As the federal government and various state governments put measures to quell the protest against hunger which was tagged #end bad governance and hunger, some Nigerians have come out to condemn the protest, insisting that the government of President Bola Tinubu needs more time.
One of them is Chief Elegunde Taiwo Winiwini, a former secretary of APC in Ajeromi local government for 12 years. The APC chieftain believes that every Nigerian has the right to protest against any government that is not doing the right thing. That will help such a government to make amends and chat the way forward.
He defended the President on some of his policies. “Our president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been working on some of those things the protesters complained about. For instance, he has drastically reduced the number of his entourage on both foreign and local tours. He is also cutting costs and he is trying to empower the young ones according to what we have been seeing”.
“Protest is a right, but your rights should not infringe on another person’s rights. If you are protesting, I have my rights of movement, so, your protest should not disturb my work. Because I have my rights to work and freedom, so your protest that has a right cannot stop my freedom which is my right”.
“This is why I am having a problem there with the protest. If normal people, educated and structured people want to protest, it’s going to be peaceful. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu protested during President Jonathan’s era, he led the protest, ‘Enough is Enough’, we all saw it, and nobody looted anyone nor was anywhere burnt but look at #endsars, people. They took that advantage and poured their annoyance on Lagos state, destroying public properties. That is why I like what the government did to all the stakeholders in Lagos state including all tribes. Protest but do not destroy things”.
He added that he was pleased with the way protesters went about their protest in the South West, unlike what happened in the North which was characterized by violence, and destruction of public properties. Some of the protesters called for the takeover of the government by the military and went further to name a military general to head the government which is a very serious treasonable offense.
He speaks more, “They should not take us for fools, President Buhari spent eight years and nobody protested and we were with him until he finished his tenure. Just imagine Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s achievements in one year, very gigantic achievements that somebody cannot do in eight years and somebody is doing it in one year and somebody has the effrontery to call for protest and military takeover. They did not celebrate the regime’s milestone achievements but they are celebrating hunger, by the way, who is bringing hunger?
“Is it Tinubu’s presidency that is bringing hunger or the governors that have been collecting billions from the federal allocation and not doing anything? Their allocations are far bigger than what they have been receiving; they are the ones that should take care of the state”
“Just imagine the Northerners carrying the Russian flag, calling for coups and the common appeal is that they should not make us annoyed in the South, because a lot of them do not even understand what crisis means. They should thread softly and allow the President to do what God has sent him to do or vote him out in 2027 if they do not like what he is doing”, he concluded.
