Reduce protest duration to one day, Adegboruwa pleads with youths

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called on the youths to reduce the duration of the planned nationwide protest to one day.

In a statement on Wednesday, Adegboruwa said the youths’ campaign regarding the planned protest has been successful, noting that government officials have been scrambling in response.

He said “bad governance practices” such as spending billions on religious pilgrimages while providing meagre loans to students, must be halted.

“I will first like to salute the courage of the organizers of the Hunger and End Bad Governance Protests, for their patriotism and zeal,” the statement reads.

“I know that a lot must have gone into the preparations for the protests, in terms of human and material resources. They are certainly not in vain.

“Since the announcement of the protests, the administration of President Tinubu has become unduly jittery, pandering to primordial ethnic and religious sentiments, to save face.

“No one can deny the fact of hunger, occasioned by galloping food inflation, in which we now buy a tuber of yam for N10,000, with the other staple foods such as gaari, rice, egg, bread, beans now out of reach of the common people.

“The economic policies of the Tinubu administration are suffocating the people out of their existence and I’m very happy that the propaganda machinery of government has failed in these past days, in the face of the biting hunger and mass suffering.”

He commended the youths for their courage and patriotism, adding that it is crucial to immediately stop the extravagance of government officials.

“There is need to urgently end the wastage by government functionaries, arising from their lavish and luxurious lifestyles,” he said.

“How can the president buy a new jet; the vice-president renovates his house with N21 billion, and the people are expected to suffer? How do you widen your wealth and luxuries and preach to the people to tighten their belts?”

“USE APPROVED LOCATIONS FOR PROTEST”

He urged security agencies to respect the rights of citizens to peaceful protest and protect them during the demonstration.

“Let no single bullet be fired tomorrow, let there be no arbitrary and unlawful arrest of citizens and let there be no deployment of the military to tackle civilian engagements,” he added.

“The protesters are our children and our own citizens. They certainly do not deserve bullets and crackdowns.

“My final appeal is to the protesters. Even our forefathers in their graveyards have heard your voices loud and clear.

“The way and manner in which government has been running helter-skelter since the announcement of the protests show the moral victory of your campaigns and your struggles.

“What we have done in the past few days is to facilitate dialogue with the law enforcement and security agencies.

“The insistence by the inspector-general of police of ‘credible intelligence’ with plans for violence is a confirmation of the desperation of government to abort the protests by sponsoring hooligans and thugs to disrupt the protests. This is currently ongoing in many parts of Lagos state.

“I therefore appeal that the protests be orderly and peaceful and conducted in the locations that you have already sent to the police.

“Also, let the days of the protests be reduced to one day or in the maximum three days and thereafter be suspended. Let your demands be made known to the government and then give time to address them.”