CITIZENS COMPASS –Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and one of the arrowheads of the planned #EndBadGovernance protest against economic hardship in Nigeria, the Taken it Back Movement have disagreed over usage of Eagle Square, Abuja for the protests.
While the Minister claimed he was yet to receive the letter requesting for the usage, the organisers said it was done by publication since the Minister’s aides decide on which letter to be read by their master.
Speaking on Saturday at a town hall meeting in the FCT, the Minister dissuaded residents from participating in the nationwide protest billed for August 1-10.
The demonstration, dubbed ’10 Days of Rage’, is to protest the economic hardship.
Stakeholders, including the presidency, federal and state governments, traditional and religious leaders, have appealed to citizens to shelve the protest.
Wike said peace and order in the FCT cannot be guaranteed if residents join the protest.
He claimed proper communication channels to use Eagle Square as a demonstration ground have also not been employed.
According to him, the application was sought through broadcast television.
“Who are these people who want to protest? They have applied to me to grant Eagle Square. Do you apply to me through social media?” he asked.
“You will write a letter to the minister. I will see you; who are you? What do you want to do? How many days do you want to spend? How much will you pay?
“You don’t apply to me through Channels; you must apply properly. You must pay what we call security cost so that if there is any damage to the facility, we will take from that security cost and repair it.
“We don’t just give people because you have applied. You must fulfill the conditions. People have paid for Eagle Square, and you said you have applied to me.
So, I should go and cancel the other people’s own because you want to protest? It is first come, first served.”
The minister said protests are a right but added that demonstrations targeted at destabilising the government will not be allowed.
“This will not solve all the problems but at least to cushion the hardship a bit,” he said.
The minister urged Nigerians to support Tinubu.
In a swift reaction, the Take It Back Movement said the Eagle Square is a public property and the Minister has no choice than to allow “hungry Nigerian youths” demonstrate their displeasure on the facility.
Damilare Adenola, the Director of Mobilisation of the Movement stated this on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
The protest against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, has been scheduled to be held across all states of the Federation as well as the FCT in August.
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.
The youth leader had signed a letter addressed to the minister seeking the use of the facility. The letter was dated July 26, 2024, and was broadcast on social media platforms.
He blamed the delay in the delivery of the letter on bureaucratic bottlenecks in government but said the minister would get the letter unfailingly on Monday ahead of the demonstration on Thursday.
“It is possible that the receipt of the letter is being delayed by bureaucracy in government or the minister is likely being insincere about receiving the letter.
“If he (Wike) insists that he hasn’t received it, the alternative is that he was served by publication because many Nigerian ministries streamline what to receive or not. If he says he didn’t get it physically, then we could as well say that he was served by publication.
“If he says he wants it by Monday, we will serve him.”
“The truth is that the Eagle Square is a public property. When I saw the video of the minister, I was amazed because I saw the minister asking us to pay rent, pay security fees and all that. My question to the minister is this: how does the minister expect a greater population of Nigerian youths who are impoverished, who have no jobs to afford the exorbitant he is expecting us to pay?
“We are going to be at the Eagle Square on August 1st,” he said.
“It’s a double insult to tag the organisers of the protest as faceless.”
“The organisers of the protest are hungry Nigerians; they are a host of unemployed Nigerians, they are a host of hopeless Nigerians who are roaming the streets. They are the out-of-school children spread across the country. These are the organisers of the protest and the greatest motivation of this #EndBadGovernance protest is hunger. People are really hungry,” he said.
“This is the idea of battered Nigerian people, this is the idea of hungry Nigerian people, this is the idea of hopeless Nigerian people.
“Young people are tired and need to express their displeasure against the government’s malfeasance,” he added.
Earlier, the protest campaigner said the bank account of the organisation was blocked on the orders of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Meanwhile, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja-General is f Nigeria and daughter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said there will be no protest in Lagos State.
She was addressing a group of marketers, she said a government that has not spent three years in office cannot be fairly criticised.
“Before you say a government has not done well, you have to allow them to spend at least three years in office.” she said.
She called on parents to warn their children against joining the planned hunger protest scheduled for August 1, adding that victims of EndSARS protest are still yet to recover from the losses they incurred almost four years after.
We should tell ourselves, our children at home and our family members that there is nothing like protest in Lagos state. It is not good.
Recall the one they did before where they destroyed so many of our public assets. Do not allow your children be used to by some people who give them money to go and start fighting and destroying things.
‘’So please let us talk to ourselves. There is nothing like protest in Lagos state because the government is making us proud. They are making us proud. The state government is doing us well and for the one in the center, they just came into office. Before you say a government has not done well, you have to allow them to spend at least three years in office.”
