Youths hold counter march in Lagos, declare support for Tinubu’s administration

Some youths have staged a march in Lagos on Monday to counter the planned nationwide protest against the economic hardship in the country.

The nationwide protest is slated for the first week of August.

Early in the morning, the youths converged on Lagos Island and moved across areas like Obalende, Ikoyi, and Lekki.

They held up a large banner with the inscription ‘Say No To Protest’ and ‘God bless Nigeria’.

The protesters also declared support for the President Bola Tinubu-led administration and called on Nigerians to shun the planned protest.

State governors and President Tinubu have repeatedly appealed to youths to shelve the protest planned to take place between August 1 and 10.

Law enforcement agencies have also warned that the protest could be hijacked by hoodlums and “unscrupulous agents”.

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

“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.”