Metro

Tinubu’s broadcast vacuous, devoid of answers to protesters’ demands — Ozekhome

A human rights and constitutional lawyer, Prof Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has described President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast on the ongoing nationwide #Endbadgovernance protests as vacuous, drudgery and full of a litany of government’s alleged interventions, but being completely devoid of any concrete answers to the many itemized demands by the traumatised youthful protesters.

“Aside this, he erroneously, as always, picked on imaginary opposition or political opponents who allegedly want to derail Nigeria”, Ozekhome stated in a statement on Sunday.

He said the nationwide protests are not sponsored protests and added that the protests are a genuine outpouring of grief, frustration, anger, hunger, melancholy, hopelessness, haplessness and joblessness by the ignored and denied Nigerian youths who appear not to have a tomorrow since their yesterday and today have already ended been mindlessly stolen by rapacious elites and state captors who control levers of power at different levels.

In his words, “The blind can see; the lame can walk; the numb can feel and the deaf can hear the grinding poverty and abject penury in the land.

“However, in terms of decency of language and an apparent exhibition of understanding of the litany of problems besetting Nigeria and the empathy required by a president to address the urgent demands, President Tinubu appears to get it right; dead on target.

“He was not abusive, arrogant or grandstanding with narcissism and brinkmanship, factors that exacerbated the recent Kenya uprising. He looked apparently sober and pensive while addressing beleaguered Nigerians as “my fellow Nigerians”. Thus far, thus above average.

“However, in terms of measurable panacea and solutions to assuage bruised egos and dashed hopes, or placate angry and protesting Nigerians who are daily suffering and groaning in the midst of government inertia, wastes, big government, big spending, opulent and primitive display of vulgar wealth by government officials, endless borrowing, white elephant projects, yacht, plane, SUVs, endless trips abroad, yawning leakages and official corruption, both apparent, real, visible and palpable, he scores miserably low.

“What will the youth take home after days of rage, tens of deaths, injuries, mental, physical, psychological and psychical lacerations and trauma, hunger, self-denial, brutality and high-handedness by state security agencies”, he added.

According to the Senior Advocate, President Tinubu has a chance to save Nigeria from what remains of a groggy, tottering, fumbling, dawdling and near crumbling country on the verge of imminent precipice, adding that all hope is still not lost if the President employs and deploys the right instruments of statecraft.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE