency has deployed.

In the desperation of the government, the presidency and the ruling party have deployed every instrumentality, including labelling false allegations, particularly against the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, with trump-up charges of being behind the protest, and warnings of their readiness to use brute force on the protesters.

To underscore their trepidation, they have convened emergency meetings involving all the relevant stakeholders, including the state governors, security agencies, and leaders of thought. They have equally spent so much to sponsor Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), lobbied the National Assembly for speedy passage of relevant bills, fast-tracked the resolution of the lingering contentious minimum wage, dominated media spaces and airwaves with certain agents detailed to blackmail the organisers, yet their efforts have been like pouring water on stone or cooking stone to soften it.

When diplomacy and emotional blackmail did not produce the desired result, they resorted to unending threats from almost all the security agencies, military, Department of State Services (DSS), police authority, paramilitary agencies and even traditional institutions, particularly in Lagos where the state government fixed the celebration of Oro festival, coinciding with the scheduled period to neutralise the protest, warning of the dare consequences of anybody coming out on the streets.

Interestingly, despite the threats from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, alleging foreign sponsorship of the protest, the passionate appeals from former Niger Delta activist, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), disassociation of the factional National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), religious and ethnic youth groups, from the geopolitical zones, religious leaders, CSOs, and ultimately the National Assembly, the organisers have remained resolute in going ahead with the protest.

Expectedly, the planned protest has pitched families, ethnic nationalities, groups, friends, political parties, leaders, and associates, the masses, the business community, domestic and diaspora Nigerians, against one  another.

Things have actually fallen apart from all indications, and the centre can no longer hold again. Justifiably, pushed to the wall with the unbearable hardship and hunger, the minds of many Nigerians seem to be made up to take the bull by the horns to drum their sufferings into the eyes of the political leaders.

In fairness to President Bola Tinubu, he has not only repeatedly admitted that the Nigerian masses have the right to protest against bad governance, having participated in the one against former president Goodluck Jonathan, but equally pleaded for more time and patience for him.

However, President Tinubu seems to have forgotten that his administration may have infuriated the masses to the point that he cannot be urging them to tighten their belts, make adjustments and sacrifice when he cannot reduce the rub-it-on-your-face ostentatious cost of his governance.

In fact, many have asked; “how can a government, appealing to Nigerians to tighten their belt, be spending billions of naira to purchase a presidential yacht just for his cruising, renovate the vice president’s residence with billions of Naira, procure presidential jets, and purchase official exotic bulletproof vehicles for the First Lady?

“Has the President Tinubu-led government implemented any policy or programme to show sensitivity to the plight of the suffering Nigerians? He has become everything that Nigerians complained about his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. So far, he has not convinced anybody that he has good intentions that can redirect the country’s sinking ship.”

Perhaps, for failing to convince Nigerians that he has good intentions or is capable of turning things around, many political leaders have identified and aligned themselves with the proposed protest.

From the heads of traditional and religious institutions, political activists, and ethnic youth leaders, to political bigwigs like Atiku Abubakar, among others, the list of eminent Nigerians openly identifying with the planned protest have continued to grow in leaps and bounds daily as it draws nearer.

Former vice president, Atiku, on his X last week, insisted that the Federal Government should allow Nigerians to exercise their constitutional rights of organising a peaceful protest, slamming the President Tinubu-led administration for attempting to suppress the protesters, and describing it as an exercise in futility.

Atiku’s statement read, “For the avoidance of doubt, the rights of citizens to protest, are enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution and affirmed by our courts. Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as altered) unequivocally guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and association.

“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.

“It is deeply ironic that those who now seek to stifle these rights were themselves leading protests in 2012. 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.”

But, distraught by what many have described as impending doomsday, President Tinubu had held emergency meetings with the APC state governors, prominent traditional rulers and Ulamas (Islamic religious scholars) at the State House, Abuja as part of efforts to fine-tune arrangements to ensure that the planned hunger protests, is averted nationwide.

As part of its contributions to salvage its government, the leadership of APC apart from convening emergency meetings with the party’s state chapter chairmen, equally warned of its readiness to deploy every legitimate legal instrument to crush the protest.

APC’s National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru and Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told newsmen after several hours of closed-door meeting with the State chairmen in Abuja that the organisers must shelve their plans and give President Tinubu more time to address their grievances.

According to the ruling party; “Beyond the general statements discussed, the NWC, in the meeting with the State APC chairmen also got to check what was pushed out by the so-called organisers of the protest. One, we were shocked that the title of the protest is called #EndBadGovernance. It signals that you are not protesting but want to carry out a revolution.

“Revolution is not something you use protests for, and where such occurs, it comes with immense violence. This is not a time when our country will require violence and disruption of the efforts done by the President and the administration.

“So, we want to urge Nigerians to be alive to the fact that the government will not be in a position to sit and allow violence to be meted on hapless citizens of the country. We will apply every legitimate measure to stop the protest.”

Looking beyond its countless appeals and that of many concerned Nigerians, the government seems to be plugging every loophole to ensure that the proposed peaceful protest was not hijacked by external forces. That would have been the reason relevant agencies like the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recently ordered surveillance and tightening of security at the nation’s borders to ensure that foreign elements didn’t come into the country to participate in the protests.

Comptroller General of Immigration Service, (CGIS), Kemi Nandap, in a statement issued by the spokesman of the paramilitary agency, DCI Kenneth Udo, noted that; “in keeping with the responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s gateways placed on the shoulders of the Service, officers, especially Heads of Border Commands, are tasked to rise to the occasion by ensuring that no foreign element can take advantage of the protest to destabilize the country.

“She directs temporary suspension of all leave applications and charges officers to exercise utmost professionalism and patriotism in the discharge of their duties, during and after the protest, explaining that Nigeria is the only country we have as our own.”

It however added that the CGIS equally assured; “all Nigerians of the service’s readiness to safeguard the nation’s borders towards enhancing national security.”

As tension and cloud of uncertainty continue to mount in the build-up to the protest, the organisers have remained undaunted in going ahead with their plans. They have even resorted to emotional blackmail trending the video of Mr President when he led a protest against Jonathan.

Disregarding the threats from the leadership of the security agencies, youths of many ethnic nationalities, especially the Arewa and Niger Delta, have continued to issue threats by declaring no-retreat-no-surrender order, a few days to the plan to protest against harsh government policies.

The groups that have remained adamant in their determination to roll out their drums of warfare against the security agencies’ armoured tanks include Concerned Nigerians, Nigerians Against Hunger, Initiative for Change, Take it Back Movement, Revolution Now, Human Rights Co-Advocacy Group, Nigerians Against Corruption Initiative, Citizens for Change Advocacy Initiative, Timely Intervention, and Active Citizens Group.

Others are Students for Change, We Coalition, Total Intervention, Refurbished Nigeria, Tomorrow Today, Our Future in Our Own Hands Initiative, Youths Against Tyranny, and Call a Spade a Spade Movement, among others.

As the cloud for the heavy rain gathers, what is incontrovertible is that the country currently stands on a delicate balance.

The outcome of the protest will likely be a double-edged sword that will not serve anybody any good because it is capable of consuming both sides of the divide as victims and casualties of war.

On the side of the government, the uncertainty over the protest degenerating into a full-blown revolution is already at fever-pitch and for the masses, already weakened by very poor purchasing power, the resultant effects of the protest may be cataclysmic.

Miffed by the anomie, an APC leader argued in a chat with Daily Sun that President Tinubu should take all the blame, having derailed almost completely from the expectations of many Nigerians.

“For a man God gave leadership on a platter of gold, he ought to do better than this, but what have we seen so far in the past year? Anti-masses policies and programmes, hunger, policy somersault, cluelessness, and failure to reduce the ostentatious high cost of governance have characterised his administration.

“Tinubu administration forgot that there is a limit to which you can push an angry and hungry man. Unfortunately for our party, APC, we lack the leadership capacity that can mirror and periodically appraise the performances of the government.

“It is even worse that the government has pocketed both the National Assembly and the judiciary that would have been the checks and balances in performing unbiased and neutral criticisms of the government.

“That is why the masses are now trying to exploit the loophole created by the failure of the relevant bodies to perform their constitutionally assigned roles of redirecting the derailing government. We are really in a delicate period of Nigeria’s life,” the chieftain told Daily Sun in confidence.