·Says Tinubu should be careful
Rights activist and Convener of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, in this interview, speaks on the planned nationwide protest scheduled to begin on August 1.
What do you feel about the planned End Bad Governance protest billed to start in August?
The protest is very necessary. I am very happy about it. May God bless the faceless people organising the protest. The country needs protest. But the real organisers of the protests are bad governance, hunger, poverty, nepotism by the Tinubu government and other maladministration we have witnessed in the last one year.
They have made their demands known. Do you think the demands are in order or more should be added?
The demands are in order. And I must add that ending corruption is one of the important demands in the list. The issue of fuel subsidies and not paying politicians are important. How can a country be paying politicians? Politics should be a hobby, not a profession. We are too broke as a nation to be paying politicians.
I support and endorse the protest. My prayer is that the protest should be successful. Government should do all it can to meet the demands of the protesters.
Government appears very uncomfortable with the protest. What can you say about that?
The reason government is uncomfortable is because it doesn't generally like to be challenged. And the government wants to have a field day.
They want a situation where citizens cannot hold them accountable and there will be no consequence for bad behaviour. That is why they are feeling very challenged. I sincerely believe the protesters must hold government accountable. The protesters must stand their ground against intimidation by security agencies and threats to unleash thugs by people in government. Such things should be resisted.
Such protests in the past always took place in the South. This time, it seems Nigerians are united on the planned action as some northern voices are also in support.
I recognise the hypocrisy of some northern stakeholders who refused to oppose Buhari when he was there because he is their brother. However, the agitation and support for the protests from all corners of the North is commendable. Anyone saying the North is opposed to it is not saying the truth. If a few are saying they disagree, let them go to the North and see if they won't be beaten up. Anyone who goes to any northern village to say he is in support of the government will be beaten up.
The President has come out to assure Nigerians that he is on top of the situation and that people shouldn't protest...
How can a perpetual protester like the President say such a thing? He has always protested and sponsored protesters. He protested against the military. He also protested against former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012. How can he suddenly say Nigerians shouldn't protest? He is a perpetual protester. He got to his office by protesting.
He cannot suddenly stop people from protesting. Karma is a universal donor. He should take what he has been giving other people.
Nigerians are not known to have the capacity to sustain social activism. Therefore, there are doubts that this may not achieve any result. What do you think?
Everybody used to think like this before until EndSars happened. Before EndSars, there were landmark protests in this country. It was protests that made the military leave. I don't doubt the capacity of Nigerians to do the right thing when push comes to shove. People have never witnessed this level of hunger before.
People haven't witnessed this type of bad governance and economic policies before. Imagine a situation where the highest legal tender in the country cannot buy a loaf of bread. One crate of egg is more than N5000. A small tuber of yam is now between N5000 and N7000 depending on where you are buying it.
Are they saying people shouldn't complain? I have never seen this type of situation before. Some people in leadership positions are mocking the poor. People like Akpabio who don't believe there is suffering in the country. While we sincerely sympathise with the position of government, you can see they are so jittery and worried. I sympathise with the people and stand with the people.
What do you think should be the appropriate response from government?
Tinubu should be very careful. He is not Buhari. The things Buhari got away with, he cannot get away with them. From our interaction with people, the protests would be loud in the North. They should not attack anybody because there may be grave repercussions. If northerners are killed by soldiers or police, they may react in strange ways.
He should be extremely careful. In the South, they should not attack anybody. They should allow people to protest and go home.
The efforts they are putting to sponsor thugs are worthless. It's not like in 2019 when they sponsored thugs. The thugs are very hungry now.
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There is so much hunger. They should not attack anybody because people would go home after expressing their grievances. There is so much hunger in the land that if the government doesn't handle the protests well, the situation may degenerate. The ball is in their court.
The government said the sponsors of the protests have been identified...
They are jobless people. Why didn't they identify the sponsors of Boko Haram, bandits and kidnappers? Why did they suddenly start identifying the sponsors of protests? Who are the sponsors? Let them release the names of the sponsors.
Are they afraid? The only sponsors I know are hunger and corruption. They bought aircraft for the President when people cannot feed. They bought a cruise ship. What does Nigeria need it for? These are the reasons for the protests. It is because of their incompetence that insecurity festers in the country.
Some social media messages listed you among the promoters of the protest ...
Anybody can use my name. If they like, let them say I am the architect of the protest. I accept responsibility.
