The Labour Party has refuted claims made by the Presidency that its presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, and his supporters are behind the planned nationwide anti-government protest scheduled to hold on August 1.
The Presidency described calls for the nationwide protests under the hashtags #TinubuMustGo and #Revolution2024 as treasonable.
In a lengthy tweet published on his X account on Saturday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, and his supporters of spreading the hashtags, alleging that “They are not democrats but anarchists”.
“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,” said the Presidential aide.
Onanuga, however, floated a Save-Nigeria-Rally from August 1-15, 2024, in response to plans for nationwide protests from August 1-10 against the rising cost of living and economic hardship.He claimed that those organising the protests were also behind the #EndSARS protests of October 2020, which later turned violent.
“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 to this day. 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, #TinubuMustGo, and #Revolution2024. They are not democrats but anarchists,” he said. Onanuga accused the protest organisers of lacking the patience to wait for another election in 2027, but instead wanting to “destabilise Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Tinubu.”
In a name-and-shame campaign, the former Chief of the News Agency of Nigeria drew attention to a protest organiser who operates an anonymous X account, whom he said had been enlisting more persons to join the exercise.He also named one Babatunde Gbadamosi, whom he recommended that the DSS arrest for urging people “to identify APC members, sponsors, supporters, enablers, thugs, promoters, and appointees.”
Onanuga continued, “There is ‘General Oluchi,’ a woman who goes by the screen name ‘A Field Marshall of the Han Dynasty.’ She has been sending out letters of mobilisation. She even pinned a ‘Week 6’ letter urging Nigerians to wake up and take control of their country, using the language of IPOB, Peter Obi, and his supporters.
“Another member of the malcontents is Brother Bernard, also known as Mikael C. Bernard. He is not based in Nigeria, because he was once busted over Binance and fraudulent crypto businesses in Nigeria. Bernard was the man who once wrote that the naira should go down to zero.”Onanuga said there was no country in the world where people were not going through some economic challenges and where the cost of living was not a major issue.
He argued that no country was immune from economic turbulence at the moment, noting that civilised and democratic people wait for another election to make leadership changes.
He said, “They don’t trigger mayhem in their countries by staging protests, the end of which nobody can predict.”
He urged Nigerians to “consider the government’s attitude and concern about the cost of living crisis when deciding whether to join the protests by the Labour Party and IPOB supporters.”
“The Tinubu government has not been found wanting in this regard. The minimum wage has been increased by more than 100 per cent. Loans are being disbursed to students in tertiary schools. A credit corporation has been launched to promote consumption credit.
“Palliatives, including the latest distribution of 740 trucks of rice to the 36 states and Abuja, are being rolled out. Businesses, such as pharmaceuticals, are being assisted. The Federal and state governments are investing heavily in agriculture to produce more food.
“The economy is improving, inflation is slowing, the national debt has been reduced in dollar terms, and the FIRS has increased revenue generation to record levels. Investors are coming back to our country. Our stock market is the best in the world, with a 33 per cent return on investment. 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,” the statement concluded.
However, the leadership of the Labour Party has refuted the claims of the Presidency and warned against dragging Obi into the rising tension of the planned nationwide protest.
The National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, in a statement titled ‘Obi, Labour Party not involved in ‘EndBadGovernance’ protest,’ reiterated that it was wrong of Onanuga to link the LP and its national leader to the proposed ‘EndBadGovernance’ protest.
He said, “We say there is no truth in the tweet. It is just the figment of the author’s imagination. Labour Party is known for being a very peaceful party, and it has on several occasions asked its followers to follow peace at all times. We are not known as a lawless group, as was evident in the aftermath of the last general election. It is therefore delusional for anyone to link our supporters to the planned protest. Labour Party, Peter Obi, and our supporters are not planning any protests.
“It is therefore puerile for the government or anyone, for that matter, to begin to look for whom to blame for the bad governance witnessed in Nigeria today. Nigeria can still get it right if the right policies are initiated. We also advise that some aides of the Presidency must be cautioned to avoid incendiary pronouncements capable of combusting the nation, all in the name of playing politics.”
Also reacting, Obi’s campaign spokesman, Yunusa Tanko, dismissed Onanuga’s claim. Tanko said it would be preposterous of the Presidency to believe that Nigerians cannot carry out a protest against bad governance unless provoked by the opposition.
He said, “With all due respect, is it Peter Obi who goes to the market to buy a bag of rice and beans? Why are people not being fair to this man? This thing concerns every Nigerian. We are talking about hardship that is meted out to Nigerians by this government.
