By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – A citizen-led movement, #FixPolitics, has condemned the Federal Government’s attitude towards the protest staged across the country on Thursday.
It described the Nigerian Government’s reactions to the EndBadGovernance protest as a disconnect with the people it was elected to govern, warning that the citizens were not a conquered people.
In a statement entitled ‘August 1, 2024 Citizens Peaceful Protest: Time to Change Course’, the group faulted what it called the government’s reactionary and ill-advised actions to give the protest and the protesters themselves a bad name.
Executive Director, #FixPolitics Africa, Anthony Ubani, said the government’s reaction and provocative utterances about the protests reflected a deep disconnect with the people’s reality.
He faulted “the government’s attempt to demonise the valid demands of the hungry populace and brand it as the work of opposition political parties.”
According to him, “searching for imaginary sponsors of the protests only bolstered the courage of the people, who fear the loss of their voices and dignity in an oligarchy posing as a democracy.”
The group accused the government of “sponsoring individuals, groups, traditional and religious leaders to speak strongly against the protests, as well as getting the Lagos traditional institution to announce a ‘curious Oro’ festival to coincide with the period of the protests; the Attorney General of the Federation going to a ‘captured judiciary’ to secure an order of court restricting the protest in Lagos to Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota and the Peace Park in Ketu.”
