The Association of Nigeria Lecturers in Diaspora, United Kingdom, has applauded the #EndBadGovernance protesters in Nigeria for agreeing to a peaceful dialogue by tabling their petition to the government in a civilised way.
The President of the Association, Abdullahi Akeem Ahmed (Dan Farauta), stated this in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna on Thursday.
Ahmed noted that all the grievances put forward by the protesters had long been taken on board by the present government headed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to him, President Tinubu is gradually addressing them, which requires time and patience to manifest.
However, he expressed dismay that Nigerians are not being fair to the current government for not wearing their thinking cap to find out the root causes of the problems inherited by this government to enable us to make a good judgement of the current situation in the country.
The Association stressed that “the protesters demonstrated a lack of civic education, heightened irresponsibility, and despondency to democracy that gave them the opportunity to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.
He added, “These rights were utterly abused by the protesters because some unscrupulous political elements and loose waggons are gaslighting the protesters and thugs to score political goals and aggrandise empires.”
“Now that the protest has lost its momentum, it has been watered down and stripped of its organic content and values due to malfeasances in the way and manner in which the protesters conducted themselves during protests.
“All that took place during the protests revealed the real agenda of the protesters and their sponsors; if not, why are they hoisting the Russian flag, calling on the military to take over the government, and burning the Nigerian flag?
“Even information reaching us from verifiable sources said some foreign nationals believed to be mercenaries waiting for the right moment to strike were sighted among the protesters in Abuja.
“Intelligence gatherings should be beefed up in the country to forestall future occurrences and failures of intelligence in the country while all the sponsors of this protest will be fished out and brought to book for reckoning.
“Let me seize this opportunity to remind Nigerians that this democracy was not served to us, ala Carter; it was fought for, and some paid the supreme price, including Mr President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and my humble self.
“Therefore, we will not sit back and watch what we earned through pain and hard labour be messed up by some individuals or groups who, during the struggle to institutionalise democracy and the rules of law in Nigeria, chicken out and now clandestinely want to destroy the democratic platform in place and jeopardise our collective efforts in trying to make Nigeria a better place for all.
“In so far as I commend the Nigerian military and the Nigerian police authorities for demonstrating civility in the way and manner the protest was handled, it does not give them the guts and audacity to think, plan, or nurture any form of incursion into the current democratic system in place, and the slightest attempt to do otherwise will not be allowed and will be adamantly resisted by Nigerians from every nook and cranny around the world. Be warned.”
Mr. Akeem stressed that there are two categories of citizens in Nigeria today: the hungry and the angry.
He explained that the hungry are the innocent/ordinary Nigerians looking for just what to eat, of which they suffer the most, while the angry are the subsidy cabals and forex cabals, people benefiting from the old corrupt system.
According to him, “these people were very comfortable and never on the side of the masses. Now there is a new order. The cheap windfall is no longer available, hence they are angry.”
“Unfortunately, The Angry is using The Hungry to fight their war, and Ignorantly, the Hungry is fighting the battle of the Angry ones.
“Note, the angry never loved the hungry; they just see them as tools to achieve their selfish interests.
In all cases, it is the hungry that bears the brunt, so don’t get involved in their fight. Make the best of your worst situations,” he advised.
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