Hunger protest: Ill advised, distraction- MURIC
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has described the current hunger protest in Nigeria as a potential failure, an ill-advised venture and a sadistic distraction.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola, Founder/Executive Director, MURIC, stated this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
“The #hunger and #endbadgovernance protest organized by some civil societies which was billed to last from 1st to 10th August lost its steam yesterday as a major backer called for a halt to the protest.
“Nigerians were, however, disappointed by the reaction of the organisers as they rejected the call claiming that he was not their lawyer. With this development, we see the August 2024 #hunger and #endbadgovernance protest a potential failure, an ill-advised venture and a sadistic distraction.
“It is a potential failure because it contains elements of disintegration and disenchantment. That is why we find anti-protest groups at protest grounds while a key stakeholder among the backers has seen wisdom in backing out.
“This goes to show that the organisers did not consult widely enough. Apart from the whole Eastern states, many other states did not participate in the protest,” Akintola said.
He added: “It is ill-advised because while well-meaning Nigerians and organisations, including MURIC warned against staging the protest because it would be hijacked and because it would turn violent, the organisers turned deaf ears. They only listened to opposition figures and some agent provocateur. Those premonitions have become fait accompli and regret has begun to set in even among early supporters of the protest.
“Furthermore, we see the protest as a sadistic distraction because it was given a false label in the first place. The hashtag #EndBadGovernance given to the protest is misleading. It is a misnomer and this may be deliberately so. The Tinubu-Shettima administration cannot be rightly called ‘bad governance’ because it has set in motion many people-oriented policies, including taking steps to stave off hunger in the land. This is a case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
“The organisers still went ahead with the protest knowing that innocent people would suffer. This is sadistic. It shows that there are some elements in the leadership of the protest who find joy in the pain and agony inflicted on others. No wonder Napoleon Bonaparte opined that men are led by toys.
“Among such policies taken by the Tinubu administration and for which it does not fit into what the protesters call ‘bad governance’ are the newly approved N70,000 minimum wage which raised workers’ salaries by more than 100%. Others include the pursuance of local government autonomy to a logical conclusion at the level of the Supreme Court, the introduction and disbursement of students’ loan, the establishment of the North West Development Commission as well as the South East Development Commission, etc, all within one year of the debut of the Tinubu regime.
“These insignias do not look like the hallmarks of bad governance. They are progressive and dynamic. What of the humongous monthly allocations to state governors as a fallout of increased earnings? It is therefore deceitful of the organisers to have labelled the Tinubu administration as ‘bad governance’. The sadism manifests in their ostrich-like stance regarding warnings of the likelihood of violence, looting and destruction if they went ahead with the protest.
“All these fears became real when the protest started, yet they have refused to stop the protest even after one of the lawyers who backed them urged them to stop. Tinubu’s administration is on track. It should not be distracted by attention seekers.”
