Peter Obi’s supporters behind planned nationwide protest, Onanuga alleges

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, has alleged that supporters of Peter Obi are behind the proposed nationwide protest.

Obi was presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election.

There have been reports that youths are planning a nationwide protest between August 1 and 15 against the rising cost of living and economic hardship in the country.

The presidential aide claimed that the organisers are the same individuals who hijacked the #ENDSARS protest of 2020.

He said those “instigating” the protest are calling for a “civilian coup”.

“Obi should be held responsible for anarchy. Don’t be fooled: the malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. And he should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action,” Onanuga wrote on X. 

“The protest planners are also the same people who were instigated by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to launch the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020.

“ENDSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness.

“IPOB members planning to extricate the South East region from Nigeria infiltrated the protest and hijacked it for their own agenda.

“Lagos still bears the scar of the malicious destruction by IPOB elements until today. Two years after ENDSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Peter Obi, a sympathiser of their cause. They are the people spreading the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance’, ‘Tinubu Must Go,’ and ‘Revolution2024’.”

Onanuga added that the protest would be treasonable.

“They are not democrats but anarchists. They are attempting to call out our people via propaganda because their Messiah, Peter Obi, failed to win the Presidency in the 2023 election,” he said.

“As bad losers, they don’t have the patience to wait for another election in 2027; they would rather destabilise Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“If they understand the meaning of their hashtags, they will realise they are clarion calls for treason. Wanting to end an elected government is high treason.

“Wanting revolution is a call for a coup d’etat, which is also high treason. I have been on the trail of one of the protest planners, who is nameless but claims to have an internet radio station, PTM100.88 Abuja.”

Onanuga said the federal government has implemented several measures to address the economic hardship in the country, including increasing minimum wage, disbursement of student loans, and the roll-out of palliatives.

“President Tinubu has a four-year mandate to run his agenda. Those calling for protest should wait till 2027 to either re-elect him or elect their Messiah, Mr Peter Obi,” Onanuga said.