Ignore anti-protest remarks by government officials, Ajuri Ngelale tells Nigerians

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, says no government official has the authority to deny Nigerians their right to peaceful protests.

Ngelale was speaking on TVC while reacting to the nationwide protest against hunger slated for August 1-10.

“Let me put it on record that we have heard certain utterances from some members of even our own administration, and indeed from some subnational entities in the country, suggesting that Nigerians do not have the right to protest and that they would be stopped from protesting,” Ngelale said.

“I want to be very clear this evening in front of the nation in saying that there is nobody within our administration that has the standing, the command, or the gravitas to tell any Nigerian citizen that they cannot peacefully protest in any part of this country.

“We are not in office to dominate our people. We are in office to serve our people and this is the position of the president.

“His Excellency President Bola Tinubu has been very clear that the notion of peaceful protest is a central component of an effective functioning democracy.”

Ngelale said Tinubu is committed to protecting the rights of Nigerians and meeting the needs of the people.

He said the president is committed to reviving Nigeria’s economy despite the challenges inherited from previous administrations.

He urged Nigerians to be patient as the administration implements a “comprehensive plan” to improve living conditions of the people.

He urged governments at the state and local levels to implement projects that align with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.

“You have over 300 roadways across all states of the federation being reconstructed and that is not including the superhighway from Lagos to Calabar that is under construction, the Badagry to Sokoto highway and many others, not to talk of $1 billion being right now expended on seaport reconstruction across the eastern and western seaports,” he said.

“There are several things that are going on now that create direct employment and set us up for a prosperous future where our infrastructure actually supports the foreign direct investment drive that this president is aggressively pursuing.

“But it is also incumbent upon our administration, not just at the federal level, but obviously incumbent on the state and local levels, to ensure that whatever policies are being implemented to create fiscal space for households, that these things are actually done, that we don’t have any kind of administrative incompetence, that we don’t have unnecessary bureaucratic delays.”

Ngelale lauded the recent supreme court ruling granting financial independence to local governments, describing it as a “practical form of restructuring”.