The former Chief of Army Staff and former Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin retired Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai has advised Nigerian youths against the proposed nationwide protest by not allowing themselves to be used as willing tools by do-or-die partisan individuals or groups who want to stir up trouble in the country.
Buratai advised them to be good students of history and take lessons from the 2020 EndSars protest, which did not yield the desired benefit. According to him, what they did was to allow hoodlums to hijack the protest, and the result was total mayhem against innocent individuals, public, and private properties.
Not undermining their fundamental human rights, he cautioned that peaceful protest is guaranteed in our constitution, but in most cases, such protests end up being violent. The indicators are everywhere.
According to him, the planners of the protest have exposed their hidden and evil plan by christening the protest as “10 days of rage.” This means that the protest was never intended to be peaceful. A 10 day of rage can not be peaceful. The word rage connotes violence.
He challenged the planners of the protest to embrace the tenets of political engineering instead. According to him, youths constitute a large percentage of our voting and working population. Thus, they should be actively involved in the democratic process to bring about the needed change if need be.
“Youths can actively participate in politics, and their voices can be heard, their ideas and their actions can bring about the needed transformation in the country”
“Let Nigerians give the government the benefit of the doubt as President Tinubu listens to, and reacts to the challenges facing the country”, he concluded.
It would be recalled that the United Nations’ Department of Safety and Security has also issued a warning that the planned protests in Nigeria could be hijacked by groups with ulterior motives.
Also, President Tinubu has pleaded with the aggrieved Nigerians, especially the youths who are planning a national protest over the high cost of leaving to shelve the planned action. The President also assured those behind the planned national protest that he has heard their grievances and is working seriously to ensure that all their concerns are addressed.
According to reports, various Nigerian groups are planning a nationwide protest from August 1 to 10, dubbed “10 days of rage,” to address the country’s soaring cost of living and economic hardship.
