President Bola Tinubu is currently in a crucial closed-door meeting with governors elected on his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) platform. The meeting is likely to discuss the upcoming #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest, a response to exacerbating hunger and misgovernance in the country.
The protests are scheduled for August 1st to 10th. The Nigerian government fears the protests could escalate, given developments in Nairobi, Kenya and have persistently asked that it be shelved. The president says he is assiduously doing his best to put the economy on the right path.
The President Tinubu-led administration has expressed a willingness to dialogue with the protest leaders and organizers, but the organizers seem to be faceless.
On Wednesday, the president directed all federal ministers to visit their respective states between July 24 and August 1 to meet their people and call on them to abort the protest.
After a closed-door meeting of the Progressives Governors’ Forum in Abuja, its Chairman, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, said they were inviting the organizers of the planned protest to discuss the issue and their grievances, saying, “We invite all of them to sit down with us in a room so we can discuss and agree on the issues, what they are and proffer solutions.”
The government sounds conciliatory in rhetorics, but on the streets, paramilitary patrols are endless in a show of force.
Afenifere Backs Protest
But surprisingly, Afenifere—the apex sociocultural body of the Yoruba ethnic group from which Nigeria’s president Tinubu comes from—has thrown its weight behind the August nationwide protest.
The group’s Publicity Secretary, Justice Faloye, while taking questions on Arise TV The Morning Show on Thursday said, “The unrest is a direct response to Tinubu’s policies, which have significantly impacted the people’s lives”.
He said that while “Afenifere is not planning to participate in the protest, we support anybody who wants to protest.”
The Yoruba group, often positioning itself as a champion of equity and justice said the protest was “a fundamental right” of citizens and asked the government to brace up to the people’s rage.
Mr. Faloye, however, said he does not believe the protest was about anarchy nor is it politically motivated but a response to “high inflation.” He pointedly told the president, “Right from the beginning, we have shown you that you have gone on the wrong path.”
Mr. Tinubu’s termination of energy and currency subsidies, which had previously kept inflation in check and provided some relief for impoverished Nigerians, has led to a sharp increase in prices. This has resulted in worsening poverty and deteriorating social conditions, contrasting starkly with the increasingly extravagant lifestyles of some political elites.
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